1.6.25 – Job 8

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Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. Alan J. Huth shares a Bible passage with comments from over 35 years of his personal Bible reading journals and applies the Word of God to our daily lives.

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Today we are in Job chapter 8. Another friend, Bildad, speaks to Job. Let’s listen in to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of Job 8. Job 8

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Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said, How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? Does God pervert justice, or does the Almighty pervert the right? If your children have sinned against Him, He has delivered them into the hand of their transgression. If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy… If you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. And though your beginning was small, your latter days will be very great. For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing. For our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you and utter words out of their understanding? Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water? While yet in flower and not cut down they wither before any other plant. Such are the paths of all who forget God. The hope of the godless shall perish. His confidence is severed and his trust is a spider’s web. He leans against his house, but it does not stand. He lays hold of it, but it does not endure. He is a lush plant before the sun, and his shoots spread over his garden. His roots entwine the stone heap. He looks upon a house of stones. If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, I have never seen you. Behold, this is the joy of his way, and out of the soil others will spring.” Behold, God will not reject a blameless man, nor take the hand of 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 more.

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In 1984, at 29 years old, the second journal I ever wrote, I read Job chapters 8 through 10 on the same day, and I wrote about chapter 8. Bildad says God rewards good. Thirteen years later, in 1997 at 42 years old, I was reading the Old Testament only that year, and I read Job chapters 6 through 11 on the same day, and I had no reference to chapter 8. 18 years later, I again read Job in 2015 when I was 60 years old, and I read chapters 8 and 9 on the same day. And that day I wrote in my personal Bible reading journal, Bildad says, God is just. He would not, cannot protect evil or punish righteousness. So let’s take a look at Bildad’s argument here in chapter 8. Bildad begins with verse 2 saying, How long will you say these things? And the words of your mouth be a great wind. What is he referring to? What things did Job just finish with in chapter 7? Let’s go back to the end of chapter 7, verse 20. Job is saying, If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind? Why have you made me your mark? Why have I become a burden to you? Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? Bildad is now responding to those questions. It’s hard to know by reading these chapters whether these are interruptions in Job’s speaking or if they’re conversational. In other words, did Job finish his argument and now Bildad is speaking, or did Bildad just jump right in the middle of what Job was saying and say, how long do you say these things and the words of your mouth be like a great wind? It may be a lesson for all of us, an application out of this, to listen to people before we interrupt them. Stephen Covey wrote that great book called Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. And the first principle, I believe, was seek first to understand, then be understood. I’m not sure that that’s the order of events here in the book of Job. But let’s tune in to what Bildad responds to Job. Verse 3, he says, In other words, God is just. He is fair. And verse 4 then says, So in other words, something’s gone wrong and God has judged. Then in verse 5 he says to Job, If you will seek God and plead with the Almighty for mercy, if you are pure and upright, surely then he will rouse himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. I think Job understands that argument. I think Job is seeking the Lord. I think he is pleading for mercy. He is depending on a God who is just because he knows his own innocence. And Bildad concludes his discussion in verse 20 by saying, So again, he’s appealing to Job. If you’re blameless, you’ll be okay. But you must have sin or some transgression that has caused all this to happen. Before we summarize and conclude Job chapter 8, I’d like to focus on verse 9. For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out. For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing. For our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you in other words out of their understanding? Bildad is saying, look back. Things have happened before. There’s wisdom by looking back to our track record, to our history. And yet in today’s age, so many are trying to rewrite history. It’s also important that Bildad is reminding us all that we know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow. Yes, our time is short. So how does God see you? Are you blameless before him, or is your life filled with transgressions? Or are you in Job’s category, simply being tested by Satan to see if your faith will stand the test of time? Job will answer these considerations, these allegations, in the next two chapters. We know from earlier chapters that Job is innocent. His friends are not privy to that information. Job does not even know why he’s going through this trial of fire. It was a deal made in the heavenlies. You may not know the origin of your trial either right now. You may be innocent, but you also may be guilty. By a selection of poor choices, you may be where you are. So the advice from Bildad is good. Seek God. Plead with the Almighty for mercy. And if you are pure and upright, surely then He will rouse Himself for you and restore your rightful habitation. Praise God. We serve a God of justice, and we also serve a God of mercy and forgiveness. So the application to our lives out of Job chapter 8 is, if you think your fiery trial is based on your own actions, plead with God. Go to Him for forgiveness. If in your mind and in your heart you believe you are innocent and you’re still being in a fiery trial, then go to the Lord. Plead with him. For he is a God who will not pervert justice. Let’s pray. Father, in Job chapter 8, we learn that you are a God who will not pervert justice. We also learn that God will not reject a blameless man. Yet we also know that we are all guilty of iniquity, transgression, and sin. So we thank you that we can plead with you, that we can come to you for grace and mercy, and that you are a God who forgives. Thank you for forgiveness. Thank you for restoring us to our rightful habitation. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Amen. According to a recent Barna research study entitled Bible Reading, A New Year’s Resolution, most Americans are not satisfied with their current level of Scripture reading. A majority express a desire to read the Bible more than they currently do. Born-again and practicing Christians are the most likely to desire more Bible reading in their day-to-day lives. It should not come as a surprise that the majority of Americans wish they read Scripture more than they do, says Roxanne Stone, editor-in-chief of Barna Group. After all, two-thirds of Americans agree that the Bible contains everything you need to know to live a meaningful life. Why wouldn’t you want to read such a book more often? The study continues. However, like other New Year’s resolutions, such as exercising more and eating healthier, Scripture reading is often an aspirational goal. It’s the goal that for most people probably doesn’t feel necessary to survive and so can easily get swamped by the day-to-day demands of a busy life. Scripture reading takes time and focus, two things that feel like scarcities in today’s fast-paced and on-demand culture. Like exercise, like dieting, regular Bible reading does not offer instant payoff. It’s a discipline whose rewards are reaped over the long haul. And the study continues, when people go from feeling they should read the Bible more to needing to read the Bible more, they find the time. Access to the Bible is not the issue in the USA, is it? We all have Bibles. According to another study done a few years ago, 88% of Americans own a Bible. We have 3.5 Bibles in our homes. And this is amazing. 59% of people who have no faith or are atheists even own a Bible, probably just in case. So if you have a smartphone, you have access to the Word of God. My Gideon Bible app has over 2,100 languages. Access to the Bible is not the issue. The issue is changing our beliefs about the Bible to behavior with the Bible. So where are Christians with the Bible today? Christians are well-intentioned when it comes to the Bible. We believe that the Bible is the Word of God. We believe, we just don’t behave. Our belief in the Bible and our behavior with the Bible are inconsistent. The middle ground related to the Bible seems to be disappearing. The decrease of Bible-neutral and Bible-friendly people and the increase of Bible antagonists suggests that more people are picking a side. Which side are you on? Are you a Bible antagonist questioning the Bible? Are you Bible-neutral? I just don’t know. Or are you Bible-friendly? I love the Bible. Wherever you are, pick a side. Because of our neglect of God’s Word, we are becoming biblically illiterate. For example, in a private religious elementary school, kids were asked about the Old and New Testaments. Here are some funny things that they had to say. The first commandment was when Eve told Adam to eat that apple. Lot’s wife was a pillar of salt by day but a ball of fire by night. What kind of man was Boaz before he married? Ruthless. The epistles were the wives of the apostles. Christians have only one spouse. That’s called monotony. So, if we think about Bible literacy or illiteracy, we think about it this way. If God decided to come down from his throne in heaven, become an author here on earth, you’d think his book would be on the bestseller list. And the fact is, the Bible is the number one best-selling book of all time. 2.5 to 5 billion, according to research. It’s also the most read book of all time. Praise the Lord, that alone might be evidence that the Bible, not any other so-called writing, is God’s Word. According to a weekly World News report, here are a few other Bible facts. About 50 Bibles are sold every minute. The Bible is the world’s best-selling book. It’s also the world’s most shoplifted book. That’s interesting. And that doesn’t even count all the Gideon Bibles stolen out of those hotels. So I encourage you to enjoy a portion of God’s Word every day. Make it a daily spiritual habit. And so until next time, I’m Alan J. Huth, and this program is sponsored by The Ezra Project, with support from listeners like you. Visit EzraProject.net to keep AdBible, connecting God’s people to God’s Word, on the air.