Slices
Prepare
Prepare your heart by confessing your sins to God and receiving his forgiveness.
Bible passage
Bildad
25 Then Bildad the Shuhite replied:
2 ‘Dominion and awe belong to God;
he establishes order in the heights of heaven.
3 Can his forces be numbered?
On whom does his light not rise?
4 How then can a mortal be righteous before God?
How can one born of woman be pure?
5 If even the moon is not bright
and the stars are not pure in his eyes,
6 how much less a mortal, who is but a maggot –
a human being, who is only a worm!’
Job
26 Then Job replied:
2 ‘How you have helped the powerless!
How you have saved the arm that is feeble!
3 What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
And what great insight you have displayed!
4 Who has helped you utter these words?
And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?
5 ‘The dead are in deep anguish,
those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
6 The realm of the dead is naked before God;
Destruction lies uncovered.
7 He spreads out the northern skies over empty space;
he suspends the earth over nothing.
8 He wraps up the waters in his clouds,
yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
9 He covers the face of the full moon,
spreading his clouds over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters
for a boundary between light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens quake,
aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea;
by his wisdom he cut Rahab to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies became fair;
his hand pierced the gliding serpent.
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
how faint the whisper we hear of him!
Who then can understand the thunder of his power?’
Explore
In this short chapter, Bildad raises probably the most important question in the Bible: ‘How then can a mortal be righteous before God?’ (25:4). His timing wasn’t great, asking it when Job was at his lowest ebb. And his attitude wasn’t very helpful, either, since his purpose was to contradict Job’s claims of his own righteousness. But still, it is a question we all need to confront – and to be able to answer for others.
Job probably lived before the Law had been given and before the system of priests and sacrifices had been established. Yet we know from chapter 1 that Job recognised the need to make regular sacrifices to atone for his sins. Job was diligent about these sacrifices, even making extra ones on behalf of his children, just in case they had sinned in their hearts (1:5).
The formalised system given when God made his covenant with Moses and the Israelites was incredibly burdensome, and almost impossible to keep up. In fact, the book of Hebrews tells us those sacrifices could never take away our sins (Hebrews 10:1–4). But there is hope. Christ, our perfect sacrifice, shed his blood ‘once for all’ to win ‘eternal redemption’ for those who believe in him (Hebrews 9:11–15).
Respond
Thank you, Lord Jesus, for dying for us, and making it possible for sinful mortals – including even me – to be made righteous before the Father.
Deeper Bible study
Teach me your ways today, O Lord, and grant me your view of the world in its complexity, wonder and need. Amen.
Here are two opposing world views. Bildad believes in the utter greatness of God, then argues that man is a mere maggot (25:6). For him there is no way that such an insignificant and unclean creature could ever be pure in the eyes of God. In contrast, the very greatness of Job’s vision of God implies the grandeur of human beings who are made in his image, though spoiled by sin.1 Between the two views stands the cross.
This age-old dilemma of how a holy God can have a relationship with sinful people is at the heart of the gospel. The God whose eyes are ‘too pure to look on evil’2 now accepts in Christ all those who come to him by faith.3 It is at Calvary that the two world views collide, where God’s righteousness and justice come together with his love and faithfulness.4 He is both righteous and Saviour.5 The revelation that Job has received enables him to voice ideas that will be developed more fully by the Lord himself in the book’s closing chapters.
As the attacks of his three friends come to an end, Job asks a pertinent question (26:4), wondering whose spirit is really speaking here. Jesus taught that Satan is a liar and the father of lies.6 The errors and misjudgements exposed in the friends’ theology has been influenced by the enemy first introduced to us in chapters 1 and 2. Job is wise to turn away from his natural anger in response and to focus on the majesty and greatness of God. Despite his awesome description of God and his ways (vs 5–13), he recognises that we glimpse only the outer garment of his glory, the mere whisper of his powerful word (v 14).
Thank God for the cross and for the amazing grace that we have received in Christ. Read Psalm 8 to discover what God really thinks about ‘mere mortals’.7
1 Mike Mason, The Gospel According to Job, Crossway Books, 1994, p263 2 Hab 1:13 3 Rom 3:21–24 4 Ps 89:14 5 Isa 45:21 6 John 8:44 7 Ps 8:4, TNIV
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Numbers 20,21; Acts 20
Pray for Scripture Union
Local Mission Partner Christian Connections in Schools has been working in Slough, Windsor and Maidenhead for ten years. Pray that Easter Cracked, run by Wayne Dixon in 10 local churches for around 40 primary schools this month, will bring home to children the love of Jesus. Pray too for guidance as they seek to appoint a primary schools’ worker.
