DCLM Daily Manna Sunday 2 July 2023
TOPIC: Beyond Our Filthy Rags
TEXT: Job 25:1-6 (KJV)
25 Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said,
2 Dominion and fear are with him, he maketh peace in his high places.
3 Is there any number of his armies? and upon whom doth not his light arise?
4 How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?
5 Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.
6 How much less man, that is a worm? and the son of man, which is a worm?
KEY VERSE
“How then can man be justified with God? or how can he be clean that is born of a woman?”
(Job 25:4)
DCLM Daily Manna Sunday 2 July 2023 MESSAGE
As an experienced senator tried to describe the bizarre wonder of the capitol to a new politician, he pointed his attention to an old deteriorating log floating on the river and said, “This city is like that log out there”. “How’s that,” the fresh politician asked. The senator retorted, “Well, there are probably more than one hundred thousand grubs, ants, bugs and critters on that old log as it floats down the river. And I imagine every one of them thinks that he’s steering it”.
Bildad, Job’s friend, tried to burst such delusive thinking regarding self-righteousness. Although his message was ignorantly misapplied to Job’s situation, it holds true in life. His argument highlights the supremacy of God’s dominion and the extensiveness of his providence. In particular, he harps on the futility, by any natural man, to justify self before a perfectly holy God, before whose majesty the moon and stars lose their lustre.
READ: Open Heaven Daily Devotional 2 July 2023 – Divine Help (I)
Many people still wallow in the misplaced notion that their good works and personal discipline are enough to earn them good standing before God. Nothing can be farther from the truth because man, in his natural state, is depraved (Romans 3:23,12). The psalmist aptly captures this in his saying, “I was shaped in iniquity” (Psalm 51:2). The good works performed by the natural man do not measure up to God’s standard and are regarded by Him as filthy rags.
It takes the redemptive act of God to qualify us for justification before Him. No one can be justified without placing their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Only those whose sins have been forgiven on account of personal repentance and faith in Christ are justified before God and righteous before Him.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Self-righteousness is delusional and damnable.
BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: 2 Kings 3-4
