What is man, that he can be pure?

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What is man, that he can be pure? Or he who is born of a woman, that he can be righteous? Behold, God puts no trust in his holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in his sight; how much less one who is abominable and corrupt, a man who drinks injustice like water! (Job 15:14-16 ESV)

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This view of God's creation, voiced by Eliphaz the Temanite as he speaks to Job a second time, is common among many religious people. It builds on the theological idea of original sin and posits that humans, because of sin, are worthy of God's disdain. Though it is a popular view, in the case of Job it is absolutely wrong because God says of Job "there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil".

When bad things happen to people like Job there can be a temptation to say that they caused it because of a lack of faith or sin. People insinuated such things when my first wife received prayer for healing but was not healed. The tendency in some is to look to the sin of others instead of our own sin. It is why Jesus commanded that we remove the log from our own eye before we try to remove another's splinter. Often the one who is hurt and grieving is blameless.

Help me Lord to always be compassionate and loving when I interact with hurting people.

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