Job 18:4

O’ you who tear yourself to shreds in your anger,

   Shall the world’s order be forsaken on your account?

      The rock be removed from it place?

 

Hopefully, yesterday will mark a turning point in my life. It was not a good day, but I should be better for it. Incidentally, I heard about a huge ruckus about a group responding to the recent assassination only to be fought by another opposed to their response. This verse about anger reminds me of how our current government leaders keep pushing for changes that they would be outraged about if the other side took the same procedures to get their way.

‘Yourself to shreds’ was also ‘yourself in pieces’, ‘himself apart’, and ‘rip apart your own soul’. The last one was a little heavy. ‘Anger’ was also ‘wrath’, and ‘rage’.

‘The world’s order’ was ‘the earth’ or ‘the earth’s order’. ‘Forsaken’ was also ‘abandoned’ and ‘disrupted’.

‘Removed’ was also ‘dislodged’ and ‘ripped’.

This last line is in reference to rocks that were placed to delineate one piece of property from another. Thieves would often try to move the rocks stealth fully to gain more land and more crops. Society had set up rules around this, and the unjust tried to do whatever they could for their own gain. Apparently, part of our human nature is to steal and/or break rules.

One of the many evils in today’s world is the white male. I happen to be a white male, so I am put off by the judgement that I am evil. Yes, many white males over the course of our history were evil. But our history mostly ignores all the non-white males in the world and mostly ignores all females because it was mostly written by white males. I assume that all people are created equal, and we all have a sin nature, and, we all do things that others are offended by, but especially when we are trying to be non-offensive.

One of my many faults that causes me problems on a daily basis is the tendency to think that things should be better. That people in cars should obey the laws is one of my biggest pet peeves (even considering that velocity is ruled by laws about recommended speeds). The world apparently thinks turn signals, stop signs, traffic lights, and lane occupancy laws were merely suggestions. Based on this verse, I need to remember that most of the world does not follow the laws, so I should act accordingly. I still need to love my neighbor, but I need to be prepared for him to take my right of way whenever it suits him.

Written 9/21/25, Posted 10/12/25, Job 414/~1070