Friends of Job - Part 2 Bildad the Shuhite continues his friends’ analogy that these events in Job’s life had to be evidence of sin. Here are his arguments:
1. Suffering reveals an impure heart.
Job 8:6 “If thou wert pure and upright;
surely now he would awake for thee,
and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.”
2. Suffering reveals hypocrisy.
V13-14 “So are the paths of all that forget God;
and the hypocrite's hope shall perish:
Whose hope shall be cut off,
and whose trust shall be a spider's web.”
3. Suffering reveals misguided faith.
V15 “He shall lean upon his house, but it shall not stand:
he shall hold it fast, but it shall not endure.”
4. Suffering reveals an unregenerate heart.
V20-22 “Behold, God will not cast away a perfect man,
neither will he help the evil doers:
Till he fill thy mouth with laughing,
and thy lips with rejoicing.
They that hate thee shall be clothed with shame;
and the dwelling place of the wicked shall come to nought.”
LESSON - Bildad actually went further than Eliphaz in his criticism of Job’s present condition. He obviously had never seen a saved person experience problems to this degree; therefore in his mind, Job must be unsaved. We must be careful when drawing conclusions about a person based upon their problems. Sometimes they can be a sign of consequences due to sin. At other times, they are simply consequences of living in a sin-fallen world. Never forget the lesson God taught Samuel in 1 Sam. 16:7b “man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”
~Mike