Perspective

Perspective

Job 35:5–9

Look up at the heavens and see;

gaze at the clouds so high above you.

If you sin, how does that affect him?

If your sins are many, what does that do to him?

If you are righteous, what do you give to him,

or what does he receive from your hand?

Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,

and your righteousness only the sons of men.

---

Elihu (the person speaking in the book of Job) makes the claim that our sin doesn’t affect God. This is not the only truth regarding this subject from the bible, yet it is indeed true. Our sin affected God so much that he went to the extent of crucifying his one and only Son because of it. But on the other hand, our text is reminding us that we are minuscule and insignificant in the grand scheme of history.

Last night we strained our neck up to the heavens to see the beautiful stars glimmering in the night sky. Instead of giving glory to God in that moment, let’s pretend that we blasphemed the LORD’s name. Do the stars continue to shine if we did such a thing? Does our sin (in that moment) affect anything?

But what if we did some random act of righteousness? Instead of blaspheming into the night sky, let’s say we found a hurting person on the side of the road. We then help this individual and provide for all his needs so that he can be restored to health. We then look back up into the night sky and see what change exactly?

This is a good text to remind us of our insignificance. We can become so self absorbed that we think the heavens themselves revolve around us. But whether we are righteous or sinful, God is still on the throne and unaffected by our little choices.