DAILY E-MAIL SIGN UP
PRINTER FRIENDLY
FONT SIZE 
In the field of logic, careful attention is given to how a conclusion is reached. It’s easy to see that if initial assumptions are wrong, then you won’t arrive at a correct conclusion. It’s not as easy to see that even with a correct premise, you can still end up with a wrong conclusion.
For example, yesterday we saw that Job correctly observed many examples of innocent suffering, but he wrongly concluded that God is unjust. Today we’ll see Job’s friend, Bildad, also coming to a faulty conclusion.
Bildad begins his final speech by accurately observing God’s power and sovereignty (25:1–3). And he correctly observes that humans are utterly helpless before God’s power. But he goes on to describe humans as mere worms. Bildad falsely says that humans have no hope of righteousness before God and are actually insignificant before Him. Yet humans are not disgusting maggots; rather, humans are created in the image of God and have inestimable worth. Bildad’s conclusion is wrong.
It’s not clear who’s speaking in Job 26. Some commentators believe this section continues Bildad’s remarks. But it’s more likely that this is Job’s response, because it doesn’t reach the same neat conclusions that Bildad usually does.
Job begins by once again despairing of the advice and comfort that his friends have offered. But he continues by challenging his friends’ view of God. Throughout their speeches, they have tried to instruct Job in what they believe are the true ways of God. But in the second part of Job 26, we find a magnificent declaration of the awesome power of God in creation. The God of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar is far too small! Instead, Job looks out over the heavens and the earth, and he’s amazed.
There’s no error in Job’s logic here. Looking at the vastness of creation, one has to admit to seeing only a part, not the whole. Viewing creation is like seeing a shadow or hearing a whisper of the totality of God. Job’s view of God is beginning to expand.
TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Commentator Andrew Blackwood writes, “Faith does not comprehend the divine plan. Yet faith knows that God reigns in the world visible and the world invisible. And, though he does not understand, the man of faith can trust.”
| < Previous Day | Next Day > |
