Job 22:30
He will even save the guilty,
Delivered through the purity of your hands.
Finishing another chapter today, only 20 more to go. Maybe I can finish before the little one graduates high school. If I do one a day, every day, I would finish February of 28. If I slow to even a day and a half, I miss that by a mile. Sounds a little optimistic for a goal.
‘Save’ was also ‘deliver’ or ‘escape punishment’. ‘Guilty’ was also ‘not innocent’, ‘guiltless’ (by my least favorite, which puts a different spin on the meaning), and ‘the island of the innocent’ (which does as well). Escape punishment might be the right phrase.
The same action verbs are proposed in the second stitch. ‘Purity’ was also ‘cleanness’ or ‘spotless’.
For the holiday, we did a lot of nothing; enjoying the day off and the backyard. We needed the rest. It felt a very short, unproductive day, but it helped me immensely. Too bad the kid had stuff to do with the extracurricular activities and was worn out by the day.
At one point, I was letting my brain design a house layout on a lot we were looking at. I made sure I had plenty of space for fast cars and baseball cards. At the end of the daydreaming, I realized I really want to get rid of the cards I do not want before I move from here. The idea of everything I own in a backpack is way different from my life now. My wife talks about a safe place away from the coast and hurricanes, and I think about a safe place to leave my stuff. I know my stuff cannot be taken with me to heaven, but I do want to enjoy it before I get there. And then the kids can hire someone to get rid of all they do not want.
I do not like this verse talking about our pure hands saving the guilty. Each one will be judged individually, and only Christ can save any of us. We can be the hands of Christ showing the love of God to others, but we won’t save them. I do see that these last two verses make a lot of sense if you assume the ‘You’ is Christ, in which case I would make some changes. I am not yet sure of this, so I will leave it for another time.
Written 9/8/26, Posted 9/23/26, Job 549/~1070