Devotionals: Integrity- the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness

Job 2:9 His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

In an interview on MarieTV hosted by Marie Fowleo, New York Times Best Selling Author , Life Coach, and Speaker Dr. Martha Beck quotes  “Integrity is the cure for unhappiness, period .”  Dr. Beck, who Oprah has called “The smartest woman I know" recently published a new  book in April, titled The Way of INTEGRITY , FINDING THE PATH TO YOUR TRUE SELF . In discussion with Marie Fowleo, she shared how not being true to yourself can affect you in a number of ways including physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. “Everyone has access to their intuition" said Dr. Beck, but related to Marie on the topic that some people feel a physical reaction when they are untrue to themselves. As I watched this interview  I  resonated with the physical impact of not living your truth as I often feel uncomfortable and uneasy when I am untrue to myself .

 I remember a time in my late teens when I tried to continue a friendship with a friend knowing that the friendship was no longer there. I remember acting as if their treatment and unkindness had no effect on me, knowing deep down it was eating me up on the inside. The more that I ignored my true feelings, the more pain I felt  . Then one day ( after a silent treatment of many days ), I finally mustered up the strength to tell them how I felt . In the moment  telling them the truth hurt, but in the end I felt free . As I grow and develop I strive to exercise living in my truth more and more, even if it may not please other people. As Dr. Martha Beck says in her interview “ It’s better to die telling your truth than to live without it". 

Someone in the Bible who was acknowledged by God for living in their truth and integrity was a man named Job in the land of Uz.  The Bible contains a whole book on the story of Job and starts off by telling us that Job was the  greatest of all men of the East and had many  children , animals, and servants. Job had all of this because he was favored by God and acknowledged  as blameless , upright , God fearing , and someone who shunned evil. In Job 2:3 when asked if he could test him, God gave Satan permission to test Job’s faith as long as he didn’t kill him . Satan wanted to test Job as he told God that Job was only being a good person because of all that God had given him . 

Job 2:3 Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.”

God gave Satan permission to do this as long as Satan did not kill Job (Satan killed Job's servants, daughters and sons , his animals and took away all he had and even put a skin disease on him). Through it all, though Job doubted God in some of his circumstance, he still believed in him and in the end asked God for forgiveness of his doubt and repented. In this, God blessed Job with double of what he had lost. Though saddened and downcast from all that had happened to him, in his trials and tribulations, Job still believed in God and kept his integrity. My prayer is that your and my faith will be like one of Jobs and that no matter what we will do our best to be true to God and to ourselves, living in integrity. 

Dear Lord,

Please help me to live in integrity. May I be true and truthful , even if it costs me . When I want to settle , remind me of who I am in You. You have plans to prosper me and not destroy me, plans to give me a better hope . As you replaced all of Job’s losses, you will do the same for me . I believe it and I receive it in Jesus mighty name , Amen .

Be Encouraged,

Noelani