Sunday: Bildad’s Indictment Against Job: Job 8:1-7
If Job were really upright, he would be vindicated by God. Job was not vindicated by God, so he must be wicked. Bildad based his argument on his belief that because God was just, he would not bring trouble on a righteous individual. Bildad’s error was exposed later by God Himself and ultimately in Christ’s crucifixion, when God delivered His own Son over to suffering and death. (Matthew 27:31-50)
Monday: Bildad’s Dialogue Continues: Job 8:8-22
Bildad was a devoted traditionalist who called his witnesses from the past. There is nothing wrong with our learning from the past, provided it does not turn the present into a museum and the future into a cemetery. Bildad argues from nature that for every effect, there is a cause. He wrongly believed that if Job is suffering, there must be a cause, and since God is just, that cause has to be Job’s sin.
Tuesday: Job’s Reply –Job 9:1-13
Job acknowledged that he could not be perfectly righteous before God. He understood that by nature he was inclined toward self and sin and that he was not faultless in God’s sight. Yet, with all his heart, he had resisted evil and turned from it. Job complained that God had punished him without cause. Job’s faith still held firm and he did not curse God as Satan had predicted he would.
Wednesday: God’s Silence: Job 9:14-20
The most difficult thing for Job to accept was God’s continuing silence in the midst of a painful situation that seemed to have no purpose. God will sometimes allow us to pass through a dark time of trial when He Himself remains silent and seemingly far away. Yet even in the midst of the darkness of God’s silence, He has a plan for our lives, and we must continue to trust Him.
Thursday: Job’s Argument: Job 9:21-35
If God and Job went to court, Job would not have an argument to present. God is the Judge, He has all power, and nobody can contend with Him. Meanwhile, life goes by swiftly, like a fast runner, a ship and an eagle. For Job to put on a smiling face will not change his circumstances. It would be hypocrisy.
Friday: Job’s Bitterness: Job 10:1-12
Job continued pouring out to God his bitterness and feelings of being treated unfairly. But even though Job felt that God had withdrawn His love from him, he still maintained a trust in God’s justice and continued to wrestle with God for a solution to his dilemma.
Saturday: Job Feels God is Against Him: Job 10:13-22
The foremost glory of Paul’s suffering was that in some way he was sharing “the sufferings of Christ.” (2 Corinthians 1:5; Philippians 3:10; Colossians 1:24; 1 Peter 4:13)