“God has selected [for His purpose] the foolish things of the world to shame the wise [revealing their ignorance], and God has selected [for His purpose] the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong [revealing their frailty].” –1 Corinthians 1: 27

In Job Chapter 8, as I read Bildad the Shulite’s response to Job, the Holy Spirit brought today’s verse to mind. Now I’ll venture: Bildad thought he was offering Job sound advice, freely sharing his sagely wisdom and insight throughout Chapter Eight. Job concurs that, at their core, Bildad’s words are, in fact, sound. “Yes, I know all this is true in principle. But how can a person be declared innocent in God’s sight? If someone wanted to take God to court, would it be possible to answer him even once in a thousand times? For God is so wise and so mighty. Who has ever challenged him successfully?” –Job 9:1-4

There is much that could be said about Job’s friends and the methods they employed after their seven days of silence; that is, in their less-than-sagely attempts to comfort the friend they’d left their homes to console. “When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.” –Job 2: 11-13

It was not the so-called comfort of Job’s friends that God drew my attention to; instead, the Holy Spirit drew my attention to a single prophetic declaration spoken in Chapter Eight by Bildad. “And though you started with little, you will end with much.” –Job 8:7.

When we read Job’s story, it wouldn’t be difficult to come away thinking his friends were sharp, callous even, in their supposed comfort, doubtful of his professed innocence in having brought about all of these calamities upon himself through some unconfessed sin which either he or one of his children had committed.

That’s the thing about fleshly wisdom; it is puffed up, baseless, and leaves little or no room for Godly wisdom, grace, or Truth.

When we speak to others, even those we love or care for, from our fleshly nature, and not according to the Spirit, we will likely offend, hurt, harm emotionally—sadly, push away entirely, even. “I have heard words like that before; the comfort you give is only torment. Are you going to keep on talking forever? Do you always have to have the last word?” –Job 16:2-3

It’s safe to say it was fleshly, not Godly wisdom, so-called Job’s friends offered him, as they were hurtful and unthinking.

But that is a conversation for another day…

And yet, did their own fleshly counsel prohibit God, in any way, from using them to share Spiritual wisdom, Truth, or to speak prophetically?

Based on God’s Sovereignty over all He’s created, He not only can but will use anyone or anything He wants to bring about His plans and purpose; coupled with the Living Word He has given us that we might search out such Truths for ourselves, I must answer with an emphatic no! Nothing can or will ever prohibit God from using the mouth of anyone He created to accomplish His will. God says it this way in Isaiah 46:10: “Only I can tell you the future before it even happens. Everything I plan will come to pass, for I do whatever I wish.”

That established, I’d like us now to zero in on that one statement Bildad made, which was, unbeknownst to him, Job, and those other friends sitting around him, prophetic in nature. “And though you started with little, you will end with much.” –Job 8:7.

Neither Job himself nor any of his friends, gathered around him, would have believed that soon and very soon God would use the very words He’d put in Bildad’s mouth to not only exonerate Job, but to bless Him with what some Christians commonly refer to as “double for his trouble.” We’ll read about God’s exact fulfillment of Bildad’s words in Chapter 42; I’ll touch on that in a moment…

Maybe you can relate to how Job may have felt?

I pray you have not experienced such inscrutable losses as Job.

Yet, truth be told, most losses we experience in this lifetime can feel cataclysmic.

I can attest to this personally, having lost much and many loved ones in a short span of time.

Loss can feel insurmountable, even. Mind you, I’m talking about deep, ripping-away loss here, as with Job—of a loved one or loved ones, a home and its contents, lost to a fire or flood, or from the Lord Himself asking you to return to Him what He blessed you with; maybe you experienced a miscarriage or the death of a long-prayed-for child or spouse.

Such losses can be insurmountable, and true comfort and strength needed to rise again, unattainable—apart from God. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea.” –Psalm 46: 1-2

Here, Job’s unshakable faith in the face of what one might easily call insurmountable loss is echoed in David’s words. “Even though He kills me; I will hope in Him. Nevertheless, I will argue my ways to His face.” –Job 13:15

Job’s friends had based their fleshly accusations and belief in Job’s guilt (hence speaking freely from their font of worldly wisdom) on the misguided belief of those in Job’s day, and some still today: if some tragedy, sickness, or loss befalls you, it must be because there is sin in your life. Job, on the other hand, defended his innocence. He had decided that since God had stripped him of everything He’d given him, he had nothing left to lose.

In all of their very bold statements, we see fleshly wisdom on display, exhibiting its partial sight and limited knowledge. So, to take this full circle now, it was there, at the Epicenter of man’s lack of wisdom and woeful display of any True Knowledge, where Godly Wisdom chose to break in and, using Bildad’s very human lips, speak restoration over Job’s life: “And though you started with little, you will end with much.” –Job 8:7.

From the beginning, God has always used the foolish things of this world to confound the so-called wise.

But thanks be to God that in our woeful ignorance, brazen rebelliousness, and irrational wisdom, He does not deal with us as He has every right. He uses us still, as He did Bildad, to speak His blessings, Words of healing, hope, and restoration, over all those He calls, or is calling, His own.

Let’s read, in part, how this story ends for ourselves:

“Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do anything, and no one can stop you. You asked, ‘Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorance?’ It is I—and I was talking about things I knew nothing about, things far too wonderful for me. You said, ‘Listen and I will speak! I have some questions for you, and you must answer them.’ I had only heard about you before, but now I have seen you with my own eyes. I take back everything I said, and I sit in dust and ashes to show my repentance.”

Conclusion: The Lord Blesses Job.

“After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “I am angry with you and your two friends, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has. So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer on your behalf. I will not treat you as you deserve, for you have not spoken accurately about me, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite did as the Lord commanded them, and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer. When Job prayed for his friends, the Lord restored his fortunes. In fact, the Lord gave him twice as much as before!

New friend, God wants to impart to you Godly wisdom and a new beginning, restoring hope to you just as Jesus did with Job. Won’t you accept His gifts? But first, you must accept Him into your life as Lord and Savior…

” Behold, I stand at the door [of the church] and continually knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him (restore him), and he with Me.” –Revelation 3:20