Today in God's Word—June 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
June 3, Job 8
"How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind? Does God pervert justice? Or does the Almighty pervert the right?" - Bildad, Job 8:2-3
Traffic was light as I drove into the city on the interstate this morning. It was not yet daylight, and I was well ahead of the morning rush. So I had time to notice the billboards as I drove along. The one that caught my attention was simple and wonderful— black background, big white lowercase letters in a sans serif font, and only three words. It simply said, "just be kind." It was a great reminder to my fellow motorists and me as we drove along. And what wonderful counsel for all of us as we deal with one another in the ups and downs of everyday life. We could make the difficult easier, and the ordinary sweeter. We would be a blessing to others and feel better about ourselves if we would just be kind.
At first I did not think of Eliphaz's remarks to Job as kind. But in comparison to the rude, blunt words of Bildad in Chapter 8, the first friend’s rebuke of Job was eloquent, polite and thoughtful. Bildad was hateful, cold and unfeeling, He all but called poor, miserable Job a windbag. He said Job's children were dead because they had sinned against God. He told Job he had forgotten God, and God was rejecting him because of it.
We need to remember that Job's friends spoke from dreams, feelings, traditions and their own observations that had been shaped by the theology they accepted as true. Preachers (and writers) should be very careful about taking their texts from these chapters, because God himself said the things Job's friends spoke were not right. Even when they spoke a line of truth or stated a principle that was generally in harmony with God's word, they weaponized what truth they spoke.
Bildad was sure Job was wicked because he was suffering. If he were righteous, Job surely
would be prospering. He said that pearl of wisdom had been searched out by the fathers of bygone ages. That idea is indeed an old one, and a persistent one as well. Some people still believe it today. But Jesus said the poor were blessed. Jesus himself was very poor, yet he was absolutely, sinlessly righteous. This is a reminder to us that something is not true just because it is old, or just because a lot of people believe it is true. You probably know people who are godly, devout followers of Christ who are not at all wealthy by the world's measure of prosperity. And most of us are familiar with some famous (or maybe infamous) people who have no regard for God, but have a tremendous amount of wealth.
Kindness is the fruit of God’s Spirit controlling our hearts and lives. Paul commanded us to “Be kind to one another.” Paul reminded the Ephesians and us we should speak the truth in love. We do not bless our hearers when one component of that formula is missing from our speech. Yes, we should always tell folks the truth. But we should remember to speak it with kindness and love. An old African-American preacher once said, "Nobody wants a delicious steak in a filthy wrapper." If I want my words to be effective and helpful, I need to remember to tell the truth and tell it in love. Too often our tone of voice and choice of words betray an unkind spirit, especially when strong emotions are involved in the exchange.
Bildad would have done better, and Job might have been blessed by his words if Job's rude friend had read and remembered my billboard from this morning. How much different would your words and mine and their effect on the people around us be if we made that billboard our rule? Let’s do our best to "just be kind."
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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