October 16
Reading: Job 25
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “Dominion and fear are with God;
he makes peace in his high heaven.
3 Is there any number to his armies?
Upon whom does his light not arise?
4 How then can man be in the right before God?
How can he who is born of woman be pure?
5 Behold, even the moon is not bright,
and the stars are not pure in his eyes;
6 how much less man, who is a maggot,
and the son of man, who is a worm!”
Job’s three friends go out with a whimper. After the previous speech from Job, Bildad is giving up. We get only six verses from him. Zophar will not even bother to speak a third time.
Bildad’s argument here is a sort of last gasp. It is as if he mutters, “I’m just saying that God is perfect and all powerful and no human being can claim to be perfect.”
Job has not disagreed with this statement, but it fails to address his struggle in the slightest. Job has not claimed to be perfect. He has only maintained his righteousness.
In the Bible righteousness never means sinless perfection. Noah was righteous. Abraham was righteous. David was righteous. All of them sinned. True right standing before God is always by faith. (Romans 4) Faith is evidenced by a seeking after God, learning to trust Him, and growing in obedience to all that He says.
Faith ultimately means believing that our redeemer lives (Job 19:25) and that He has taken all our sins from us upon the Cross. We are worms in the light of God’s perfection. (vs. 6) Jesus, the Son of Man, has become a worm on our behalf to take our sins upon Himself. How can a man be pure? (vs. 4) The Scriptures tell us that it is only by the sacrifice of Jesus.
So, if these friends of Job misunderstood righteousness along with the character of God, what ought they have done as Job’s counsellors? They ought to have approached him with humility and compassion. Rather than seeking to discover his sin and insist on the judgment of God, they should have loved him. Proverbs 10:12 says, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions.”
In 1 Peter 4:8 we find this proverb applied to how we are to treat one another in the body of Christ, the church. “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without grumbling.” No doubt this attitude among Job’s friends would have helped Job and glorified God.