Brothers Keeping: Joseph and Job Read online

self-appointed spokesman tells me I am blameless and upright, proclaiming my goodness and virtue, born instilled with His goodness, carrying His image, formed untainted and blameless, sympathetic to the understandings we all see in estimations of ourselves, stubbornly needing no atonement, no need to intercede for comrades in uprightness, intervening only to glorify whatever we determine to be justified, judged by our reason to vindicate as sinless, having evil of no consequence, so I remain to this day, being one untarnished since the watchmaker began my time.

  Joseph: Does your Maker require more of you? Does being blameless and upright include being right with God or is it being faultless before human beings, following them with noble works to win their admiration? Has God really put His very nature in you?

  Job: If being blameless and upright is sufficient, why must I seek to be righteous, chasing after winds, impossible to capture, forever changing its dogmatic directions while convinced by others my I am is plenty, sufficient, trusting I can never be imputed with His nature, the righteousness you attribute for Him?

  Joseph: We must be righteous, demanding us to be more than blameless and upright, acknowledging we would never trust God to be less, to be imprisoned in our box. Righteousness, being right with God, obeying His commands, demands we must love Him, trusting in our becoming like Him, realizing the blameless and upright always fall short of becoming God-like.

  Bystander: Is God experimenting with creation, testing different models for a messiah, wondering if one now blameless and upright could be molded into a righteous being, one truly in His image, as He watches blemished humans, created by His word, inflicted with disobedience, tempted to do evil, flourishing but never prospering, His joy remaining a stranger.

  Job: I am honored with words of respect because I have always been a good-doer, praying daily for my family, covering them with God's protection, hoping they never sin and avoid displeasing Him.

  Joseph: Do you praise God for your abundance, thanking Him for all you have?

  Job: My good works reward me, counting on my achievements to shower me with blessings.

  Joseph: You testify to good works having a purpose, enriching your life here, trusting you are also storing up treasures in heaven, protecting you from injustices, assuring you will never suffer the fate of evil ones.

  Job: Having succeeded in all my efforts, rewarding me with comfort now, how could I believe in anything but the fruits of my achievements.

  Joseph: You have earned distinctions of being blameless and upright, but have come short of achieving righteousness.

  Job: That matters none. My life can be no better than it is now. My sons and daughters are mine, their children are mine, my flocks are mine, and all that you see is mine. Being blameless and upright blesses me with all I possess. My reward is God's recognition of my virtue and good works, assuring me of their foundation for my happiness.

  Bystander: What have you done for your children?

  Job: I have done everything possible to prepare my children for this world, educating them to deal with all our current problems.

  Bystander: Have you taught them God's truths, strengthening them to follow His ways, to obey His commands, ensuring they will be loyally faith-integrated throughout their lives?

  Job: They all know God's Word and what He expects of them to be blameless, to live upright lives. What more could anyone ask of them?

  Bystander: If you cannot tell me, you don't know what He wants of you.

  Job: You must think He wants us to be something impossible for any human being, unbelievable for the lot of us born sinful, expecting us to be righteous, accusing us of being disobedient, driving Him to be vengeful, seeking retribution, after making us out of a handful of dust to which we must return--wondering what can be expected from dust swept into a pile, commanding it to spring into life--never giving us any explanations for putting us on His stage, except maybe to amuse Himself.

  Bystander: You could have tried to please Him, to be more than blameless, admitting you are not unique, recognizing all claim to be blameless, innocent in their doings.

  Job: I differ little from others, believing my success cannot be called sin, with all the world realizing we would still be living as Neanderthals if no one endeavored to be affluent. With certainty He could bring my downfall, judging me to fall short of His expectations, as I'm not sure I could ever please Him.

  Joseph: My father was challenged by envy and greed, prospering his ambition, entitling him to rewards for all his labors, but God restrained his unworthy deeds, rejecting them, calling him to witness His truth, silencing challenging words, protecting those He claimed, proclaiming them for him to adopt His nature, assuring evil's intents would become empty, finding no stolen idols hidden to sustain greed's wealth, none anyone could return, none able to cry out, In distress are we concealed. Happy are all having nothing, possessing no treasures to tempt desire, proclaiming the Prince's coming will find them with no worldly gods.

  Job: God indeed guards the blameless and upright, repressing evil's great rage and restraining it's anger. Believing this, I clad myself with justice and clothe myself with innocence, striving to never lose my veil of blamelessness, trusting God will never test my faith in Him.

  Joseph: Trusting he had sealed all of value in his heart, my father never coveted any worldly treasures, none ever being ornaments of God's grace. He reserved fear only for his kinsmen, never knowing thoughts harnessing their ways.

  Job: No one dares testing me, especially close ones I have gifted abundantly, so all in my life fear to try my integrity. I live in peace with all, all knowing futile injustice leads to nowhere.

  Joseph: My fathers gathered stones for altars to honor and pay God homage with praise and prayers, a dedication we still trust in. Do you follow this practice?

  Job: God knows my heart and he requires no monuments of rocks to know my heart and recognize I am upright. He knows me by my deeds of good works promising to protect the fruits I have accumulated.

  Joseph: Piles of stones may signify nothing but they remind me to honor my creator God who protects me with angels, fortifying His army, revealed by His messengers, never taken for granted by any innocence I claim.

  Job: God has never spoken to me and I have never asked for His counsel or any interaction to intervene in my life. I am content with what I have, trusting what His spokesman has said of me, verifying I am blameless.

  Joseph: God speaks in visions and circumstances, revealing His actions through words you are likely to never hear. Has He touched you, catching your attention, certain of the Holy Spirit's voice, showing His will for you, leading you in these ways, or is the spokesperson praising your virtues speaking from imaginations you will, reasoning them to be true?

  Job: Only by blessings from my achievements could I recognize Him. He has laid no circumstances on me to make me fearful of anything, nothing to surround me with anxiety or needs for any protection. My abundant deeds, noteworthy as they are, protect me from unwanted circumstances. Being no second son has favored my circumstance, assuring me blessings for a first-born, endowing me with favored fruits from my father, treasures from my patriarchs, assigning me to bear the torch, continuing our legacy to be upright and blameless, committed to never appease evil, seeing it flee from my shadow, never jeopardizing peace I claim for my reward, the certain expectation for my noble virtues.

  Joseph: What peace can you claim? Is it the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, beyond which you can never know, or is it serenity rewarded by your blamelessness and claimed as your due?

  Job: No vision has ever come to my awareness, none showing God blesses me with peace, confessing I have never met Him face-to-face, encountering Him in a forbidden way, spelling certain death for fearful believers.

  Bystander: Not by blamelessness can you come face-to-face with God, nor will religiosity prepare you for His meeting, needing more than works of righteousness to enter His fellowship, trusting all come
s according to His mercy, confession's washing to regenerate our goodness, to renew our hearing the Holy Spirit.

  Job: I trust people of understanding walk uprightly, asking who can criticize their wisdom, formed from their breadth of knowledge, trusting it to last until their purpose vanishes, disappearing with the multitude of erudite ones supporting their decisions, wise ones never needing to see God.

  Joseph: My father had his name changed to "seeing God" after struggling with God, disguised as a mortal wrestler, engaging Him to a stalemate when he demanded God's blessing, insisting on becoming one blessed to be blessing, but God handicapped him for all to recognize, marking him as chosen, assigning him to represent remnants for announcing the promises of God's covenants, unfolding before him as truths revealed in a new day's light, fading all darkness away.

  Job: My common sense conflicts with anyone claiming visions of God, colliding with any pretenses of hearing God, of encountering Him in any form. Life can go on well without His intrusion, without seeing His face or hearing His voice. No doubt He created and blessed us,