““If I’ve ever used my strength and influence to take advantage of the unfortunate, Go ahead, break both my arms, cut off all my fingers! The fear of God has kept me from these things— how else could I ever face him?” (Job 31:21–23, The Message)
Job's final summary argument with his three friends is contained in Job 31. His whole argument is that he has not been unrighteous, nor taken advantage of the poor and needy. The fear of God was the motive for Job's behavior. Not fear as in scary; as if Job were afraid of God who was standing over him with a brickbat waiting to strike, but fear as in deep and abiding respect, that God was the one in authority and Job wanted to honor that authority by his actions.
The fear of God is the foundation for a lot of things in the Scriptures. It's the foundation for wisdom and here it is the foundation for the way that we act.
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