Competent to Counsel

Job 8:1-21 

1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:

2 "How long will you speak these things,
And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind?

3 Does God subvert judgment?
Or does the Almighty pervert justice?

4 If your sons have sinned against Him,
He has cast them away for their transgression.

5 If you would earnestly seek God
And make your supplication to the Almighty,

6 If you were pure and upright,
Surely now He would awake for you,
And prosper your rightful dwelling place.

7 Though your beginning was small,
Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.

8 "For inquire, please, of the former age,
And consider the things discovered by their fathers;
9 For we were born yesterday, and know nothing,
Because our days on earth are a shadow.

10 Will they not teach you and tell you,
And utter words from their heart?

11 "Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh?
Can the reeds flourish without water?

12 While it is yet green and not cut down,
It withers before any other plant.

13 So are the paths of all who forget God;
And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish,
14 Whose confidence shall be cut off,
And whose trust is a spider's web.

15 He leans on his house, but it does not stand.
He holds it fast, but it does not endure.

16 He grows green in the sun,
And his branches spread out in his garden.

17 His roots wrap around the rock heap,
And look for a place in the stones.

18 If he is destroyed from his place,
Then it will deny him, saying, 'I have not seen you.'

19 "Behold, this is the joy of His way,
And out of the earth others will grow.

20 Behold, God will not cast away the blameless,
Nor will He uphold the evildoers.

21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughing,
And your lips with rejoicing.

22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing."

Now the second friend of Job, Bildad, speaks in his form of counsel for Job to repent and seek God’s grace.  He joins the first friend in beginning with the assumption that Job has sinned, and that his unrighteousness has earned God’s recompense.  He does not see behind the curtain of the heavenly court to see the Most Holy and the battle for Job’s integrity by the adversary.  Therefore, Bildad asks how Job can defend himself, knowing that the LORD keeps to judgment and justice without wavering.  He misses that God’s grace can provide these, just as He will completely in the Messiah Jesus to come when the time is right (Galatians 4:4).  In verse 4, this counselor assumes the sins of Job’s sons brought about their death (Job 1:18-19).  He further advises that Job put his heart into seeking God and would answer his prayers if he was righteous enough.  Then Job would have plenty again, the health and wealth he lost due to the perceived sin in the eye of Bildad.  Then he pointed Job to other examples of cause and effect, claiming that these prove sin brought all the adversity on his friend.  He was trying to move Job to repent for reconciliation and restoration with God.  He reminds Job that God will not cast off the upright, but will also not support the sinner.  This sounds biblical and right, but we must remember this judgment of man is not God’s against him; we have seen how God called him upright in heaven (Job 1:8, 2:3), the place where Bildad has not seen or heard God’s words of the true reason Job was attacked by the evil one.  This should give us cause to stop our assumptions of judgment without getting the truth first, or we may counsel others foolishly instead of with godly judgment (Psalm 119:66) according to His word and Spirit.  There is truth in receiving God’s joy and seeing the wicked come to no good end against us when we live righteously, but our righteousness comes from God’s grace in Christ, which is backed by resulting good words and actions out of that source.  We are not upright in ourselves nor justified in our works to prove our righteousness, but as a result of His righteousness we do right and are held accountable in those things (Ephesians 2:10, Matthew 12:36, Romans 14:12, Hebrews 4:13, 1 Corinthians 3:14-15).  The book of Job has many truths from the friends come out of themselves to counsel their friend Job, but many are misapplied by assumptions and insinuations.  This does not negate the need to repent and seek God’s grace, but it must be based on God’s view and not our own.  May we learn prudence in judgment by getting the true facts with the guidelines of God’s scriptures with the understanding by His Spirit living in us, and not our reasoning apart from those.  Then we may be competent to counsel, as Jay Adams titled his book years ago. Job’s friends were not.  May we be.  Hopefully we will then consider each Job in our lives as God sees  him or her.