Hear Me!

If I have rejoiced at the ruin of him who hated me, or exulted when evil overtook him (I have not let my mouth sin by asking for his life with a curse), if the men of my tent have not said, ‘Who is there that has not been filled with his meat?’ (the sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler), if I have concealed my transgressions as others do by hiding my iniquity in my heart, because I stood in great fear of the multitude, and the contempt of families terrified me, so that I kept silence, and did not go out of doors—Oh, that I had one to hear me! (Here is my signature! Let the Almighty answer me!) Oh, that I had the indictment written by my adversary! Surely I would carry it on my shoulder; I would bind it on me as a crown; I would give him an account of all my steps; like a prince I would approach him.
Job 31:29–37
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Hear Me!
We all want our voices to be heard.  We don’t want to be silenced. That is why one of the fundamental rights guaranteed by our Constitution is the right to free speech. We know the importance of being able to plead your case.  This is what Job is asking for.  He wants God to lay out the charges against him which merit such treatment.  Lest we forget, Job is unaware that it is the devil who is tormenting him, not God. He begs to have the charges before him so that he may answer them. Job is confident that he will be vindicated. So confident in fact that he says he would carry his acquittal on his shoulder and wear it as a crown.  We too behave as Job did. We loudly declare our innocence and demand to be heard when we know we have done no wrong. Yet we rarely utter a peep when we believe we are getting away with a wrong.  We don’t demand a hearing when we speed home and don’t get caught. We don’t ask for the evidence when we lie and give false testimony against our neighbors, or when we break the Sixth Commandment by our thoughts. Nonetheless, the charges were read, and the sentence of death was given and carried out. Not by us, but by another. Christ Jesus shouldered our guilty sentence and carried it on a crown of thorns.  He died our death so that we might be declared innocent before out Father in heaven.  God heard His Son on the cross, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34), and He did. The blood of Jesus atoned for our sins.  
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