When Job spoke about his hopelessness and about how he felt that God must have turned His back on him, Bildad answered Job with a sharp rebuked. “1Then answered Bildad the Shuhite, and said, 2How long wilt thou speak these things? and how long shall the words of thy mouth be like a strong wind? 3Doth God pervert judgment? or doth the Almighty pervert justice? 4If thy children have sinned against him, and he have cast them away for their transgression; 5If thou wouldest seek unto God betimes, and make thy supplication to the Almighty; 6If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.” (Job 8:1-6)
One can almost hear the judgmental tone of Bildad and feel the sting of his words. Bildad was saying, “Job, you say your words are like wind. Well, that is just what they are, strong wind. But why speak useless words. In saying what you did about God, you accuse God of doing wrong. God knows what He is doing. He does not deal falsely in judgment; He is not unfair. He would not punish you if there were no cause for Him to do so.
“And your children,” Bildad went on, “They must have sinned against God. Since they were so stubborn, God just gave them up and let them suffer the consequences of their rebellion.
“You should seek to God and make supplication to Him. If you were right with God, He would make you to prosper.” It is interesting to read Bildad’s wording in verse six, “If thou wert pure and upright; surely now he would awake for thee, and make the habitation of thy righteousness prosperous.” A “habitation of righteousness” was a place where God was worshipped and His commandments obeyed. The implications of Bildad’s speech were that Job was not faithful to keep spiritual things the priority in his home and was not careful to look after the spiritual welfare of his children. Was this true? No. That is not what God said about Job. In chapter one, God said Job feared Him and was upright and stayed away from evil. He was very careful to look after his children’s spiritual welfare. In fact, he was so concerned about his children that he would sanctify them by rising up early and offering burnt offerings “according to the number of them all” just in case they had sinned. He was determined to leave no stone unturned and take nothing for granted in regard to his children’s spiritual welfare.
The accusations of Bildad were false. He began to name sins he assumed were in Job’s life, yet he knew nothing about those areas of Job’s life. These accusations were all based on assumptions made by looking at Job’s circumstances. Job’s character was actually opposite to what Bildad was assuming it to be. Job was not careless about spiritual matters. He was very diligent to attend to them. Job was criticized by man, but he was commended by God.
Did you ever have a situation in which you knew you had done right, yet it seemed that everyone else was criticizing you for what you did? Have you ever felt that even other Christians were against you? Remember, they can only see what is going on outwardly. They cannot see your heart. If you know you have done right and have a clear conscience before God, rest in Him. He does not condemn you. God knew that such situations would come about, and He put some very comforting verses in the Bible. Psalm 37:5,6 says, “5Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. 6And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.”
In I John 3:21, the Bible says, “Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God.” Take comfort. If you are right with God, God will show those who criticize you that you have not done wrong. Also, you have a clear conscience before God and can have confidence in your relationship to Him.