Job 18:1-21
Bildad
1 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 “When will you end these speeches?
Be sensible, and then we can talk.
3 Why are we regarded as cattle
and considered stupid in your sight?
4 You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger,
is the earth to be abandoned for your sake?
Or must the rocks be moved from their place?
5 “The lamp of the wicked is snuffed out;
the flame of his fire stops burning.
6 The light in his tent becomes dark;
the lamp beside him goes out.
7 The vigor of his step is weakened;
his own schemes throw him down.
8 His feet thrust him into a net
and he wanders into its mesh.
9 A trap seizes him by the heel;
a snare holds him fast.
10 A noose is hidden for him on the ground;
a trap lies in his path.
11 Terrors startle him on every side
and dog his every step.
12 Calamity is hungry for him;
disaster is ready for him when he falls.
13 It eats away parts of his skin;
death’s firstborn devours his limbs.
14 He is torn from the security of his tent
and marched off to the king of terrors.
15 Fire resides in his tent;
burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.
16 His roots dry up below
and his branches wither above.
17 The memory of him perishes from the earth;
he has no name in the land.
18 He is driven from light into darkness
and is banished from the world.
19 He has no offspring or descendants among his people,
no survivor where once he lived.
20 Men of the west are appalled at his fate;
men of the east are seized with horror.
21 Surely such is the dwelling of an evil man;
such is the place of one who knows not God.”
Romans 5:3-5
Suffering Produces Hope
3 Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.
Bildad, the Shuhite, thinks Job is being irrational and emotional in his speech and his thoughts...He seems to feel belittled that Job has regarded man as just cattle, and we are considered stupid in Job's opinion...He feels that Job is belittling man, him, and this situation...He tries to convince Job that he is wrong in his thinking that both the righteous and the wicked prosper...But we have seen the sinful prosper and the righteous suffer in life, as Job points out...Bildad is convinced that the wicked get paid their dues in this life for what they do...Bildad thinks that maybe Job has done some sin and is being punished for it right now...He does not question God, as Job has, as why the good is allowed to suffer on earth...
Job is suffering...Job is in terrible health...What Bildad has not considered is that there may be some goodness comes in suffering, albeit, that is very hard to understand (especially to the one who is suffering)... Bildad, has not heard of Him yet, but there will be a Man who suffers greatly in the future for all of mankind...This Man will suffer on a cross...And why He is put on the cross is not for any wrongdoing of His own, because He completely follows the will of God...All believers in God will cling to that cross and what happened on it...And what happened on the cross was suffering and death...The Suffering Servant is a gift from God to us...The Suffering Servant is God's Son...There is nothing in our minds, our thoughts, or our hands that can clean the sin from our minds, thoughts, and hands...Only His suffering on the cross can do that...So we need this Suffering Servant...
There is such a thing as Righteous Suffering...When Jesus went to the cross He suffered and His suffering was for righteous...He suffered for mankind and our sins...As we read about Jesus suffering on the cross, we see that even though Jesus died on the cross, He trusted His Father...Sometimes it is in our own trials that we learn to trust God...There can be glory in our sufferings, because suffering produces a perseverance...And our perseverance produces character; and character, produces hope...And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s LOVE has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit...There is glory on the cross...