Job 8-9, Bildad is a moron. Job is broken.

Job is a book of the Bible where a righteous man experiences the deep and painful questions people have asked towards and about God: Why God? Why me? Why am I suffering? Why did you do this? Why do evil men prosper? What are you doing in my life? Where are you? How could you allow this if you're good and loving and all powerful? Job deals with the problem of man living with God. That sounds like an odd thing to write, but I think it's accurate. People who live with the knowledge of and relationship with an all mighty and loving God inevitably deal with these sorts of questions. In the story of Job we get to watch and experience a righteous, God-fearing man deal with these questions in the midst of incredible and heart rendering suffering.

So what happened previously? In chapter 5 one of Job's "friends", seeking to give him counsel, says Job was suffering because of sin/evil in his life. He encouraged Job to repent before God and all would be well. In chapters 6-7 Job wishes for death, complains his friends are sorry good-for-nothings, and rails against God's continual affliction upon his life.

Mind = blown.

Now in Job 8. (As always you are encouraged, yea invited to read along for yourself in your Bible or online). Bildad the Shuhite steps up to the plate to offer his "wisdom". So what does he have to say? I'm sure it will be really helpful...NOT! "How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?" (2-3). Bildad was offended Job had complained against God. He says Job should stop blowing hot air and should just remember God always does what is right. Then Bildad drops this bomb on Job, "If your children have sinned against him, he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression," (4). Surprisingly Bildad will not be guest hosting on Dr. Phil anytime soon. What a jerk! (I mean Bildad, not Dr. Phil).

Peacemaker. Assassinated.

Now comes Bildad's counsel, "If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy...surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation," (5-6). In Bildad's mind righteous people do not suffer before God. Instead the universe is a cause and effect place where only evil people suffer. In other words, "Everything will work out in the end", "Karma", "what comes around goes around," etc. His reasoning is as follows, "Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water? While yet in flower and not cut down, they wither before any other plant," (11-12). There is always a cause and effect for the things that happen. Plants wither due to lack of water. Sinners suffer before God because he will not allow them to prosper. Bildad continues talking, but this is the gist of what's being said: 'Good people don't suffer before God. Bad things only happen to evil people. Therefore Job, you should repent and God will graciously restore you.' Apparently Bildad had never heard of Hitler, Stalin, Castro, Mao, bad guys who did whatever they wanted, killed millions of people, and lived long lives. He also didn't know about Mother Teresa, Martin Luther King Jr, Jesus, William Wilberforce, or any other good and righteous person who lived in poverty, was assassinated, wrongly accused, or suffered their whole lives doing good with very little to show for it. Congratulations Bildad, you're a moron.

Mass murderer. Lived a long life.

Here's the point Bildad missed. Life isn't fair. Sometimes, (unfortunately oftentimes), the bad guys succeed and good guys suffer. This world is broken and messed up. It's evil and corrupted. Sometimes what is evil is glorified as good and righteousness is mocked. Evil dictators don't get horrible forms of cancer and suffer miserably. Sometimes saints do. The world is not as it should be. It is not as it was. At one time God and men lived in harmony in the Garden. God walked with man on a regular basis. Man and nature were rightly related to their Creator. However, corruption, evil, and brokenness entered the world because of man's sin and the world and mankind have never been the same. The good news though is the world will not always be this way. One day God will come back and the world will be restored. There will be no more sickness, no more crying, no more pain, and no more death. The guilty will be judged. Those who accept God's salvation in Christ will be saved.

Unfortunately Job doesn't know that. In chapter 9 he responds. His general point is God is so great, so holy, so awesome, and so powerful that no one can be right before him. He isn't admitting of wrong doing or unrighteousness, but instead he is pointing out how God is so strong he can overpower anyone, so therefore he will "prove" his own rightness. The question Job is raising is whether something is true/right because it is, i.e. "Roses are red." Or if something is right because God is so big and strong that you just simply have to agree with him or he'll step on you, i.e. "I say the rose is purple. If you disagree with me I will shoot you." "If one wished to contend with him, one could not answer him once in a thousand times...Behold, he snatches away; who can turn him back? Who will say to him, 'What are you doing?" (3, 12).

Job knows he has not sinned before God, but that doesn't seem to matter to the Almighty, (13-24). Right now God seems to be acting towards him without any rhyme or reason. Several times in this section Job asserts his righteousness. "Though I am in the right, Though I am in the right, Though I am blameless, I am blameless", (15, 20, 21). Even if that's the case, (as Job asserts), it doesn't matter, because "he would prove me perverse," (20). His conclusion is "He destroys both the blameless and the wicked," (22). Here's the problem as Job sees it: Job knows he has not sinned against God and did nothing to cause this calamity in his life, (as his friends have stated). But yet God has seemed fit to bring about the destruction of his family, his health, and his possessions. Job can see no reason why a good, loving, and all powerful God would allow such events in his life. Therefore even though Job feels like he could win an argument in court before God based solely on the facts, he has concluded God destroys whoever he wishes without any regard to righteousness or evil.

Job 9:25-32 - Job: Even if I tried to forget my problems or make myself righteous God would still not leave me alone. Job has determined God has put a target on his back and will not leave him alone, no matter what. Even if Job was able to forget his problems or make himself a completely sinless man, God, (at least in Job's mind), would still pursue and destroy him. "There is no arbiter between us, who might lay his hands on us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not dread of him terrify me." God, to Job, is like a mean kid on an ant hill with an magnifying glass. He takes delight in setting the little ants on fire. To Job, God is not a God of kindness, mercy, or fairness. He arbitrarily ruins and destroys people's lives. Ouch.

Let's stop and consider something here. Job was making judgments on the character of God based on his experiences and feelings. It's hard to blame the guy because he had no written Bible, no prophets, and no objective revelation from God. Remember, this was about the time of Abraham. The information on the Almighty was a bit limited. However, you and I cannot make the same mistake as Job. God has revealed himself in the Bible. We have a written, objective revelation from God about who He is, what He is like, and what is true. We cannot decide who God is and how he acts based on our feelings, our experiences, or what we would like. We live in a subjective and relativistic world where men create their own truth and ideas about God/religion as it suits them. Deciding what we think is true or right doesn't work in the field of math, law, science, or on Hwy 85. Subjective thinking about God isn't going to be work either. God has given the Bible to reveal himself and what is true. Look to IT to find out what is true about life and God.

It's hard to blame Job for his thinking getting out of whack, but Job is starting to get in a dangerous place. You and I can do the same thing. When someone we love says "cancer", when we lose our job, if our kids get wronged or God forbid someone gets killed it is natural to draw conclusions about the justice, power, and love of God. The problem Job faces is he is drawing wrong conclusions about the Lord based on his experiences. His conclusions were subjective, not based on any objective reality outside of himself. This is why you and I have to be sure what we think about truth, life, sex, money, marriage, and God are based in an objective reality. Truth is not based on what our friends think, our circumstances say, or what we like. Truth is simply truth. It's like the rose analogy I used earlier. A red rose is a red rose, period. This is based on the objective standard of the definitions of colors and flowers. If you don't like that a red rose is red, it doesn't change that reality. We must define truth, life, and God on the objective reality of the Bible, not our preferences or our circumstances. Is that hard? Yep. But it's also the only way we can have any certainty and security in our hearts and minds.

We must stress that the basis for our faith is neither experience nor emotion but the truth as God has given it in verbalized, prepositional form in the Scripture and which we first of all apprehend with our minds.

Job is getting in a bad place and it's going to get worse. Just hang in there Job, (or you if you find yourself in a similar situation). God has not forsaken you. He knows what he's doing even if you, (or I), don't. See you next time.