Page 114 - Reading Job to Know God

That is the only thing that is bothering him. You will not accept my counsel.
He thinks Job is expecting too much from God. Verse 4,
“O you who tear yourself in your anger; For your sake is the earth to
be abandoned, or the rock to be moved from its place?”

In other words, Bildad is saying God has established certain unchangeable
laws and He is not going to change them for you. And what according to
Bildad is God’s unchangeable law? Here we go again. The wicked suffer.
You suffer. Therefore, you are wicked. I will not bore you with Bildad’s
speech. I will take the terminal points to illustrate it. Chapter 18, verse 5,
“Indeed, the light of the wicked goes out.”
And then he describes the wicked. And then the last verse 21,

“Surely such are the dwellings of the wicked, and this is the place of
him who does not know God.”
In other words, Bildad has done exactly what everyone before him has done,
except he says, Job, God is not going to change His plan for you. And so,
whether he likes it or not, Job is back in the debate. He answers Bildad in
chapter 19. I do not think Bildad appreciated the answer. His answer goes
something like this. Okay, says Job to Bildad, let’s take your unchanging
principle of God – the wicked suffer, I am suffering, therefore I am wicked.
Here is how it comes across to me. The wicked suffer. I suffer.
I am innocent. Therefore, verse 6,
“Know then that God has wronged me and has closed His net around
me.”

God goofed. The principle is not true. The wicked suffer. I suffer. I am
innocent. Therefore, there is only one conclusion, and that is God is to be
blamed. Job is angry and frustrated with Bildad. He is deeply pained that
they think he is a hypocrite harboring some sin in his life, and he knows it is
futile to keep explaining his position, and besides, his real problem is too
deep to express. All Job wants is an answer from God. He knows God is
real, and he knows God is up there, and he knows God is listening. But God
will not answer! Look at verse 7,
“Behold, I cry, ‘Violence!’ but I get no answer; I shout for help, but
there is no justice. He has walled up my way so that I cannot pass, and
He has put darkness on my paths. He has stripped my honor from me
and removed the crown from my head. He breaks me down on every
side, and I am gone; and He has uprooted my hope like a tree. He has
also kindled His anger against me and considered me as His enemy.
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