“…can a man be righteous…?” Job 25:4a
/Moving from truth to tradition, Bildad challenged Job’s position of integrity through, what he must have assumed, were unanswerable questions (similar to the two we saw yesterday; presenting questions to make a point or state a position was a common practice in their day):
“How then can a man be righteous before
God?” (v.4a); and“How can one born of woman be pure? (v.4b)
There is a measure of truth in the posture of Bildad’s questions: humans are sinners – we have all rebelled against God and against God’s Kingdom. There is a question within the question: Can a man be righteous? If one is counting on one’s own merits to stand completely justified before Heaven’s Judge and King, that one is apt to be very disappointed.
Bildad made his point clearly with his follow-up question, intimating how one is born into sin… it is in our nature. It’s not the way one is born that makes one a sinner. Our rebellious nature has been passed down to every human since Adam and Eve sinned in The Garden of Eden (read Genesis 3). Now, there are those who
are seen as righteous in the eyes of the world, yet before God their righteousness is as a filthy rag (read Isaiah 64:6). The world’s righteousness is focused on pleasing the eyes and ears of men, while God’s righteousness is wholly focused on pleasing God.
Revealing his traditional anchor, Bildad asserted that if the moon and stars were not considered pure in God’s eyes (v.5), then it only stood to reason mankind could never be seen by God as pure either (v.6). In fact, he equated humanity as nothing more than maggots… worms feeding on a decaying earth. His statements do
contain some truth: the fall of man in the garden was, in reality, the fall of the entire creation – everything created was contaminated by man’s sin. That’s the devastating dynamic of sin… it pollutes everything it touches. Man’s sin touched the entire breadth of God’s creation. So, while God created the universe in seven days and saw it was good or pure, mankind’s sin stained the purity of God’s good work.
The renowned preacher and theologian, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, described the nature of sin as:
Sin! From your fruitful womb what myriads of ills proceed! What countless hosts of evil are the fruits of sin! How many are the sins themselves! Sins of thought – rebellious thoughts, proud thoughts, blasphemous thoughts, atheistic thoughts, covetous thoughts, lustful thoughts, impatient thoughts, cruel thoughts, false
thoughts, thoughts of ill memory, and dreams of an unholy future; what swarms are there! However, the omission of thoughts, which should have been such as thoughts of repentance, gratitude, reverence, faith, and the like – these are equally numerous. With the double list, my role is written within and without with a hideous catalogue. As the gnats that swarm the air at eventide, so numerous are the transgressions of the mind. (from Spurgeon Gold, compiled by Ray Comfort; p.13, pp.1; copyright 2005)
Bildad could not grasp the idea that one could be made righteous before God through simple faith… Job’s kind of faith. Hebrews 11 provides us insight into how God breathed faith into the lives of people who exercised that faith for His Kingdom. Their acts of faith were ‘reckoned’ (recognized) by God as righteousness. In other words, faith in God which is put into action is recognized by God as righteousness. On this side of the cross, it begins with faith in His Son, Jesus Christ (read 1 John). Bildad was SO CLOSE to the truth, asking, How can a man be righteous before God?”, for faith usually starts with a question.
Can a man be righteous before God? Yes! Here’s how: in faith, admit you’re a sinner; thank Jesus for paying
the penalty for your sin upon a cross; invite Jesus into your heart to be Savior and Lord of your life; thank Him for attending to your prayer and for the new life He offers you; turn from sin and your selfish lusts and allow Christ to live in and through your life.
It will make for a most blessed day!