His friends still accuse and Job still maintains his righteousness. Even more, he acknowledges that God has been hard on him and even in this, he will not turn away from the path he is on, both in maintaining his integrity and in living in righteousness (Job 27:2-6):
As God lives, who has deprived me of justice,
and the Almighty who has made me bitter,
as long as my breath is still in me
and the breath from God remains in my nostrils,
my lips will not speak unjustly,
and my tongue will not utter deceit.
I will never affirm that you are right.
I will maintain my integrity until I die.
I will cling to my righteousness and never let it go.
My conscience will not accuse me as long as I live!
This truly is interesting as oftentimes when someone undergoes suffering, they use that suffering to indulge in sin. For Job he says that even though he feels God has been unjust and made his life bitter, he isn’t going to change. He will commit to walking in integrity until his last breath.
Job’s wife encourages him to curse God. But Job has a different route.
“Even if He kills me, I will hope in Him” (Job 13:15).
That is powerful.
This next section describes what happens to the wicked. It’s unsure if Job is trying to quote what they say will happen to the wicked, or if it is something he is saying. It’s more likely that Job is listing out the “empty talk” that they are saying, which is mainly that the wicked will face many troubles in this life. Job has just refuted that in ch 21 saying that this is not always the case. The wicked sometimes have a great life though they care nothing for God.
It’s not true that the wicked always have a bad life and the righteous a blessed one. But regardless of whether Job has a good life or the horrific suffering he is currentlyu facing, he has set his sight on walking in righteousness with a good conscience. Suffering is not going to make him let go of that.
