Bildad’s View of God
Job 8
September 27, 2015
Well, as you know we are working our way through this story of Job and “The Woeful World of Uz”
• Job was a righteous man who suffered immensely.
• His suffering was not a result of his sin.
• His suffering was not deserved.
• And yet he suffered anyway.
• He lost his livestock
• He lost his crop
• He lost his children
• He lost his health
All he had left was a wife who told him to “curse God and die”
And three friends who have made it their personal mission
To find out what it was that Job did wrong.
In short, not only has Job suffered immensely,
But he has also done so without the smallest hint of compassion
From those who were supposed to care for him.
This is a horrific reality.
We have grown to understand that suffering is part of this human life.
Job himself reminded us in chapter 7 that life is hard and life is temporary.
Thanks to the sin curse we know that we are not immune to suffering.
• There isn’t enough money…
• There isn’t enough medicine…
• There aren’t enough safety precautions…
• There isn’t enough planning…
• TO KEEP MAN FROM SUFFERING
It is going to happen.
What we desire, is to be a voice of compassion and encouragement for people when they suffer.
Our objective is to
• Help them see their suffering biblically
• Help them trust God in the middle of the storm
• Help them carry their burden as much as we possibly can
And to better learn this, we are studying the book of Job.
Because, let’s face it, Job received none of this.
Instead of compassion he received accusation
Instead of encouragement he received condemnation.
AND WE DON’T WANT TO BE PEOPLE LIKE THAT.
Not only because people like that don’t help people in their suffering,
But also because God isn’t pleased with people like that.
At the very end of this book, God Himself will say:
Job 42:7-8 “It came about after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right as My servant Job has. “Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, and go to My servant Job, and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves, and My servant Job will pray for you. For I will accept him so that I may not do with you according to your folly, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”
Not only do we want to be an encouragement to those who suffer,
But even more than that we definitely want to be
Those who speak what is right concerning God.
Misrepresenting God is a terrible folly.
You remember the 10 commandments.
The 2nd said, NO GRAVEN IMAGES
Because they all misrepresent God.
Isaiah 40:18 “To whom then will you liken God? Or what likeness will you compare with Him?”
Isaiah 46:5 “To whom would you liken Me And make Me equal and compare Me, That we would be alike?”
You might sculpt a glorious eagle as a representative of God,
And regardless of your good intent, that is nothing but an insult to God
To suggest that He is as limited as an eagle.
A bird that can’t talk, can’t swim, can’t lift burdens with it’s fingers,
Can’t command the seas, and can’t raise the dead.
And in that misrepresentation you not only disrespect God,
But you do a disservice to all those you show the statue to
As their view of God becomes limited and weak.
Misrepresenting God is a horrendous crime.
And yet that is what Job’s friends had done.
They are not speaking what is right about God.
Our objective is to examine what they said, see why it wasn’t right,
And make sure we don’t make the same mistakes.
We already saw the explanation of Eliphaz who was certain that Job’s suffering was a result of his sin and that if Job would just repent then God would instantly take it all away.
Job refuted that last week.
Now friend number 2 rises to speak.
Tonight we get “Bildad’s View of God”
What I want to do tonight is first simply work through the text
And then come back and sort of extract the problem areas in Bildad’s theology.
5 points
#1 BILDAD’S ACCUSATION OF GUILT
Job 8:1-4
Once again it is obvious that Job’s friends
Don’t like the bitter words that are coming of Job’s mouth.
(1-2) “Then Bildad the Shuhite answered, “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a mighty wind?”
If you will remember Job already explained why his words are harsh.
Job 6:2-3 “Oh that my grief were actually weighed And laid in the balances together with my calamity! “For then it would be heavier than the sand of the seas; Therefore my words have been rash.”
Job said that the reason his words were so harsh
Was because his suffering was so bad.
The reason you can’t fathom my harsh words
Is because you haven’t truly analyzed my harsh situation.
Job would say later:
Job 6:26 “Do you intend to reprove my words, When the words of one in despair belong to the wind?”
“You know people who are suffering sometimes say things they don’t mean.”
Well, it is obvious that Bildad took offense to that statement
Because here he references it.
“Job your words might belong to the wind, but they are a “mighty wind”
As if to say, one that can’t be overlooked.
I don’t care how bad your suffering has been,
Nothing warrants the type of things you’ve been saying.
And then Bildad (as Eliphaz did before him) seeks to bring a little understanding to the scene.
(3-4) “Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right? “If your sons sinned against Him, Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.”
What Bildad says here is hard to argue with.
“Does God pervert justice?” – obviously “No”
“Does the Almighty pervert what is right?” – again “No”
That is Bildad’s way of saying that
God wouldn’t do anything that was wrong.
And then Bildad explains exactly what he is getting at.
“If your sons sinned against Him, Then He delivered them into the power of their transgression.”
So why does Bildad think Job’s sons died?
“your sons sinned against Him”
And as a punishment for their sin God has “delivered them into the power of their transgression.”
Are you catching what Bildad is saying?
Not only are your sons dead, but your sons
Are now suffering the wrath of God which they deserved.
That’s comfort to one who has lost a child.
But more than disturbing it is absolutely stupid,
For no one but God could possibly know such a thing.
(Even for the obvious sinner, you cannot know if he had a “thief on the cross” experience)
Bildad is pretty severe.
Bildad’s Accusation of Guilt
#2 BILDAD’S ADVICE TO JOB
Job 8:5-7
Here it is again, not so different from Eliphaz.
“If you would seek God and implore the compassion of the Almighty,”
Again, they are presupposing that Job has not.
But beyond that, notice what Bildad says:
“If you are pure and upright, surely now He would rouse Himself for you and restore your righteous estate. Though your beginning was insignificant, yet your end will increase greatly.”
Here is what makes them so difficult to deal with.
Bildad was 98% correct.
In fact Bildad was only off on one word – “now”
God did do what Bildad said.
Job 42:10-17 “The LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends, and the LORD increased all that Job had twofold. Then all his brothers and all his sisters and all who had known him before came to him, and they ate bread with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversities that the LORD had brought on him. And each one gave him one piece of money, and each a ring of gold. The LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; and he had 14,000 sheep and 6,000 camels and 1,000 yoke of oxen and 1,000 female donkeys. He had seven sons and three daughters. He named the first Jemimah, and the second Keziah, and the third Keren-happuch. In all the land no women were found so fair as Job’s daughters; and their father gave them inheritance among their brothers. After this, Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons and his grandsons, four generations. And Job died, an old man and full of days.”
God did what Bildad suggested, God just didn’t do it “now”.
Furthermore, God always does what Bildad suggested for His children,
He just doesn’t always do it “now” nor does He always do it here.
Bildad is confident that the only thing holding Job back from a life of prosperity and ease is simply the decision to seek God.
It is the prosperity gospel.
Bildad’s Accusation of Guilt, Bildad’s Advice to Job
#3 BILDAD’S APPEAL TO HISTORY
Job 8:8-10
At this point Bildad wishes to support his prosperity claims.
No, he doesn’t go to Scripture to support his thesis,
But rather he appeals to history.
You’ll remember that Eliphaz appealed to his experience and his vision.
Bildad appeals to history
(8-10) “Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers. “For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are as a shadow. “Will they not teach you and tell you, And bring forth words from their minds?”
So according to Bildad if you’ll just open your history book,
Or read the diary of your ancestors,
You will find that they already knew what I’m telling you.
If you’ll just fess up to your sin and start to seek God,
Then God will make it all good and prosperous.
Bildad says history supports his claim.
I would remind you that like experience and like visions,
History is also NOT infallible.
History contains a lot of wisdom and insight, but no guarantees.
Just because it happened one way with one man
Does not guarantee it will always happen that way.
Roger Staubach threw a jump ball up to Drew Pearson in a playoff game against Minnesota. They completed the pass called “The Hail Mary” and won the game.
Many “Hail Mary’s” have been attempted since that day, but there is no guarantee that just because it worked once it will work again.
It might, but it might not.
History is an important reference, but it is not an infallible guarantee.
Yet, Bildad appeals to history to support his claims.
#4 BILDAD’S ANALOGY OF JUDGMENT
Job 8:11-19
Here Bildad actually has an illustration in order to prove his point to Job.
(11-13) “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes grow without water? “While it is still green and not cut down, Yet it withers before any other plant. “So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the godless will perish,”
Have you ever seen a cypress tree grow up next to a tank?
My parents had several, they grew quick and grew tall.
They prospered, but at the slightest hint of drought they died.
Job says the wicked are just like that.
They may in fact thrive on their sin for a season, but they won’t last and they will perish, just like a cypress tree.
He is telling Job “You obviously are the wicked who has forgotten God”
Bildad continues his explanation of the wicked
(14-19) “Whose confidence is fragile, And whose trust a spider’s web. “He trusts in his house, but it does not stand; He holds fast to it, but it does not endure. “He thrives before the sun, And his shoots spread out over his garden. “His roots wrap around a rock pile, He grasps a house of stones. “If he is removed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I never saw you.’ “Behold, this is the joy of His way; And out of the dust others will spring.”
According to Bildad the wicked may thrive for a season,
But they have no security.
They can get big and look great, but that is a slippery slope.
Someday it will all come crashing down
And no one will ever hear from them again.
In short, the only thing the wicked has to look forward to
Is his momentary moment in the sun, but it won’t last forever.
He is like a cypress tree.
And be honest, you don’t disagree with him do you?
In fact, it sounds quite a bit like what Jesus taught us.
Matthew 7:24-27 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell — and great was its fall.”
The wicked may in fact build a great house,
But it won’t stand through the judgment.
Isn’t that what Bildad just said?
And then we have Bildad’s final statement.
#5 BILDAD’S ANSWER TO SUFFERING
Job 8:20-22
• Based on Bildad’s theology that God doesn’t pervert justice.
• Based on his belief that God rewards sinners for their sin.
• Based on his understanding that history supports this theory.
• Based on his claim that the wicked man’s time in the sun is fleeting.
Bildad offers this final summary on suffering.
(20-22) “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers. “He will yet fill your mouth with laughter And your lips with shouting. “Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the tent of the wicked will be no longer.”
Bildad’s final answer to suffering is as follows:
• God doesn’t reject the righteous.
• God doesn’t help the wicked.
• If you’d repent God would bless you.
• If you don’t, you won’t survive.
That is basically Bildad’s thesis and he says history supports him.
Now, let’s be honest, it’s really hard to find the holes
In what Bildad is saying.
Tell me if you disagree with any of these statements:
• God doesn’t pervert justice.
• The Almighty doesn’t pervert what is right.
• God delivers sinners into the power of their transgression.
• God has proven Himself faithful throughout history.
• The hope of the godless will perish.
• God will not reject the righteous.
You don’t disagree with any of that do you?
And yet, at the end of the book of God is clear that
Bildad has not spoken what is right about God.
So what do we do with this?
What did Bildad say that was so wrong?
That is what I want to show you.
It’s subtle, but it is dangerous.
Bildad misrepresents God in a very subtle and yet dangerous way.
(i.e. the dangers of the prosperity gospel)
I’ll have to show them to you quickly,
But there are actually 5 ways that Bildad misrepresents God.
1) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY (3)
“Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert what is right?”
Now on the surface we obviously have to answer “No” to that question.
If someone at random on the street comes and asks that question,
The answer is always “no, He does not”
So what makes Bildad’s use of it so wrong?
It is the situation in which Bildad makes that statement
That reveals the flaw in his doctrine.
What is the situation?
The suffering of Job
The question is whether or not what Job is facing is “right” or “wrong” whether or not Job’s suffering is “just” or “unjust”.
Here is what Bildad is saying.
“Job, if you are saying that you are righteous
Then that would make what God did wrong.”
But let’s back up for a second.
Who gets to decide what is “right” and what is “wrong”?
Who gets to decide what is “just” and what is “unjust”?
God does.
Bildad has already defined what is “right” and “wrong” and then uses his own definition to say what God would or wouldn’t do.
Bildad is measuring God by his own standard.
According to Bildad a righteous man suffering is “wrong”
And therefore God wouldn’t do that.
According to Bildad it is “right” to reward a righteous man,
And so that is what God does.
Let me give you another example.
In Seminary I had on O.T. professor teach about the conquest under Joshua and the annihilation of so many people. The professor asked, “Was God ethical to order the death of so many people?”
We hear that sort of thing today don’t we?
But that is getting things backward.
God does not have to answer to our standard, we answer to His.
• Because He is holy, everything He does is holy.
• Because He is love, everything He does is love.
• Because He is perfect, everything He does is perfect.
If His actions offend your standards, then change your standards.
DON’T FORGET WHO IS POTTER AND WHO IS CLAY
To force God to fit into your own standards
Is to replace God’s sovereignty with your own.
That is what Bildad is doing.
And it is a common mistake we make in counseling people.
We see a tragedy and we assure people,
“That is not God’s will” or “God wouldn’t do that”
And we assure them of that
Because in our mind it would be wrong for God to do that.
THEN HOW DID IT HAPPEN?
The reality is that God is sovereign,
And nothing happens apart from His sovereign will.
If it offends your definition of justice or what is right,
Then you need to change your definition.
Bildad misrepresents God’s sovereignty.
He would have been better off to say, “I know this doesn’t look right to you and me, but we aren’t God, and I assure you that He knows what He is doing.”
2) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S MERCY (6)
(6) “If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for you And restore your righteous estate.”
One little word, but what a massive implication.
Bildad just told Job to seek God
And then assured him that God would be merciful.
But did you catch that enormous word?
“If”
Bildad says that God is only merciful and compassionate to those who “are pure and upright”
That is a misrepresentation of God’s mercy.
Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
Psalms 103:10 “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.”
If Job listens to Eliphaz and Bildad, he is in a world of hurt
Because Eliphaz is sure that Job is sinful
And Bildad insinuates that mercy is only for the righteous.
HE IS NOT SPEAKING WHAT IS RIGHT ABOUT GOD
We worship a God that is merciful to sinners, regardless of their sin.
3) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S TIMING (6)
(6) “If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for you And restore your righteous estate.”
That word “now” is also an enormous word in this text.
Bildad puts God on an immediate time table.
And I’m sorry, but you just can’t do that.
• We are continually told to “wait” on the Lord.
• We are familiar with Jesus and Lazarus, and an incident were Jesus purposely waited 4 more days just to give Lazarus time to die first.
• How many of God’s saints asked that infamous question, “How Long?”
God does not operate on our time schedule
And to assure people that He does is a misrepresentation of Him.
4) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S WORK (8)
(8) “Please inquire of past generations, And consider the things searched out by their fathers.”
Bildad assured Job that history proved
That the righteous were always quickly delivered,
While the wicked were always quickly destroyed.
That is to say that God has always done it this way in the past.
Not only is that demoralizing to a saint who continues to suffer,
But it just isn’t true.
Genesis 4:1-8 “Now the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived and gave birth to Cain, and she said, “I have gotten a manchild with the help of the LORD.” Again, she gave birth to his brother Abel. And Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to the LORD of the fruit of the ground. Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain and for his offering He had no regard. So Cain became very angry and his countenance fell. Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.” Cain told Abel his brother. And it came about when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.”
• Or should we read about how the prophets were treated?
• Or should we read about God’s Son was treated?
This notion that history is full of stories were the good are quickly delivered and the wicked always get caught are simply not true.
Yes we have great heart-warming stories like
• Daniel in the Lion’s Den
• David and Goliath
• The 3 Hebrew boys in the fiery furnace.
But is that how it always happens?
1 Kings 18:3-4 “Ahab called Obadiah who was over the household. (Now Obadiah feared the LORD greatly; for when Jezebel destroyed the prophets of the LORD, Obadiah took a hundred prophets and hid them by fifties in a cave, and provided them with bread and water.)”
What about all those prophets that didn’t survive?
We read in the New Testament about how Peter was in prison
And the church prayed and he was released.
But what about the story right before that
Where James was killed with the sword?
The point is that there are most definitely times
Of God’s miraculous deliverance of His children,
But that isn’t always the case.
There are also stories of martyrdom and death.
And neither was the result of the person’s righteousness.
It was due to the fact that it fit God’s eternal purpose.
Bildad misrepresents God’s work throughout history.
5) BILDAD MISREPRESENTS GOD’S FAVOR (20)
(20) “Lo, God will not reject a man of integrity, Nor will He support the evildoers.”
Bildad’s answer is that
• If Job was really a man of integrity Then God wouldn’t reject him.
• If Job is instead an evildoer then there is no way God will support him.
But it is obvious that he has a mixed up definition
Of “reject” and “support”
According to Bildad suffering is an indicator
That God has rejected you
And prosperity is an indicator that God is supporting you.
And that simply isn’t true.
In fact, it is actually quite true that
God does in fact allow suffering in the lives of those He does accept.
What does the writer of Hebrews tell us?
Hebrews 12:5-6 “and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.”
Or we could read:
Philippians 1:29-30 “For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.”
Bildad implies that a good God
Wouldn’t bring suffering into the life of His children,
But that misrepresents God’s work in our lives.
The Bible is clear that God does do that.
He uses those things to accomplish His perfect will.
So on the surface everything Bildad says sure sounds and seems right,
But it is a blatant misrepresentation of God.
GOD IS SOVEREIGN,
• Whatever He does is right and He does not have to answer to your standard of justice.
GOD IS MERCIFUL,
• Even to sinners who do not deserve it.
GOD WORKS ACCORDING TO HIS TIMING,
• Not yours because He is accomplishing His purpose, not man’s.
GOD IS NOT FORCED TO ALWAYS DELIVER IN THIS LIFE.
• He doesn’t have to jump through our hoops, especially when His purpose requires deliverance at a later date. He doesn’t always instantly remove pain from His children, instead He lovingly asks them to wait on His timing.
AND GOD’S FAVOR IS NOT MEASURED BY WHETHER OR NOT WE SUFFER.
• God’s favor is promised to all those who have trusted in His Son, where there will be eternal comfort and prosperity.
What Bildad says only works if God works for you like a powerful genie.
Don’t be guilty of misrepresenting Him to those who suffer.
Instead remind those who suffer that
• God is sovereign
• God is Merciful
• God’s timing is for a purpose and it is perfect
• God’s work is also perfect regardless of the present affliction
• God’s favor is not proved by the presence of prosperity, but by the giving of His Son to die in your stead.
Don’t be a comforter like Bildad.
It dishonors God and it discourages those who suffer.
