In Job 8, his second friend Bildad speaks for the first time. He has listened to the exchanges between Job and Eliphaz and is thoroughly appalled at Job. I know that true friends must sometimes be brutally honest, but calling Job’s laments a “great wind” is like calling your friend “full of hot air” today. This is the wrong kind of judgement, not compassion.
Bildad goes on to say that God would never do such horrible things to an innocent man. It can only be that his children were killed by God’s judgment because they sinned against God. And Bildad exhorts Job to repent to the Almighty for mercy. If Job is truly upright and blameless, God will surely restore Job’s fortune. Bildad then brutally preaches down at Job, saying, “Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish” (8:13).
In Chapter 9, Job acknowledges to Bildad that he must repent, but not because his children deserved everything they got. While Job’s words are part of a sincere lamentation over what has happened to him, he has not cursed God. Job has a spark of God that foretells of the Apostle Paul when he asks Bildad, “But how can [any] man be in the right before God?” (9:2). Centuries later Paul captures the same thought:
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”[1]
Job observes bitterly that God destroys both the blameless and the wicked (9:22).
Job feels that God is the Grinch who stole his life.
It is so sad to see Job, and our friends today who do not understand God. Job does not know of Jesus, but many people today either have never heard or have intentionally rejected the second half of Paul’s words from Romans in the first quote above:
“…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”[2]
This is the true gift under the tree of our hearts on Christmas Day. Oh, that Job could have known, but glory be, we do know, because a baby was born to show us the way through the never-ending love of God.
As you read this, Sue and I are facing a Grinch-like Christmas. I mentioned two weeks ago how God had chosen to expose me to one hour of the most oppressive evil I had ever felt, just as I began this study of Job. I believe he wanted me to understand how hard it is without Jesus.
In the two weeks since then, we discovered that my 95-year-old father, a proud veteran of World War II, has been systematically robbed of more than $1,000 by trusted employees at his assisted living facility. The violation of trust is worse than the loss of money. This truly has been the Grinch that stole Christmas.
In addition, all residents have been confined to their rooms because a terrible virus is sweeping through the facility.
Like Job, I cry, “Why, oh Lord?”
But unlike Job, I know God is not the Grinch who steals this Christmas. Satan wants very badly to be the Grinch. Jesus says, “No, you cannot have my children.”
In fact, one way or another, Jesus will be more prominent than ever for us this Christmas, as his incredible grace steers us through a fallen world and we work to forgive even this atrocity against some very vulnerable people.
May God bless you all, in ways you never imagined, this Christmas Day!
[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 3:23). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[2] The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 3:23–24). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
Bildad goes on to say that God would never do such horrible things to an innocent man. It can only be that his children were killed by God’s judgment because they sinned against God. And Bildad exhorts Job to repent to the Almighty for mercy. If Job is truly upright and blameless, God will surely restore Job’s fortune. Bildad then brutally preaches down at Job, saying, “Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish” (8:13).
In Chapter 9, Job acknowledges to Bildad that he must repent, but not because his children deserved everything they got. While Job’s words are part of a sincere lamentation over what has happened to him, he has not cursed God. Job has a spark of God that foretells of the Apostle Paul when he asks Bildad, “But how can [any] man be in the right before God?” (9:2). Centuries later Paul captures the same thought:
“…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God…”[1]
Job observes bitterly that God destroys both the blameless and the wicked (9:22).
Job feels that God is the Grinch who stole his life.
It is so sad to see Job, and our friends today who do not understand God. Job does not know of Jesus, but many people today either have never heard or have intentionally rejected the second half of Paul’s words from Romans in the first quote above:
“…and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”[2]
This is the true gift under the tree of our hearts on Christmas Day. Oh, that Job could have known, but glory be, we do know, because a baby was born to show us the way through the never-ending love of God.
As you read this, Sue and I are facing a Grinch-like Christmas. I mentioned two weeks ago how God had chosen to expose me to one hour of the most oppressive evil I had ever felt, just as I began this study of Job. I believe he wanted me to understand how hard it is without Jesus.
In the two weeks since then, we discovered that my 95-year-old father, a proud veteran of World War II, has been systematically robbed of more than $1,000 by trusted employees at his assisted living facility. The violation of trust is worse than the loss of money. This truly has been the Grinch that stole Christmas.
In addition, all residents have been confined to their rooms because a terrible virus is sweeping through the facility.
Like Job, I cry, “Why, oh Lord?”
But unlike Job, I know God is not the Grinch who steals this Christmas. Satan wants very badly to be the Grinch. Jesus says, “No, you cannot have my children.”
In fact, one way or another, Jesus will be more prominent than ever for us this Christmas, as his incredible grace steers us through a fallen world and we work to forgive even this atrocity against some very vulnerable people.
May God bless you all, in ways you never imagined, this Christmas Day!
[1] The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 3:23). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
[2] The New International Version. (2011). (Ro 3:23–24). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
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