Job 25-28 Bildad’s Final Words
Bildad’s final words to Job hit hard, but they are absolutely correct. Yet Job’s reply will end his three friend’s responses.
Bildad’s words are the shortest of all the replies. I expected Zophar to speak next, but he doesn’t. A new voice will be heard, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Bildad’s reply is the last of Job’s original friends to weigh in. And he says succinctly the thing that they have been arguing all along. “Man cannot be pure before God.”
Job knows this, be he still holds out that he is righteous before God. Let’s rejoin our group as the debate rages on. Holy Spirit, lead the way through this minefield of despair. Show me what You would have me learn, or see along the way.
♥ ♦ ♥
Bildad is exasperated. Job isn’t hearing them. He decides to make it plain and simple. A reply that Job cannot misunderstand or deny.
“God is Lord of EVERYTHING. There is no limit to His power or glory. And He has peace in Heaven. His light is pure; there is no darkness.”
Bildad looks to make sure that Job is following along.
“How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!” (Job 25:4-6).
Bildad sits back and crosses his arms across his chest. He could not have said it any plainer. Job’s other two friends nod their heads at his expected victory.
Job is not done. He isn’t buying into their assessment of him. He is certain of his innocence. Yes. Man cannot be completely pure before God, but he is as close as any man has ever gotten; or so he believes. And so he will contend until his dying breath!
“Some help you have been! You speak as though you have all the knowledge and wisdom, yet they have profited me nothing. You haven’t strengthened me in the least. Nor have you encouraged me. Useless friends you are.”
Job shakes his head in disgust.
“Even the grave trembles at the power of the Lord. Nothing can stand before Him. He hangs the earth, the sun, the moon and the stars. He created clouds to hold water in the sky. He set the boundaries of light and darkness. He controls the seas and the sea monster. He made the winds of heaven that support the birds in flight. These are but a tiny part of His greatness. We only know a tiny fraction of His greatness. When He whispers His secrets, we cannot understand. When He thunders, we believe we know his intentions, but who can truly know the mind of God?”
Job stands before his friends and lifts his right hand towards heaven. He wants them to hear him well.
“As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days” (Job 27:2-6).
Job drops his hand and returns to his spot on the ground. But his spirit does not flag.
“My enemy is the wicked, and all those who would rise up against me. What hope is there in ungodliness? Do you think that God will listen to the ungodly? That He would answer the wicked? I will teach YOU about God. I will show you His ways. You have seen it with your own eyes, yet your pride denies it.”
Job’s hard line depicting the wicked prospering is meeting its end. He shares what he knows to be true about those who practice wickedness. Not the ‘unfairness’ he is feeling.
“The wicked are judged by God. Ultimately, they do not prosper. Even when it looks like he is being blessed, it is fleeting and an illusion. All that he acquires turns to dust in the end. What he has laid up, is taken from him and given to the righteous. He goes to bed wealthy and wakes a pauper. Fear consumes him as he tries to hold fast what he has, as it slips from his grasp. Nothing remains of him and none will remember him when he is gone.”
Job looks off in the distance with a wistful expression on his face.
“Where is wisdom? Where is understanding?”
He looks at his friends again, as if taking them in for the first time.
“Man mines the earth and smelts the ore. He brings out of it iron and silver and other precious minerals, but there is no wisdom found there. It cannot be dug up as a stone or smelted as an ore. There is but one path to wisdom and understanding. It is not one that a bird can fly or the wild beasts can find. Even though man can overturn mountains, dam up streams, and chase back the darkness, he cannot find wisdom there. He cannot buy it for any price. Precious stones and costly things cannot be exchanged for it.”
Job looks towards heaven.
“So where can one find wisdom? ‘God understands the way to it, and he knows its place’ (Job 28:23). It was in His hands as he made the seas, as He established the wind and gave it its boundaries, when He appointed the rain and the sun, and when He rolls the thunder and flashes of lightning. He gave man a heart to search it out. He created in man a desire that only He could fill. ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding’ (Job 28:28). That is where wisdom begins and ends. In the Lord.”
(to be continued)
I was thinking about the search for wisdom and realized that THIS is where the first sin was; the search for wisdom. Satan told Eve that eating of the tree of knowledge would “Make one wise like God.” Eve wanted that wisdom. Man has been chasing after wisdom from the beginning.
God’s wisdom is beyond our understanding. Sure. We can learn His ways and follow His laws, but TRULY KNOWING what God know is beyond the ability of man. THIS is why we don’t have answers for when good things happen to bad people or when bad things happen to good people. We use our limited wisdom, but it is so small compared to His.
Father God, THANK YOU for little glimpses of wisdom. I am FAR from wise; especially compared to You. But I treasure each nugget You have given me along the way. I bow to Your wisdom. When I don’t understand, I KNOW that YOU do. I leave it in Your hands.
I wish knowing that You understand all things would make walking through the hard parts easier. It does, but also doesn’t. In the hardest times, when I want to cry out “WHY”, I don’t always hear an answer. I would LOVE answers in those times, but not knowing also makes me cling tighter to You. And THAT is wisdom.
Maybe that’s what I’m supposed to know even now. I want to cling to You in the good times, the bad times, and every season in between. Thank You for that pearl from today.
