Wicked Advice

“Their feet are grabbed and caught, their necks in a noose. They trip on ropes they’ve hidden, and fall into pits they’ve dug themselves. Terrors come at them from all sides.” Job 18:10,11

Bildad, one of Job’s “friends” is describing the fate of the wicked. If he were merely giving a general proposal about what happens to evil people, there would be little argument with what he has to say. Given enough time, and enough rope, those who do wrong eventually do hang themselves.

Unlike game or birds that may be herded toward a trip rope meant to capture them, the wicked simply trip without even knowing it. Though we often are frustrated at the prosperity of the wicked, there is a sense in which we also know they will receive their “rewards” in due time.

Bildad’s theology is correct. His observation of mankind is accurate. But he is talking to the wrong person. I think speaking “truth” to the wrong situation is one of the most grievous things a person can do.

Imagine Job, who loved God, was called “righteous” by God Himself, trying to answer such rhetoric. “Bildad, I haven’t been wicked.”

“Oh yeah…well how do you explain the fact that you are pretty much noosed up, yourself,” Bildad would respond.

“No, you’re right, Bildad, about the wicked. But I haven’t been wicked. It doesn’t apply.”

Bildad: “What? Are you not willing to admit your failings, Job? What is God trying to say to you through this suffering? That He LIKES you? Come, now.”

Job: “Bildad, I do not know what God is saying or teaching. I just know I haven’t been wicked.”

And so it goes. Are we so afraid of loving our brothers and sisters that we would rather just shoot spiritual platitudes their way? Or worse, do we use “true principals” to hurt those to which they do not apply? Job’s friends had no idea how to be friends. And, they actually had no idea how to please God, though they spoke God-language.

It is a pity we do not say, “I don’t get it, brother. But I’m here. I’m not leaving. And I’m not going to try to figure out what you have been unable to figure out yourself.” Let’s give people a little credit for their own intelligence. Let’s not try to tell someone “why” they are going through something. We only live it the few moments we are in their presence. They are living it every second of their waking hours.

Instead, we can weep with them. We can place our arms around their shoulders. We can bring them food, cards, music. We can actually ask, “What can I do”, instead of thinking we know what they need.

This has all been said before, and is nothing new. Bildad and his other friends did great harm in their suggestions to Job. Instead of trying to find reasons for his suffering they could have been there letting him know that someone else on this earth truly cared about his pain.

That’s exactly what Jesus did for a world that is in excruciating pain. And, for the most part, our pain is the result of our own failings. Yet He did not come to condemn us, but that whoever said “Yes” to Him would not die, but live a full and complete life, now and forever!

Then we go and mess it up by telling some sufferer how terrible the end is for those who are evil. We who have experienced this incredible grace from Jesus should be the first to comfort the hurting. We must learn to know Jesus so well that we forget about showing how right our theology is and simply show how wonderful Jesus is!

That’s what I want…more and more. I want to be a living reflection of Jesus Himself. To do that I need to know Him better and better. I need to say “Yes” to Him more and more often. And, I need to make sure my life is being obedient to Him. Then, maybe then, I will have begun to see the sufferer through the eyes of Christ.