SCRIPTURE: Job 8
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Can papyrus reeds grow tall without a marsh? Can marsh grass flourish without water? While they are still flowering, not ready to be cut, they begin to wither more quickly than grass. The same happens to all who forget God. The hopes of the godless evaporate. [Job 8:11-13]
Jesus told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one: “Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! [Matthew 13:3-8]
It seems to me that Jesus and Job’s friend are pretty much saying the same thing.
Those who forget God will wither, their hopes will evaporate.
What Bildad says is true, yet it is not complete.
The basic truth of God’s creation that life is found in God; if we reject God, we reject life and we will suffer and die.
This is the condition we are born into, the state of being every person finds themselves in.
This explains why everyone suffers to some degree and eventually dies.
Jesus echoes this creation truth that Bildad understands as well.
But what Bildad does not understand – what Jesus does understand and demonstrate – is that God is merciful, He does not treat us as our sins deserve.
God is a loving Father, not an exacting Judge; if God did treat us as our sins deserved, none of us would be here.
Consider the cruelty of Bildad in his words to Job: Your children must have sinned against him, so their punishment was well deserved. [Job 8:4]
Think this through, imagine it being spoken to you when one of your children suffers or dies.
It is true that suffering and death are the consequence of sin, and can sometimes be the result of individual choices.
But it is too simplistic, and dishonouring to God, to say that all suffering is always the result of forgetting God.
The most obvious example is Jesus, Who suffered a horrible death and was forsaken by God, though not because of sin.
It is a general, creation truth – one that everyone discovers eventually – is that life without or against God leads to misery and death.
It is as natural as the growth of a seed, and its need for good soil, water, and protection from weeds and birds.
But thankfully it is more than a natural process; with God there is also mercy.
He protects us from our sinful choices, He is patient with us and does not punish us immediately; and most important, He finds a way to keep us from going through the ultimate punishment – by suffering and dying in our place.
Bildad was technically right, yet so wrong; Jesus had it right, He understood both justice and mercy.
He understood God!
PRAYER:
Lord, help me to understand Your justice enough to take sin seriously, but to understand mercy enough not to despair.