Never Abandoned

I have not gone back from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured up the words of His mouth more than my necessary food. - Job 23:12

Perhaps it was in his pain that Job made this claim, but one must ask, "Is it really possible for someone to be completely, perfectly obedient?" Paul quoted King David (both very imperfect men), saying that there are none righteous, not even one. So, was Job professing himself to be completely righteous and yet by his profession actually proving his unrighteous pride?

Or, was Job possibly saying something else entirely?

It seems to me that Job was saying he had never "abandoned" God's Word, not that he had perfectly kept it. All our righteousness is false before a Holy God. While it is possible for us to occasionally disobey God's Word, it cannot be possible for a Christ-follower to abandon it altogether. Job may have questioned God's Word. He may have even disliked it, but he never abandoned it, and neither must we.

Here, then, is the real problem of our negligence. We fail in our duty to study God's Word not so much because it is difficult to understand, not so much because it is dull and boring, but because it is work. Our problem is not a lack of intelligence or a lack of passion. Our problem is that we are lazy. - R. C. Sproul