Persist in your integrity ...

Hear the word of the Lord:

Job 1:1, 2:1-10

There was once a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job. That man was blameless and upright, one who feared God and turned away from evil. One day the heavenly beings came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. The LORD said to Satan, "Where have you come from?"

Satan answered the LORD, "From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it."

The LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man who fears God and turns away from evil. He still persists in his integrity, although you incited me against him, to destroy him for no reason."

Then Satan answered the LORD, "Skin for skin! All that people have they will give to save their lives. But stretch out your hand now and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face."

The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, he is in your power; only spare his life."

So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD, and inflicted loathsome sores on Job from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Job took a potsherd with which to scrape himself, and sat among the ashes.

Then his wife said to him, "Do you still persist in your integrity? Curse God, and die."

But he said to her, "You speak as any foolish woman would speak. Shall we receive the good at the hand of God, and not receive the bad?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Right thing, wrong reason

Abner sent messengers to David at Hebron, saying, "To whom does the land belong? Make your covenant with me, and I will give you my support to bring all Israel over to you."

He said, "Good; I will make a covenant with you. But one thing I require of you: you shall never appear in my presence unless you bring Saul's daughter Michal when you come to see me." Then David sent messengers to Saul's son Ishbaal, saying, "Give me my wife Michal, to whom I became engaged at the price of one hundred foreskins of the Philistines."

Ishbaal sent and took her from her husband Paltiel the son of Laish. But her husband went with her, weeping as he walked behind her all the way to Bahurim. Then Abner said to him, "Go back home!" So he went back.

Abner sent word to the elders of Israel, saying, "For some time past you have been seeking David as king over you. Now then bring it about; for the Lord has promised David: Through my servant David I will save my people Israel from the hand of the Philistines, and from all their enemies." Abner also spoke directly to the Benjaminites; then Abner went to tell David at Hebron all that Israel and the whole house of Benjamin were ready to do.

When Abner came with twenty men to David at Hebron, David made a feast for Abner and the men who were with him. Abner said to David, "Let me go and rally all Israel to my lord the king, in order that they may make a covenant with you, and that you may reign over all that your heart desires." So David dismissed Abner, and he went away in peace.
2 Samuel 3:12-21 – NRSV

Abner is doing the right thing. He is seeing to it that Israel makes peace with David, so that Israel and Judah may be united under one king. A king that the Lord has promised. A king that God will use to save his people from their enemies.

Yet Abner isn’t really doing this for the right reasons, is he? In the confrontation with Ishbaal he decides to give the kingdom to David just to prove that he could do it. Now Abner, “owner” of this land tells David that he will give him his land and his support. Finally, Abner tells Israel’s elders that he’s doing this because the Lord has already endorsed the kingship of David.

If that’s really the reason, then why did it take him so long to act on the fact? Abner does this because he suspects he has a better chance now to maintain his power by shifting to David’s side. Abner’s plan is really not righteous obedience to the will of God, but a sophisticated way to move and maintain power.

David has an interesting condition to the offer of diplomacy. Before he will negotiate with Abner, David demands the return of his first wife, Michal. Michal, the daughter of Saul. Michal who loved David. Saul demanded 100 Philistine foreskins as her bride price, but David paid 200 to Saul instead. After David’s escape from Saul, Saul remarried her to Paltiel. Now David wants her back. Yet this demand for Michal’s return is more than regaining a relationship that was dearly and dangerously purchased. It is a power move to reclaim a familial connection with the house of Saul and the tribe of Benjamin.

So Michal must leave a man who loves her, and Paltiel must suffer a pathetically broken heart. What is sad is that David never says, “Send to me Michal, whom I love.” Once again, one of our characters appears to be doing the right thing for the wrong reason. Yet a careful reader of the law (Deut 24:1-4) would doubt that David is obeying the law by remarrying a woman who has been married to another man. Wrong move, wrong reason.

We run into this a lot, don’t we? People who do the right thing for the wrong reason. People who do the wrong things for the wrong reasons. Sometimes even people with the right reasons end up doing the wrong thing.

We want something more. We want to do the right things for the right reasons. For us, it is not enough, for example, to worship God (the right thing); we want to worship God in Spirit and truth (the right reason). This is what we want, but it’s not easy to do all of time, is it?

In reality, our decisions tend to be a mixed bag: some right and wrong acts, some right and wrong reasons. Our challenge, though, is to honestly evaluate our thinking and action so as to become pure in heart. May God help us to make it so.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.

Ron