Job 8 (Listen)
8:1 Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said:
2 “How long will you say these things,
and the words of your mouth be a great wind?
3 Does God pervert justice?
Or does the Almighty pervert the right?
4 If your children have sinned against him,
he has delivered them into the hand of their transgression.
5 If you will seek God
and plead with the Almighty for mercy,
6 if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore your rightful habitation.
7 And though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.
8 “For inquire, please, of bygone ages,
and consider what the fathers have searched out.
9 For we are but of yesterday and know nothing,
for our days on earth are a shadow.
10 Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?
11 “Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh?
Can reeds flourish where there is no water?
12 While yet in flower and not cut down,
they wither before any other plant.
13 Such are the paths of all who forget God;
the hope of the godless shall perish.
14 His confidence is severed,
and his trust is a spider’s web.
15 He leans against his house, but it does not stand;
he lays hold of it, but it does not endure.
16 He is a lush plant before the sun,
and his shoots spread over his garden.
17 His roots entwine the stone heap;
he looks upon a house of stones.
18 If he is destroyed from his place,
then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have never seen you.’
19 Behold, this is the joy of his way,
and out of the soil others will spring.
20 “Behold, God will not reject a blameless man,
nor take the hand of evildoers.
21 He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouting.
22 Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”
Devotional:
He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with a shout of joy (Job 8:21 CSB).
Job’s friend, Bildad, speaks up and rebukes Job for complaining to God and tells him that there is hope. Though Bildad incorrectly agrees with Eliphaz that Job must not be blameless, he does present hope. Perhaps you know of someone who has felt so down and out that they could only ask, “Will I ever smile again?” Perhaps you have felt that way yourself. Let us not jump to this conclusion in other people’s lives or even our own. Let’s try not to be like Job’s friends and assume there is sin instead of trial and/or tribulation. For the joy of our Lord is our strength, in good times and in bad.
Pray it: Father, help me to remember the hope I have in you even in the midst of suffering. Remind me of the immense joy that awaits me for all eternity in heaven through Christ that is greater than my suffering and greater than I could ever imagine. Amen.
Share it: Who is someone you can share a verse or thought from this passage with today?