I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go. My heart does not reproach me for any of my days.
– Job 27:6
So this is Job telling his friends that his suffering is not due to a particular sin in his life, which we know to be the case. Obviously, at the same time, that doesn’t mean that Job is sinless, that he is completely perfect.
Job 27:6 reminds us that the most important thing is righteousness.
But I love this verse because Job knows that the most important thing in his life is righteousness. This is what he wants to hold onto more than anything else, more than even his health, which he wants more than his reputation, more than a variety of things he wants, including his family.
And yet he says in Job 27:6, “I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.” This leads me to wonder in my own life and to ask you and yours, are you holding fast to righteousness in such a way that that’s the one thing today, you don’t want to let go no, matter what comes your way today, that you would hold fast to righteousness, and all the more so in the gospel, the righteousness that Jesus has made possible for us?
I think about 1 Corinthians 1, where it ends with talking about how Jesus is our righteousness, our holiness, and our redemption. You and I will face all kinds of temptations today, and tomorrow to sin, to turn from God, to not live in righteousness before God. And I want to encourage you, to hold fast to righteousness. It’s made possible by the blood of Jesus and by the Spirit of Jesus in you now. No matter what comes your way, hold fast to righteousness and do not let it go.
Job 27:6 challenges us to hold fast to righteousness.
Oh God, we pray that over our lives today. We pray that you would help us to be righteous in all our ways all day long. Please, oh God, by the power of your Holy Spirit inside of us, help us to turn from sin. We pray that our thoughts, our desires, our words, our actions would be righteous. God, help us to be zealous for righteousness today, to live out the practical outworking of the righteousness that Jesus has bought for us with His blood. Oh God, there’s no way we could be righteous on our own. We praise you for the gift of your righteousness in our lives and we pray, help us to live in it.
And God, if we sin today, help us to be quick, to repent of it, to turn from it. We pray for soft, humble hearts, that when we experience conviction from your Spirit, that we would hate our sin and turn from it, repent, confess, and return to the righteousness that you have made possible for us to live in. And God, we pray that you would help us today to spread the good news of a righteousness that’s available to all who trust in Jesus. God help us to be zealous, to lead people to the righteous one who has died on the cross for our sins and risen from the grave.
Prayer for the Afghan People
Lord, we pray for people around the world, specifically today for Afghan men and women, children in Afghanistan, and the many Afghans who have spread out around the world, including the city where I live and many other places. God, we pray for the spread of the righteousness of Jesus, of the blood bought righteousness that He’s made possible among Afghan men, women, and children. They would be reached with the good news of your grace and that they would be clothed in your righteousness through Jesus’ blood. Oh God, we pray, help us to hold fast a righteousness, to not let it go in light of Job 27:6, and to spread the good news of a righteousness in Jesus to people around us and to people around the world, including Afghans. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
