Job 8:6

Bildad condemned Job's dead sons, then went on to attack Job himself. He told Job this: if he would seek God with earnest prayer, and if he were pure and upright, then God would surely wake up for him at once and turn his misery into prosperity (vv. 5-6). Of course, in saying this he implied that Job had not been pure and upright and had not earnestly sought God before.

Instead of bluster and complaint, let Job only turn to God the Almighty with earnest prayer. Then he will soon find — provided he himself is pure — that prosperity from Him will crown his home. His latter end will flourish beyond the beginning.

Bildad here sharply rebukes Job, telling him that the words of his mouth are like a strong wind, and that if he were pure and upright God would wake up for him. So he throws Job back on himself even more. He implies that Job's trials are judicial payments for sin. In fact they were the discipline of God, leading him to the full end of himself. Job knew that he had done nothing to deserve it. But he had to learn that he could claim nothing. His friends knew this no more than he did; they stood on righteousness alone.

"If you were pure and upright" — ah, there they were at it again! So it was not only the children who had sinned! "If you were pure and upright" — why, Job was much more so than they were! "If you were pure and upright, surely now He would wake up for you." Certainly not. The Lord was going to bring the trial to its full completion. He allowed all these discussions to bring out everything that was in their hearts. Then He came in with His own word and cast down completely these principles that governed the three friends — and Job could not properly answer them.

Next, he proves the justice of those ways. He tells Job there is restoring mercy for him, if he will only turn to God in prayer. "If you are pure and upright" — there is a strong hint of suspicion here — God will restore everything, and bless Job's latter end. This did come true, but in a very different way from what Bildad expected. Job is not blessed for his purity, and not for confessing the evil they suspected in him.

Things that are true, but misunderstood and misapplied, may do more harm than many a thing that is false. Misapplied truth gives the apparent authority of God to an error, and that error carries all the more weight because it comes as the truth.

This is just where Job's friends were. They saw that God loves righteousness and hates evil, and that Job was suffering. What conclusion did they draw from it all? That if Job had been a righteous person, God would have accepted him. They were on wrong ground altogether. It is quite true, and blessedly true, that God loves righteousness. But the fallacy lies in the idea that a man can be righteous with God. That thought must always produce either self-righteousness, or despair and misery.