Job 17:8
The upright are outraged by this,
The innocent roused against the godless.
On my desk I have an old little postcard poster that says, “People may doubt what you say, but they will always believe what you do.” I used this to help me make good decisions and to follow through with whatever I said so as to not tarnish my witness. For whatever reason, my mind this morning turns to how many politicians in my life experience have professed to be Christians only to politic as if their subsequent poor behavior could be excused by it being their job. How little I must think of politicians.
‘Upright’ was also ‘men of good will’. ‘Outraged’ was also ‘appalled’, ‘astonished’, ‘amazed’, and ‘horrified’. Lots of A’s in that list.
‘Innocent’ was also ‘pure’. ‘Roused’ was also ‘stirred up’ and ‘will rise up’. ‘The godless’ was also ‘the ungodly’, ‘the hypocrite’, ‘the impious’, ‘the flatterer’, and ‘the tainted’. Seems like the flatterer comes up a lot as an alternative.
In this paradigm, the godless are the politicians, and the upright are the voters who finally get tired of it. I actually think people were tired of politics and hoped Trump would turn the country in the right direction. I think they were wrong. The underlying thing about elections is that many people vote with their pocket books and not their morals, and the rich and powerful have ways to train the voters how to vote for their agenda that seemingly aligns with the voter’s pocketbook. This then begs the question as to whether it is the politicians or the rich people who help them into office are the godless?
I used to think the religious right was Christianity, and I used to think conservative was aligned with Christian values. I now believe the media uses these terms to make villains of main stream Christians when they apply them to groups who are not Christians at all. It seems every week, one of these great Christian movements is exposed as a cult of personality run by a man with only a selfish ego capitalizing on the weakness of struggling believers and seekers. These are the individuals who we as Christians need to rise up against.
The New Testament is full of challenges that the new church faced. We face them as well, and more now as evil has more tools in technology. It is paramount that we learn more about God, that we teach less mature believers more about God, and that we stand firm when others misuse the Word of God for personal gain. If one’s religion is self help and good feelings, then it isn’t the suffering and sacrifice Christ calls us to as we seek to love others and Glorify God.
Written 9/7/25, Posted 9/22/25, Job 404 /~1070