More Bad Advice to the Suffering

[dddoo7]

Job has endured much suffering at the hand of Satan. His good friends came to comfort him and sat with him for seven days in silence. This is the best thing they could have done...yet when they began to speak they tore down all of the comfort they had offered Job. Eliphaz has already spoken and he blamed Job for the suffering that had befallen him. Bildad now does the same thing. He tells Job to quit saying that he is innocent and to admit his fault. He tells Job that God does not punish people for no reason. Yet what Bildad doesn't realize is that the great suffering is not due to Job's evil, but rather is at the hands of Satan.

At times we will face chastisement at the hand of the Lord (Hebrews 12:5-8). Yet when we are living right, all suffering we endure is from Satan. Suffering is a method Satan will use to get us to give up, to lose faith, and to turn against God. However, when we remain faithful to God through our sufferings, God will ALWAYS be twisting those sufferings around to work for good for us (Romans 8:28).

Job 8:1, "Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: [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. [8] “For inquire, please, of the former age, And consider the things discovered by their fathers; [9] For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow. [10] Will they not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their heart? [11] “Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the reeds flourish without water? [12] While it is yet green and not cut down, It withers before any other plant. [13] So are the paths of all who forget God; And the hope of the hypocrite shall perish, [14] Whose confidence shall be cut off, And whose trust is a spider's web. [15] He leans on his house, but it does not stand. He holds it fast, but it does not endure. [16] He grows green in the sun, And his branches spread out in his garden. [17] His roots wrap around the rock heap, And look for a place in the stones. [18] If he is destroyed from his place, Then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’ [19] “Behold, this is the joy of His way, And out of the earth others will grow. [20] Behold, God will not cast away the blameless, Nor will He uphold the evildoers. [21] He will yet fill your mouth with laughing, And your lips with rejoicing. [22] Those who hate you will be clothed with shame, And the dwelling place of the wicked will come to nothing.”