Job 25 Bildad’s Third Response to Job
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied: “God is powerful and dreadful. He enforces peace in the heavens. Who is able to count his heavenly army? Doesn’t his light shine on all the earth? How can a mortal be innocent before God? Can anyone born of a woman be pure? God is more glorious than the moon; he shines brighter than the stars. In comparison, people are maggots; we mortals are mere worms.”
Few things are more frustrating than someone who insists on perpetually spouting pseudo-religious guff, and Bildad can do that with the best of them. Bildad makes the point that God is so far above human beings that He alone is pure and glorious while human beings, by comparison, are mere worms. Strictly speaking, there’s nothing wrong with that statement; however, Bildad is coldly furious that Job refuses to acknowledge his wormhood.
What Bildad fails to understand is that Job knows who God is and how glorious and pure God is; that’s why Job has confidence in God’s fairness and right judgement. Bildad is speaking about God from a theoretical standpoint; meanwhile, Job is speaking from practical experience and years of answered prayers. There’s a story about a pig and a chicken who were discussing the merits of a breakfast of ham and eggs. The pig finally told the chicken, “For you, it’s only a donation; for me, it’s a commitment.” For ham to exist, the pig would either have to die or to allow someone to carve off muscle from his thigh; meanwhile, the chicken could continue to lay eggs with very little inconvenience.
Bildad might know all the correct phrases about God, donating the time to state them, but Job is the one with the real commitment. Bildad is free to leave and return home whenever it suits him, while Job is stuck in this situation until it pleases God to change things.
Once more, we are struck by the difference between theory and experience. Through the centuries, nobody has applauded Eliphaz, Bildad, or any of Job’s other comforters for their merits; however, Job remains as an example of patience in the face of unimaginable suffering.
During the recent flooding in Texas, innumerable armchair critics have emerged. Safe in their homes, these people have spewed forth scathing remarks about those living along the Guadeloupe River and the ways they could have saved themselves. But many of the families had deliberately built their homes away from the river and even elevated them on stilts, only for the waters to swell and wash them away.
Humility is a very precious commodity, and the older I become, the more I prize it. To quote one of the songs from Fiddler on the Roof, “Life has a way of abusing us, blessing and bruising us.” Face it, none of us can truly understand another’s suffering, even when we have endured similar circumstances. While we might appreciate Bildad’s sentiments about God, we should not take him as an example and copy his behavior. The bottom lesson for today? Don’t be like Bildad!
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to be humble when we are dealing with those who are suffering, realizing that we might sympathize but that things might be far worse than we know. Help us to comfort with the comfort You give us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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