Job 29:13

What distress ever sought his help in vain? What story of grief did he brush aside? What sight of misery did he forget? The people he helped were moved when they saw him or heard him, even if his left hand did not know what his right had done. God does not let the memory of unselfish goodness die. The poor can bear as true a witness to loving-kindness as the rich can to a greatness beyond their own. And was not Job the deliverer of the poor, the orphan, the perishing, and the widow?

I suppose that everything Job said about himself was true. It was the effect of the grace of God in him; it did not belong to him naturally. And God, in the middle of His dealings with him and by those dealings, was letting him feel this. He recounted his good deeds, dwelt on them, and called them to mind. He recited them to his friends, who did not want to hear them… He seeks to adorn himself with his good deeds.

Job had acted well, for grace had acted in him; but he did not know himself before God. So he speaks: "When the ear heard, it called me blessed… I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy…" All very right and gracious. But was that all that was in Job's heart? What did thinking about it produce there? What did it show?

This is a most remarkable statement. We look in vain for any breathing of a broken and contrite spirit here. There are no signs of self-loathing, or even of self-distrust. We cannot find even one expression of conscious weakness and nothingness. In this one chapter Job refers to himself more than forty times. He mentions God only five times.

"Do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing." It does not mean that other people should not know about it. The wrong is that our left hand should know what our right hand does — that is, we ought not to think about it. We do it to God. We are only paying back a very little interest on the wonderful capital — the spiritual capital — that the Lord has put in our hands.

His condition in life did not make him proud, or self-indulgent, or indifferent to others. But he valued his condition… He loved his condition and circumstances in life — his place, his character, the respect people gave him, his honours and the praise of men. He was godly, truly and admirably so. There was none like him on the earth. But his place on the earth mattered to him. He was very ready to share and to serve, but he shared and served as a patron or a benefactor.

Job 29 has become one of the great "I" chapters of the Bible… Job 29 is the chapter of the self-satisfied "I." Romans 7 is the chapter of the self-condemned "I." To be self-condemned is far better than to be self-gratified or self-satisfied. Best of all is to be self-eclipsed, as we find Paul to be in Philippians 3, where he mentions "I" a good many times.