VIII.
Let’s read Bildad’s words again. After you read them, give some thought to how and where you might have heard any echoes of these words.

IX.
Job 8:1-10 (New Revised Standard Version)

Then Bildad the Shuhite answered:

“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?

If your children sinned against him,
he delivered them into the power of their transgression.

If you will seek God
and make supplication to the Almighty,

if you are pure and upright,
surely then he will rouse himself for you
and restore to you your rightful place.

Though your beginning was small,
your latter days will be very great.

“For inquire now of bygone generations,
and consider what their ancestors have found;

for we are but of yesterday, and we know nothing,
for our days on earth are but a shadow.

Will they not teach you and tell you
and utter words out of their understanding?

Job 8:20-22 (New Revised Standard Version)

“See, God will not reject a blameless person,
nor take the hand of evildoers.

He will yet fill your mouth with laughter,
and your lips with shouts of joy.

Those who hate you will be clothed with shame,
and the tent of the wicked will be no more.”

X.
Do you know someone (or someones) who might approach a person in similar words?

If so, why might they do so?

What might such words reveal about not only them, but also the way they view the world and the way they view those who might be suffering, grieving, or have “fallen on hard times”?

Dare I ask – do I approach people this way?

XI.
Have you come across articles online or in other readings with titles similar to, “10 Things Not To Say To The Grieving,” “10 Best & Worst Things to Say to Someone in Grief,” “19 Worst Things to Say to a Grieving Person,” or “8 Things NOT To Say When Your Friend Is Grieving.”

Yes, those items exist online.

I make no claims for how good, bad, helpful or unhelpful any of those might be. I only offer them as examples.

I would ask you to give some consideration to how Bildad approached Job and how this manner of speaking with others is still voiced today.

XII.
My initial reaction to Bildad is to be very critical of him and to see him as one who has no sympathy for Job.

Do you think I am on the right track? Or is Bildad showing his concern for Job and sympathy for Job’s plight in the only words and manner readily available to him.

What might you and I learn from Bildad’s efforts to “comfort and console” Job?

XIII.
One last thought before leaving our time with Bildad.

I was cleaning out some old email accounts the other day and came across the following that appeared on the d365.org web site in January 2014 –

“It’s not what someone does for us that matters most; it’s the very fact that they are with us when we need them that’s important. In moments of struggle and suffering – and in times of celebration and joy – we want another alongside us to share our experience.”

How near to sharing Job’s plight does Bildad come?

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}