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Job's Final Protest of Innocence

I read Job 31 tonight. The title for this chapter, in the New Living Translation, is "Job's Final Protest of Innocence." As I read Job, I get upset with Job's so-called friends and their "advice" to Job. Why is it that we as humans (or worse yet, as Christians) are so quick to assume God's judgement on somebody else?

What caught my attention as I was reading this chapter and thinking back on Job's defense was his confidence before the Lord in the midst of this attack. If stuff like that was happening to me, the first thing I would do is ask God what I was doing wrong! But Job lived a life of integrity before the Lord. Job 1:1 - "There once was a man named Job who lived in the land of Uz. He was blameless--a man of complete integrity." (New Living Translation)

Now I know later in the book God calls Job on the carpet and gives him the "Look here buddy. Exactly who do you think you are to expect me to justify myself to you?" speech, but even that does not impugn Job's integrity.

And that brings me back to the most perplexing or disturbing aspect of this story (at least for me). Job was such a man of integrity that God bragged on him to the devil knowing what the devil's response would be and knowing what He was going to say in turn.

After reading about what a man of integrity Job was and pondering all that happened to him, my prayer is, "God, I want to make you proud of me like you were proud of Job...but maybe not so proud that you want to brag on me!"