Friday - Job 25 - Short, Sour & to the Point

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hankfully, this time Bildad didn't have much to say. Unfortunately, his brevity wasn't enough to hide his error though.  In Genesis 1:16-18 it is recorded that on the fourth day of creation "God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good." Notice, Moses said that God saw that it was good... that is the sun, moon and stars were good. He made them just like they were supposed to be. That's not what Bildad had to say though: "The moon, and... the stars are not pure in His sight" (Job 25:5). Really?

Now, it is true that in Romans 8:22 Paul wrote about the effects of sin on all of creation, "We know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now."  But even with that, what was Bildad's great point? I don't know what he was trying to say unless it was simply that Job's case was hopeless, and if that was his point then he was speaking so broadly, and his paintbrush was so wide, that he colored himself red as well.  "The stars aren't pure in God's eyes, so what hope is there for us?"...such reasoning is a strange amalgamation of cosmology and anthropology.  It's almost like Bildad couldn't believe that there could even be any gospel (Job 25:4).  What a hopeless and senseless philosophy!

I agree with Bildad that mankind is lowly and undeserving of God's mercy. Thankfully I have read His promises of grace and healing though. Not only am I sure that we can be justified... I know that I am justified. Bildad asked his questions rhetorically, assuming that there is no answer (Job 25:4). Praise God, I know that Jesus Christ is the answer. And, Job did too. He didn't know the son of God by the same name and description that we use today, but he did have confidence in the promises of his Redeemer.  Just because he didn't know HOW God was going to accomplish redemption's plan doesn't mean that he doubted whether there WAS one or not.