This is Episode #154 and today we’ll read Job chapters 8-10 together. Now it’s Bildad’s turn to show Job the error of his ways. Really?
Transcript
Joy: You’re listening to Season 2 of the Lifting Her Voice podcast. This is Episode #154 and today we’ll read Job chapters 8-10 together. Now it’s Bildad’s turn to show Job the error of his ways. Really?
Welcome
Welcome to the Lifting Her Voice podcast, Season 2! I’m your host, Joy Miller, and I invite you to grab your Bible and join me – from the beginning – simply reading God’s word together. We built some spiritual muscles in 2020 with just the New Testament. But this year we’re going all out, cover-to-cover, Old Testament and New. So, whether with your first cup in the morning, your commute to work, or as the last thing on your mind before sleep, God’s Word will equip you for every good work. I’m really glad you’re here!
Job Chapter 8
Bildad Speaks
Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
How long will you go on saying these things?
Your words are a blast of wind.
Does God pervert justice?
Does the Almighty pervert what is right?
Since your children sinned against him,
he gave them over to their rebellion.
But if you earnestly seek God
and ask the Almighty for mercy,
if you are pure and upright,
then he will move even now on your behalf
and restore the home where your righteousness dwells.
Then, even if your beginnings were modest,
your final days will be full of prosperity.
For ask the previous generation,
and pay attention to what their ancestors discovered,
since we were born only yesterday and know nothing.
Our days on earth are but a shadow.
Will they not teach you and tell you
and speak from their understanding?
The Hope of the Godless Will Perish
Does papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Do reeds flourish without water?
While still uncut shoots,
they would dry up quicker than any other plant.
Such is the destiny of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless will perish.
His source of confidence is fragile;
what he trusts in is a spider’s web.
He leans on his web, but it doesn’t stand firm.
He grabs it, but it does not hold up.
He is a well-watered plant in the sunshine;
his shoots spread out over his garden.
His roots are intertwined around a pile of rocks.
He looks for a home among the stones.
If he is uprooted from his place,
it will deny knowing him, saying, “I never saw you.”
Surely this is the joy of his way of life;
yet others will sprout from the dust.
Look, God does not reject a person of integrity,
and he will not support evildoers.
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter
and your lips with a shout of joy.
Your enemies will be clothed with shame;
the tent of the wicked will no longer exist.
Job Chapter 9
Job’s Reply to Bildad
Then Job answered:
Yes, I know what you’ve said is true,
but how can a person be justified before God?
If one wanted to take him to court,
he could not answer God once in a thousand times.
God is wise and all-powerful.
Who has opposed him and come out unharmed?
He removes mountains without their knowledge,
overturning them in his anger.
He shakes the earth from its place
so that its pillars tremble.
He commands the sun not to shine
and seals off the stars.
He alone stretches out the heavens
and treads on the waves of the sea.
He makes the stars: the Bear, Orion,
the Pleiades, and the constellations of the southern sky.
He does great and unsearchable things,
wonders without number.
If he passed by me, I wouldn’t see him;
if he went by, I wouldn’t recognize him.
If he snatches something, who can stop him?
Who can ask him, “What are you doing?”
God does not hold back his anger;
Rahab’s assistants cringe in fear beneath him!
How then can I answer him
or choose my arguments against him?
Even if I were in the right, I could not answer.
I could only beg my Judge for mercy.
If I summoned him and he answered me,
I do not believe he would pay attention to what I said.
He batters me with a whirlwind
and multiplies my wounds without cause.
He doesn’t let me catch my breath
but fills me with bitter experiences.
If it is a matter of strength, look, he is the powerful one!
If it is a matter of justice, who can summon him?
He is Not a Man Like Me
Even if I were in the right, my own mouth would condemn me;
if I were blameless, my mouth would declare me guilty.
Though I am blameless,
I no longer care about myself;
I renounce my life.
It is all the same. Therefore I say,
“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.”
When catastrophe brings sudden death,
he mocks the despair of the innocent.
The earth is handed over to the wicked;
he blindfolds its judges.
If it isn’t he, then who is it?
My days fly by faster than a runner;
they flee without seeing any good.
They sweep by like boats made of papyrus,
like an eagle swooping down on its prey.
If I said, “I will forget my complaint,
change my expression, and smile,”
I would still live in terror of all my pains.
I know you will not acquit me.
Since I will be found guilty,
why should I struggle in vain?
If I wash myself with snow,
and cleanse my hands with lye,
then you dip me in a pit of mud,
and my own clothes despise me!
For he is not a man like me, that I can answer him,
that we can take each other to court.
There is no mediator between us,
to lay his hand on both of us.
Let him take his rod away from me
so his terror will no longer frighten me.
Then I would speak and not fear him.
But that is not the case; I am on my own.
Job Chapter 10
I am disgusted with my life.
I will give vent to my complaint
and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
I will say to God,
“Do not declare me guilty!
Let me know why you prosecute me.
Is it good for you to oppress,
to reject the work of your hands,
and favor the plans of the wicked?
Do you have eyes of flesh,
or do you see as a human sees?
Are your days like those of a human,
or your years like those of a man,
that you look for my iniquity
and search for my sin,
even though you know that I am not wicked
and that there is no one who can rescue from your power?
“Your hands shaped me and formed me.
Will you now turn and destroy me?
Please remember that you formed me like clay.
Will you now return me to dust?
Did you not pour me out like milk
and curdle me like cheese?
You clothed me with skin and flesh,
and wove me together with bones and tendons.
You gave me life and faithful love,
and your care has guarded my life.
“Yet you concealed these thoughts in your heart;
I know that this was your hidden plan:
if I sin, you would notice,
and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
If I am wicked, woe to me!
Leave Me Alone
And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head.
I am filled with shame
and have drunk deeply of my affliction.
If I am proud, you hunt me like a lion
and again display your miraculous power against me.
You produce new witnesses against me
and multiply your anger toward me.
Hardships assault me, wave after wave.
“Why did you bring me out of the womb?
I should have died and never been seen.
I wish I had never existed
but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
Are my days not few? Stop it!
Leave me alone, so that I can smile a little
before I go to a land of darkness and gloom,
never to return.
It is a land of blackness like the deepest darkness,
gloomy and chaotic,
where even the light is like the darkness.”
Close
Bildad reacts to Job’s venting by ratcheting up the criticism. He even says in verse 20 of chapter 8, “God does not reject a person of integrity.” Smooth, Bildad…you’re not even trying to be diplomatic. Then again…Job is doing some ratcheting up of his own. Job would do well to put himself in a little time out to regain his composure. I fear he’s about to say some things he’ll regret.
But the question is: What can we learn from this? I suspect there is much more to consider before we get the big picture and enough information. Let’s meet here again tomorrow. But I’m always at Lifting Her Voice.com, Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for your thoughts and reactions.
Thank you for joining me here today. I pray that by spending time in His Word every day, you will by changed. Visit me at Lifting Her Voice.com with your comments and questions. And don’t forget to visit the Blog page while you’re there. If you like the podcast, it would be great if you’d give it a five-star review and share it with everyone you know. Don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. See you tomorrow!
Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Christian Standard Bible(r), Copyright (c) 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible(r) and CSB(r) are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.
Show Notes
- Awesome Video of Solomon’s Temple
- These will help! Overview videos of all books of the Bible
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