18th October 2025

18th October 2025


Pray (ACts) 


Read (Job 8) 


Message (Scott Woodburn) 


Whatever Eliphaz said to Job did not bring any comfort to his broken friend. But if Eliphaz had fallen short perhaps Bildad might hit the mark? Who was Bildad? Again we are not given much information other than he was a Shuhite which may mean he was from the east somewhere near the river Euphrates. Bildad had heard Job’s anguished “why” of chapter three, he had listened to the counsel of Eliphaz in chapter four to five and he had sat and listened to Job’s impassioned defence of his position in chapter six to seven. Would he offer a more reasoned response? In a word, no.


Bildad started at one hundred miles per hour and told Job his words were like a great wind (v2). God doesn’t pervert justice therefore Job’s children got what they deserved (v3-4). Can you imagine saying such things to a person sitting in ashes? “Be quiet you windbag, your dead children got what was coming to them!” As far as Bildad was concerned Job had sinned and therefore now needed to repent and seek God out, only then would he be restored and return to earthly blessing (v5-7). If Eliphaz appealed to special revelation to support his case, Bildad appealed to the wisdom of generations long gone. What he was saying was supported by tradition - life is short, men know very little and Job needed to learn the lesson of the past (v8-10).


The wicked man is like a reed trying to flourish without water (v11), it might flower for a time but will soon wither before any other plant (v12). The one who turns from God will see their hope perish and their confidence severed (v13-14). The trust that such a person puts in their own ways is like a spider’s web - fragile (v14b). The sinful man leans against his house and holds tightly to it, but it falls over, it lacks any sound foundation (v15). His life may appear like a lush plant in the garden with a substantial networks of roots (v16-17), but ultimately when he is gone, he is remembered no more (v18). This is life - a brief flourishing before others spring up to take our place (v19).


Bildad was convinced that the Lord will never reject a blameless man or take an evil person’s hand (v20). Therefore, there was still hope for Job - all he had to do was repent and the Lord would fill his mouth with laughter and shame the wicked (v21-22).


Job’s second counsellor sounded so assured and so certain but once more he failed to hit the mark. Although neither Job nor his friends could see it, the calamity that had fallen upon Job was not because he had sinned. Sometimes suffering has a place in our lives and it isn’t because we have done anything to cause it. Bildad was right in one regard, life is short. Additionally, life’s twists and turns are mysterious and don’t allow us to easily say “Bad things happen only to bad people.”


We want answers and we prefer answers but often faith shines out in the mystery when we are sitting in the ashes and wrestling with how God’s ways are not our ways. I’m not sure why you have been visited by anguish and suffering but I know it has some eternal purpose. Find rest in that truth because when God seems distant we can still be certain that He remains resolutely for His people.


Pray (acTS)


Sing


WSC


Q103 What do we pray for in the third petition?
In the third petition, which is, Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” we pray, that God, by his grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to his will in all things, as the angels do in heaven.
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