Righteous Resolve

“As God lives,.. as long as my breath is in me,
    and the spirit of God is in my nostrils,
my lips will not speak falsehood,
    and my tongue will not utter deceit.
Far be it from me to say that you are right;
    till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go;
    my heart does not reproach me for any of my days.” Job 27:2-6

“My son, if you receive my words
    and treasure up my commandments with you,
making your ear attentive to wisdom
    and inclining your heart to understanding;
if you call out for insight
    and raise your voice for understanding,
if you seek it like silver
    and search for it as for hidden treasures,
then you will understand the fear of the Lord
    and find the knowledge of God.
For the Lord gives wisdom;
    from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
    he is a shield to those who walk in integrity…
Then you will understand righteousness and justice
    and equity, every good path;
for wisdom will come into your heart,
    and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul;
discretion will watch over you,
    understanding will guard you,
delivering you from the way of evil,
    from men of perverted speech,
who forsake the paths of uprightness
    to walk in the ways of darkness,
who rejoice in doing evil
    and delight in the perverseness of evil,
men whose paths are crooked,
    and who are devious in their ways.

So you will be delivered from the forbidden woman,
    from the adulteress with her smooth words…

So you will walk in the way of the good
    and keep to the paths of the righteous.” Proverbs 2:1-7,9-16,20

While his days are peppered with pain and captious pith from mistaken friends, Job maintains a holy resolve. His every practice may not perfectly align, but his passion is all for God and bound up in His constancy and supremacy. He meets and combats every onslaught with more and more tenacious faith and testimony of God’s sovereign goodness.

It is up to us to set determination. The distractions in our days are many. Along the way of duty and doing we face detours, judgments, and difficulties that pull at focus and effort and will. The enemy never ceases attempting to disrupt and destroy. Fixing and filling our mind with Christ, fueling ourselves with His word, helped by His righteousness pulsing through our veins, we set the course for intent and behavior. This initial resoluteness and constant aligning keeps motion dynamic and God-ward. (John 10:10)

Where am I lacking discipline and direction? Are there indulgences of flesh or thought that foment dissension, dark thinking, resentment, or shame? How stabile is my self-control in habits of speech or temper? Where need I reset commitment, and how will I regularly fortify it?

As God lives, what fuels my passions and sets the course for my days? What’s my long view for character, conduct, and purpose? How deliberately do I make decisions and direct energies to affect not only today but the future, both private life and wider relationships? Do I think through these things, and move ahead carefully without caprice? Holding fast to God’s wisdom shields against sin. (Psalm 17:3; 39:1; 119:11)

Lord, incline my heart and will toward You and so secure holy resolve all my days.