Year 2, Day 119: Job 25

Wow.  Job 25 is insanely short.  I don’t know why I felt the need to begin this blog post with a completely non-spiritual comment like that, but I did!  I hope you were surprised to see such a short reading for today! 

Furthermore, you should also know that this little tiny speech is the last we are going to hear from Job’s three friends.  Job will reply to them, then we’ll meet another person in Job’s life, and then we’ll get the ultimate verdict from God.

More of the Same

As we have seen all along with Job’s friends, Bildad speaks out of a true beginning but he ends up in a place that is absolutely not true.  Because his focus is misplaced and his motivation is misguided, he takes truth and ends up teaching untruth. 

Here is Bildad’s first point: compared to God, what is humanity?  From an absolutely human perspective, Bildad has a point.  How can any of us compare when we are placed next to God?  What can I do that has any comparison to the righteousness of God?

Here is Bildad’s second point: how can anyone born of a human being be righteous?  If all are born into sin, how can any of us ever be called righteous?  This is an absolutely logical statement and it is completely rooted in truth.

Yet, both of these points ignore the full breadth of truth.  They begin in a true line of reasoning, but they do not embrace complete truth. Let’s take the first one.  How can anything compare to God?

While the reality is that nothing can compare to God, the full truth is that God still delights in His creation.  As Bildad says, even the sun and the stars may pale in comparison to Him.  But that does not mean that God hasn’t called the light “good.”  {See Genesis 1}  Of course the light is good, even if it pales in comparison to Him.

Yes, none of us can do anything that compares to God.  But that does not mean that He does not rejoice when we turn to Him and follow His ways!  We may be nothing next to God, but that does not mean that God views us as nothing!  In fact, God values us so much that He sent His Son to be like us for our own sake!  We may honestly be nothing compared to God, but God views us as far more than nothing!

With respect to Bildad’s other question about a human being righteous, Job has already declared the full truth.  Job knows that he has an advocate in heaven.  Job’s redeemer lives in heaven and will one day stand upon the earth.  Job has already made both of these points in earlier chapters.  The full truth is that our righteousness comes by God’s own hand!

Bildad’s argument rests upon humanity’s inability to make ourselves righteous.  That is true.  We cannot make ourselves righteous!  But the complete truth rests upon God working outside of what we know to be true in this world.  We cannot be righteous on our own merit, but that does not mean that we cannot be righteous.  It means that we must turn to God and rely upon Him for our righteousness.

From the perspective of this temporal age, Bildad is absolutely right.  Mankind is nothing more than a maggot.  But thanks be to God that we do not need to live according to the perspective of this age!  We can live according to God’s perspective which places value upon us in spite of our obvious failings.  We can see ourselves as something more than maggots.  We can see ourselves as treasured and valued beings in God’s eye.

This is the grace of God superimposing itself upon the truth of humanity.

<><