Job Eight

A Blustering Wind

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

Job had poured out his grief and was waiting to hear a sympathetic word, but his friend said that Job’s speech was just so much hot air.

What would have been your response?

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

he was so concerned about defending the justice of God that he forgot the needs of his friend.

To defend God, or to comfort a friend…where do we draw the line?

Three “Logical” Arguments

First: The Character of God

Job 8:1–7 NKJV

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: “How long will you speak these things, And the words of your mouth be like a strong wind? Does God subvert judgment? Or does the Almighty pervert justice? If your sons have sinned against Him, He has cast them away for their transgression. If you would earnestly seek God And make your supplication to the Almighty, If you were pure and upright, Surely now He would awake for you, And prosper your rightful dwelling place. Though your beginning was small, Yet your latter end would increase abundantly.

Do you think Job really believed God had done something wrong?

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.

The New King James Version. (1982). (). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

While Bildad’s theology was correct—God is just—his application of that theology was wrong. Bildad was looking at only one aspect of God’s nature—His holiness and justice—and had forgotten His love, mercy, and goodness. Yes, “God is light” (1 John 1:5); but don’t forget that “God is love” (4:8, 16). His love is a holy love, and His holiness is exercised in love, even when He judges sin.

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

How are these two attributes of God reconciled? At the Cross. When Jesus died for the sins of the world, the righteousness of God was vindicated, for sin was judged; but the love of God was demonstrated, for a Savior was provided. At Calvary, God is both “just and the Justifier” (Rom. 3:24–26).

Second: The Wisdom of the Past

Job 8:8-10

Job 8:8–10 NKJV

“For inquire, please, of the former age, And consider the things discovered by their fathers; For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow. Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart?

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

Eliphaz based his thinking on observation and experience, but Bildad was a traditionalist who looked for wisdom in the past. “What do the ancients say about it?” was his key question.

We do learn from the past…that is not incorrect.

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

But the past must be a rudder to guide us and not an anchor to hold us back.

Does what happened in the past make it right? Does it make it wrong? How do we discern?

“Tradition is the living faith of the dead; traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.” To Bildad, the past was a parking lot; but God wants the past to be a launching pad.

Third: The Evidence in Nature

Job 8

Job 8:11–12 NKJV

“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant.

Job 8:11–22 NKJV

“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant. So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider’s web. He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden. His roots wrap around the rock heap, And look for a place in the stones. If he is destroyed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ “Behold, this is the joy of His way, And out of the earth others will grow. Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, Nor will He uphold the evildoers. He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.”

Bildad’s point:

Take the papyrus plant as an example: If it doesn’t have water, it withers and dies (vv. 11–13). Job was withering and dying, so there had to be a cause: he was a hypocrite, and his hope was perishing.

Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Patient (p. 38). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

Can you lean on a spider’s web and be held up securely? Of course not! No matter how confident you may be, the web will break. Job’s confidence was like that: In due time, it would break, and he would fall.

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

If you pull up a plant, no matter how luxuriant it may be, it will eventually die (vv. 16–22). Something had happened to Job’s “root system,” and he was fading away; thus, sin was the cause. Nobody pulls up a good plant and destroys it, so there had to be something wrong with Job for God to so uproot him.

Be Patient 1. Three Logical Arguments (Job 8:1–22)

Bildad reaffirmed his earlier promise that God would restore Job’s fortunes if he would only admit his sins and get right with God. It was the devil’s invitation all over again!