Job CXCI

 Job 18:10-16, “A noose is hidden from him on the ground, and the trap for him in the road. Terrors frighten him on every side and drive him to his feet. His strength is starved, and destruction is ready at his side. It devours patches of his skin; the firstborn of death devours his limbs. He is uprooted from the shelter of his tent, and they parade him before the king of terrors. They dwell in his tent who are none of his; brimstone is scattered on his dwelling. His roots are dried out below, and his branch withers above.”

A caustic ‘tell me how you really feel’ jape would be appropriate right about now, but Bildad wasn’t done, not by a long shot, and whatever self-control he’d had over his tongue up to this point is nowhere to be found. He needed Job to understand and acknowledge that he was a wicked man, and the need became near to overwhelming.

I can’t say I’ve insisted on another’s guilt with such determination even when I knew them to be guilty. Not assumed, or guessed at, but in possession of literal evidence of their guilt. When they didn't acknowledge it the first or second time and insisted on trying to justify their actions rather than fess up and admit guilt, the only option left to me was to terminate their employment and inform them they’d been fired.

What if the photos of them taking money out of the drawer were doctored, and someone was trying to frame them? This was the early nineties. Sci-fi was still reserved for Star Trek and their flip phones getting beamed up by Scotty. The photograph in question was taken accidentally by the photographer of a wedding party who happened to be my friend, and thought it was suspicious that the person taking orders at my mom’s bakery was putting the money they got from customers in their pocket, going into the register to make change, then putting the extra they’d extracted from the register into their pocket as well.

The it wasn’t me line wasn’t working. The face was clear, as was the fistful of cash they were stuffing in their shirt pocket. Had they owned up to what they’d done, made full restitution, and promised not to do it again, a second chance wasn’t just on the table, but likely. Why? Because all of us have been given second chances at one point or another in life. Perhaps not for taking something that wasn’t ours, or committing petty larceny, but if we think back, it’s likely we’ll remember something.

Perhaps it was the first impression we made on our potential future in-laws, or someone accepting an apology when we jumped to conclusions that turned out to be fallacious, we’ve all been given second chances, and I do not subscribe to the theory that once a thief always a thief because if that were the case, then all we’d be in life was the sum of our mistakes without the possibility of redress.

Will some of those to whom we extend grace and offer a second chance disappoint us anew? Yes, some will, perhaps most will, but there are also instances when that one act of kindness or grace will have such an impact on the individual that it will change the trajectory of their entire life.

Given that for the past thirty years our ministry has run an orphanage, and we’ve had hundreds of children pass through our doors, I can confirm that some of the worst cases, those deemed troubled souls whose final destination would likely be prison, were utterly transformed by the love, care, compassion, and patience extended to them by those who labored on their behalf.

Especially when it comes to the young with histories of abuse and family trauma, the idea of being loved is such a foreign concept at first that they don’t know how to react or process the notion that someone genuinely cares for them.

For someone with no baseline and no understanding of what love is, telling them that Jesus loves them and that you love them too may yield no immediate results. To them, it’s just another word, absent context or understanding, but as time passes and the word becomes action, demonstrated repeatedly in real-time, the walls they’ve built up around their heart begin to crumble, and they allow themselves to feel this once alien concept for themselves.

God didn’t just say He loved mankind. He demonstrated His love by sending Jesus, who likewise demonstrated His love by freely giving His life so that all who believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. Love is not a word; love is an action.

You can tell someone you love them a thousand times, and they may doubt you, but show that you love them once, and they will know with certainty that you do. We don’t have to guess at whether God loves us or not. He has proven it, beyond a shadow of doubt, and even in the worst of circumstances, we have full assurance that it is so. There is nothing more God can do beyond what He has already done to prove His love for you and me. That manner of love demands reciprocity. It demands fidelity and loyalty, obedience, and faithfulness.

1 John 3:1-3, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.”   

Bildad’s words were not anchored in love. Even though love is often corrective, this was not the case, as his pride and arrogance in his own self-assessed wisdom and his presumption that Job had done wickedness drove his actions rather than a genuine desire to see Job restored. 

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.