Attention to the Needs of Others

Tuesday, June 30, 2015
Job 31:13-22 KJV

13 If I did despise the cause of my manservant or of my maidservant, when they contended with me; 14 What then shall I do when God riseth up? and when he visiteth, what shall I answer him? 15 Did not he that made me in the womb make him? and did not one fashion us in the womb? 16 If I have withheld the poor from [their] desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; 17 Or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; 18 (For from my youth he was brought up with me, as [with] a father, and I have guided her from my mother's womb;) 19 If I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; 20 If his loins have not blessed me, and [if] he were [not] warmed with the fleece of my sheep; 21 If I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: 22 [Then] let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone.

OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
1) As Job continues to defend his integrity, how did he treat his servants who contended with him? Why? (v.13-15)
2) How did Job treat the poor, the widow, the hungry and the fatherless? (v.16-18)
3) What did Job do for those who did not have enough clothes to wear? (v.19-20)
4) What affliction did Job invite upon himself if he had not helped the fatherless? Why? (v.21-22)

APPLICATION QUESTIONS
5) What have you done to help those  who are less fortunate than yourself?
6) Does it trouble you to think that you can do good for others and still face calamity, as Job did? If so, why?

LIFE LESSONS
7) If the Lord allows His people to suffer, despite our righteous deeds, it is because He wants to reveal another aspect of His character (nature) to us that we did not otherwise know.