Job CCLXII

 Job 25:1-6, “Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: ‘Dominion and fear belong to Him; He makes peace in His high places. Is there any number to His armies? Upon whom does His light not rise? How then can man be righteous before God? Or how can he be pure who is born of a woman? If even the moon does not shine, and the stars are not pure in His sight, how much less man, who is a maggot, and a son of man who is a worm?”’

Not only is this the shortest chapter in the book of Job, but it’s also the most disjointed, where about halfway through, Bildad seems to lose his composure and go off on a rant that would make every proponent of the self-esteem, positive affirmation crowd blush with indignity. Not that I’m a proponent of lying to yourself in the mirror, but there should be a happy medium between calling oneself brave, beautiful, capable, and fit when one knows themselves not to be at least half of those things, and screeching you’re a maggot and a worm at one’s reflection.

Perhaps say nothing at all, and just make sure you don’t have yellow discharge drying at the corners of your eyes and that your shirt is buttoned right before setting forth to brave the day.  

There’s a park in our neck of the woods, at least where we used to live before the girls came along, called Riverside Park. For those in the area, it’s in the city known for opportunity running through it, and never stopping to catch its breath. Whether you call it Watertown or Watertucky, it’s the quintessential middle America town, with this particular park being a major draw, especially during the summer months.

The park is divided by a creek, with a bridge connecting the two sides, and because there is abundant water, there are always ducks. The ducks draw families, families bring bread, and the ducks get so many frequent meals as to think someone was fattening them up with an eye for preparing them for the dinner table.

There are park benches and picnic tables, and it’s nice enough that it was an oft-visited spot in the early years of our marriage. Walks in the park are free. They’re far gentler on the pocketbook than walking through a mall, and the extra vitamin D is an added bonus. One day, we were walking by the creek, hand in hand, and stopped to watch a little girl holding a slice of bread, tearing off small pieces and throwing them near her feet for the ducks to snatch up.

It was idyllic. We stood there smiling, watching the little girl throw small crumbs of bread closer and closer to her feet until one brave duck got too close, and the little girl, quick as lightning, grabbed the duck by the neck and started dragging it away from the creek bank.

In an instant, the picturesque scene turned into something more akin to a horror movie, as the duck started quacking, flapping its wings, trying to pull away in vain, the girl’s mother began yelling for her to let it go, and with a determined look on her face, the little girl just kept pulling.

I get the same whiplash of emotions when I read Bildad’s brief and final answer to Job’s words. He starts out well enough, reiterating that dominion and fear belong to God. He acknowledges that God makes peace in the high places, is in awe of God’s grandeur, wondering if there is any number to His armies, and concludes that He is ever present, everywhere, for upon whom does His light not shine, but then something changes. There is a not-so-subtle narrative shift, and it’s as though two different people are focusing on two opposing sides of the same issue. It usually takes two to tango, and two differing viewpoints to have a heated debate or a disagreement, but not so with Bildad.

The same man who enumerated God’s power, omnipotence, sovereignty, and glory, comes out of left field and asks, how then can man be righteous before God? Well, because God declares him righteous. One would think the answer would be obvious enough, given that the same man who asked the question insisted upon God’s dominion a few seconds prior.

Rather than argue endlessly whether a glass is half empty or half full, perhaps we can come together and agree that there is a glass, and there is liquid in the glass, and whether it’s half full or half empty really doesn’t matter. If the way you interpret how you measure the fullness of the glass matters more to you than the reality that it exists and there is substance in it to the halfway mark, the issue is more about you being right in the way you view the glass than the existence thereof.

We engage in endless quarrels, hurt each other, wound each other, and speak ill of each other, not because we are defending the truth or defending the Gospel, but because we want to be right. We want the prism through which we see something to be the only viable option, and we can’t bring ourselves to admit that the glass is both half full and half empty.

No man is righteous simply because he declares himself to be. However, a man is righteous if God declares him righteous. It’s a simple solution to Bildad’s problem, but one he is unwilling to entertain because that would mean rethinking his entire framework regarding God, man, authority, and sovereignty.

Either you see yourself as a maggot and a worm, or one who has been bought with a price, redeemed, reborn, washed clean, and set upon the path of righteousness. However, what is imperative is that you see yourself as God sees you, and not as others see you.

To his friends, Job was a wicked man deserving of all that had befallen him and worse besides. To God, Job was a blameless and upright man who feared Him and shunned evil. Whose report he would believe was Job’s choice, and knowing himself to desire nothing more than the presence of God, he rejected the condemnation of his friends and their assessment of him.

Yes, only God can judge you, and that is either a reason for great rejoicing or great dread, depending on whether you belong to Him or only claim to. Job had searched his heart repeatedly and found nothing he needed to repent of, not because he ignored the things he knew were wicked in his life, but because there was no wickedness in his life. If you stood before God today, could you say the same?      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCLXI

 Job 24:22-25, “But God draws the mighty away with His power; he rises up, but no man is sure of life. He gives them security, and they rely on it; yet His eyes are on their ways. They are exalted for a little while, then they are gone. They are brought low; they are taken out of the way like all others; they dry out like the heads of grain. Now if it is not so, who will prove me a liar, and make my speech worth nothing?”

Any power, might, or ability to bend the universe to their will that someone might think they have is illusory. It is imagined, deceptive, and misleading, and by the time they figure out that the might they thought they possessed was nothing more than mist and illusion, a construct of their own id, a byproduct of pride and the pretense of authority, the grave beckons and try as they might to avoid it, or keep from taking that one-way journey back to the earth from which they came, it’s too late.

No matter what heights they reach, no matter how much wealth they amass, no matter how indelible the mark they leave on the world, though he rises up, no man is sure of life. Man is born, and man dies. The length of one’s days is in God’s hand alone, and though they may think they can outrun the clock, that by sheer force of will they can continue to be among the living once the sand in their hourglass runs out, vanity is all it ends up being.

Yes, they may be exalted for a little while, rely on the security He’s given them, insisting that it was of their own doing, but God’s eyes are on their ways, and His accounting is impeccable. No matter how high they rise, no matter how much power they wield, all men are brought low and taken out of the way. One’s station will not shield them from the eyes of God, one’s office will not make them bypass the grave, and in a world of uncertainty where everything has an expiration date and a limited shelf life, it is no less than wisdom itself to cling to and humble ourselves before the eternal One, the maker of all that is seen and unseen.

Prince or pauper, a man is just a man. Wise or fool, we all share the same end, the moment of which is known only by the One who created us and knew us from before He formed us in our mothers’ womb.

From the very first verse of the book of Job, we are told of his priorities and what he dedicated his life to. We were likewise shown a glimpse into the mind of God and made to understand what He deems worthy of note, what draws His eyes, and what He counts as a life well lived. We were not told Job was a shrewd businessman, a great orator, or a poet, but rather that he feared God and shunned evil.

All his other successes were secondary issues to the primary one, which was that he dedicated his life to having a deep and meaningful relationship with God. He dedicated his life to the pursuit of growing his spiritual man first, and the sheep, camels, oxen, donkeys, and very large household were secondary concerns.

Had his priorities been inverted, had he dedicated himself to amassing more of the things he already possessed, when they were stripped from him, it would have broken him. He would have surely been brought to ruin, a broken man with a broken spirit, because his identity would have been wrapped up in his possessions rather than in the God he served.

The uniqueness of Job was that he not only understood what mattered most in life but also lived in such a way as to exemplify the practical application of that understanding. I know that all things come from God, I know my Redeemer lives, I know there is something beyond this mortal coil and sagging flesh, and knowing these things, I strive to live accordingly, and in light of that reality. I shun evil because it is evil. I fear God because He is supreme and sovereign.

You can live your life chasing after things the world deems worthwhile, or laying hold of what God deems worthwhile. One must take precedence over the other; one will be sought after with greater aplomb than the other, because it’s clear that no man can serve two masters, and you will defer to one over the other depending on the desire and yearning of your heart.

Job yearned for God, and in his final response to Eliphaz, he drew the comparison between the mighty who lean on their might and those who lean on God, depend upon Him, and trust Him to carry them through the dark times. Your trust is only as unshakeable as what you put your trust in.

Psalm 20:7-8, “Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They have bowed down and fallen; but we have risen and stand upright.”

Job outlined the way of the world, not from the outside looking in, not as someone who never had possessions, but as one who was once the greatest of all the people of the East. His final analysis was as simple as it was profound: God is the only thing that matters. Knowing God, serving God, fearing God, loving God, worshipping God, and obeying God are the only things that will set you apart, give you hope, and give you purpose.

If it is not so, who will prove me a liar? If you can poke holes in my analysis, feel free to do so, but I know you can’t. The truth is the truth whether men reject it, bristle at it, or rage against it. Do you know Jesus as your Lord and Savior? Does He sit on the throne of your heart? These are not questions we can get around to answering when we have a bit of downtime, but the most important questions we will ever have to contend with on this side of eternity. Job knew. He knew that his Redeemer lived, and one day he would see Him face to face. Do you?      

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCLX

 You’ll know you’re over the target when the response to your quoting Scripture is an ad hominem personal attack that has nothing to do with the initial discussion. When men can’t defend their positions because they are contrary to what the Word says, it becomes personal, and whatever they can do to deflect from their error, they will do with gusto.

It’s no less than what Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar attempted to do to Job, with an added layer of unsubstantiated accusations leveled against him, because he’d exposed the one thing they couldn’t admit to: not everything is black and white, not every situation is clear-cut, and anyone who insists they know the truth of every matter, regardless of how nuanced, complicated, or shrouded in mystery, is doing it to feed their ego. For some, the hardest words they will ever utter are “I don’t know” and “I was wrong.” They are so difficult to pass our lips that we would rather drag someone through the mud, accuse them of wickedness, attack their character, and latch onto things that were never part of the initial conversation, all in the hope of avoiding saying them.  

“The Word of God says to resist the devil, strive to enter through the narrow gate, and walk circumspectly because the days are evil.”

“You’re fat!”

“Thanks for the reminder. I do own a mirror. Now what about the thing the Bible says?”

“You’re still fat!”

So much for reasoning together and allowing the Spirit of God to bring clarity. So much for iron sharpening iron and allowing the Word of God to have the final say on the matter.

When all we’re told repeatedly from various pulpits of various denominations that the only thing for us to do is wait for the catching away, perhaps picking some belly button lint just to pass the time, but nothing more aggressive than that, it’s no wonder the world is still lost and the devil is making headway into places and institutions once considered sacrosanct and beyond his reach. We have become warriors without armor, sojourners without a destination, leaders without vision, followers without purpose, shepherds without integrity, and servants in open rebellion to their Master. But sure, tell me more about how we’ll rule the nations, how justice will run down like water, and righteousness like a mighty river.  

The household of faith has a purpose on this earth, and it’s not being ineffective, indifferent, and unconcerned. Neither is our purpose to build up our earthly kingdoms or promote ourselves as individuals as though we were a viable replacement for the King of Kings, or on equal footing with Him and His authority. Any authority we have was given to us by Him, and if we boast in anything, may it be in Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior.

When we start seeking celebrity rather than obedience, the enemy will be more than happy to facilitate it, because he understands human nature and knows that if the heart yearns for name recognition rather than faithful submission to the will and purpose of God, compromises will be made to attain that goal. Oddly enough, the compromise never errs on the side of truth, righteousness, or sanctification, but always toward permissiveness, duplicity, and more worldly-minded pursuits.

When a wicked man points to other wicked men attempting to highlight their wickedness, it’s not from a sense of justice, but rather a means of deflection. Sure, I’m rotten to the core, but look at those guys over there, they’re as rotten as me just in other areas of life.

When God calls us to righteousness, holiness, and sanctification, it’s not so we can boast about them or perceive ourselves as spiritually superior to others, but to draw nearer to Him and feel His presence in greater and greater measure. God’s closeness should inspire greater humility in the heart of man, rather than boastful buffoonery. The clearer we see His righteousness and holiness, the more evident the insignificance of our own righteousness becomes. Any man who boasts of his righteousness or holiness has not been in close enough proximity to God to understand the folly of their boast.

It would be both refreshing and jarring to see a self-titled spiritual leader today have the self-awareness of Isaiah, and declare that all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags, and it’s because of our iniquity that God has hidden His face from us and consumed us. That would not play well with a modern audience, I fear.

The faux-shepherds can’t risk telling the truth, the pretend sheep don’t want to hear it, and they’ve come to an unspoken, tacit agreement that as long as the preacher keeps preaching lies, the sheep will continue to pretend it’s the truth because the gravy train needs to keep chugging along, and the congregation just wants some fire insurance rather than true transformation.

The farmer already knows which is wheat and which is chaff. The threshing facilitates the separation of the two. God, likewise, already knows those who are His in word and in deed, and those who pretend to be. It’s not a mystery to Him; He doesn’t have to guess at it, but the trials, uncertainty, and persecution on the horizon will separate the sheep from the goats just as surely as the threshing separates the wheat from the chaff.

What some of the more obstinate among us fail to realize is that you can’t fool God into believing you belong to Him when you don’t. God singled out one man and declared him blameless and upright, even though there were doubtless others who pretended to be. To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, you can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you can never fool God. Not even once, not even a little bit, because He knows the hearts of men and nothing is hidden from His sight.

Saying we love God and loving God are two different things. One is performative, self-serving, and self-aggrandizing; the other is authentic, active, and perpetual. If men claim to love God only when they need something from Him, and fall out of love the minute they get what they wanted, it was never love; it was usury. We love God not for what He might do for our career, our net worth, or our romantic endeavors, but for what He has already done, giving His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.     

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCLIX

 Job 24:18-21, “They should be swift on the face of the waters, their portion should be cursed in the earth, so that no one would turn into the way of their vineyards. As drought and heat consume the snow waters, so the grave consumes those who have sinned. The womb should forget him, the worm should feed sweetly on him; He should be remembered no more, and wickedness should be broken like a tree. For he preys on the barren who do not bear, and does no good for the widow.”

The rise of the perma-passive, non-confrontational, non-offensive Christian is something I’ve been noticing for some time. We don’t challenge, we don’t push back, we don’t present a logical counterpoint even to the most heretical, destructive, and unbiblical proclamations, either out of a desire to overcorrect from the fire and brimstone preachers of old, or sheer cowardice, all the while insisting that letting anyone who is so inclined walk all over us and use us as a doormat equating it with righteousness itself.

If someone is speaking a lie and you confront them with the truth, you’re not being a jerk for Jesus; you’re defending the truth. If someone is attempting to bring in destructive heresies and you see them for what they are, keeping silent doesn’t make you brave; it makes you complicit.

The words spoken by the man whom God deemed blameless and upright regarding the wicked were neither conciliatory nor filled with empathy. No matter how much one may attempt to twist scripture, it’s impossible to conclude that when Job said the womb should forget him, and the worm should feed on him sweetly, he meant it in a nice way.

There is a time and place for righteous anger. There is a time and place for righteous indignation, and when it comes to wickedness, as Job stated, it should be broken like a tree, and not ignored, placated, validated, or celebrated.

The selfsame people who rebel against the light, whose consciences are seared, and who see the household of faith as nothing more than sheep to be sheared, exploited, and feasted upon, are the first to insist that we shouldn’t judge, and by no means should we touch God’s anointed. In order for someone to touch God’s anointed, they must be anointed by God, not claim to be so. That men would try to deflect from their wickedness by insisting that God’s anointed are a protected class, all the while inferring that they number among them, and therefore must be allowed to continue in their wickedness without being called out, aren’t rightly dividing the Word but rather using the ignorance of the Word among God’s sheep to shield themselves from criticism.

1 Thessalonians 5:21, “Test all things; hold fast what is good.”

Another word for test is judge. The metric by which we test, or judge all things isn’t our feelings, emotions, or traditions, but by the Word of God. It is the standard, the plumbline, and the final authority in all things, and if the Word deems it detrimental, unwise, sinful, or wrong, then we reject it, avoid it, and mark it as such.

Just as a boat without an anchor will get carried away by the storm, a believer not rooted in the Word of God will be swayed to and from by every wind, every doctrine, and every heresy that makes its way to the fore. Repackaged deception is still deception, and we know it for what it is because the Scriptures say as much.

It’s gotten as bad as it has because many have been deceived into believing that, rather than being the light that pushes back the darkness, we should try to understand it, have empathy for it, and come to some sort of armistice. You do your thing, we’ll do ours, we won’t interfere in your machinations, and you pinky swear to do likewise. The problem is that while the household of faith was more than happy to leave the devil alone because it meant less exertion on their part, the devil never had any intention of leaving the church alone. From tirelessly deploying his minions to secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Lord who bought them, to insisting that courage, boldness, steadfastness, and faithfulness aren’t virtues but rather practices to be avoided, to raising up wolves while demeaning true shepherds, the devil has been hard at work.

All the while, we sit cloistered in our little bubbles, gravitating toward echo chambers that place tertiary issues above the Lordship of Christ, trying to pray the darkness away when Jesus said what we should be doing is letting our light so shine before men.

Darkness must be resisted. Wickedness must be called out. The wolves must be chased away, and the sheep must decide whether they’re really sheep or goats pretending to be sheep. Save the customer is always right for McDonald’s or Burger King. When it comes to spiritual matters, our attitude must be that God is always right, even if in Him being right, our pride gets wounded, our ego gets humbled, and our flesh gets mortified.

Job had a natural disdain for wickedness because he understood that light and darkness would always be at odds, perpetually at enmity, and either the light shines bright enough to dispel the darkness, or the darkness would continue its smothering of the light until no light remained.

It’s been so long since the church has been on a war footing that we’ve come to think of it as being something unnatural. Golf was more appealing than warcraft, prosperity more tempting than battle, passivity more comfortable than the active, unrelenting furthering of God’s kingdom, and here we are, lame men, skinny jeans and all, teaching other lame men to be at ease in their lameness.

We have so thoroughly removed the principles of personal accountability and personal responsibility from the conversation that anything past trying to be first in line at the Sunday buffet is deemed works, and readily labeled as such. Of course, I want eternity in paradise, who wouldn’t, but Ichabod on anyone who says I need to lift a finger to attain it. I’m too busy golfing; maybe you can sell that whole denying yourself, picking up your cross, and following after Jesus to another sucker. Who needs brave, bold, and courageous when you have gluttonous, greedy, and gullible?                   

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr. 

Job CCLVIII

 Job 24:13-17, “There are those who rebel against the light; they do not know its ways nor abide in its paths. The murderer rises with the light; he kills the poor and needy; and in the night he is like a thief. The eye of the adulterer waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he disguises his face. In the dark they break into houses which they marked for themselves in the daytime; they do not know the light. For the morning is the same to them as the shadow of death; if someone recognizes them, they are in the terrors of the shadow of death.”

Even a blind man can feel the warmth of the sun on his face and know the difference between day and night. It’s not that those who rebel against the light don’t know of its existence. In order to rebel against something, whether an institution, a government, or an individual, you must be aware that it exists, it is real and tangible, yet you choose to rise in opposition to it. Although they know of its existence, they neither know its ways nor abide in its paths. The rejection of the light and rebellion against it is a purposeful, willful choice, and not some accident or mistake.  

The wicked know an alternative exists to the darkness, but they are wholly opposed to it and have no desire to know it or abide in its paths. The wicked will not be able to claim ignorance of the light’s existence when standing before God’s throne on that day of days. None will be able to insist that they didn’t know of it, but rather knowing that it existed, they chose to walk in darkness, doing the things they knew to be evil and debased because their flesh reveled in it.

Things haven’t gotten better over the four thousand years since the book of Job was written. Try as we might to tell ourselves that we are wiser, more aware, civilized, and evolved, the same issues that plagued the wicked then plague the wicked now, only magnified and multiplied in frequency. Ignorance of the light’s existence was never the issue, but rejection of it and rebellion toward it.

What we deem the pinnacle of civilization and civility doesn’t look any different from the times Job lived in, except for conveniences such as electricity, infrastructure, indoor plumbing, and automobiles. As far as human nature goes, it’s eerily similar. Wicked men still do wicked things, murderers still murder, adulterers still commit adultery, the powerful still exploit the weak, and though things might have changed outwardly in relation to the world and its progress, inwardly, when it comes to the heart of man, they’ve remained the same.

The awareness that light exists and that God is real is not something humanity has happened upon in the last few centuries. It has been evident since the beginning of creation, so that men are without excuse in their rejection of Him. When men reject God, it’s knowingly, willingly, and purposefully.

Just as no man can stumble his way into heaven, or make it there accidentally, no man can stumble his way into hell. It will be by choice. Men choose to reject the light. Men choose to reject the Christ. Men choose to reject the narrow path. Men choose to reject the truth and instead embrace a lie. Every day, men and women, young and old, make a multitude of choices, and the wicked are consistent in choosing rebellion against the light. Is it a choice they will regret? Most assuredly, but for now, they ease their conscience by insisting that no one sees, no one hears, God is busy, and He has bigger fish to fry than to take note of one man’s sin and rebellion.

Romans 1:18-21, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

Two thousand years later, Paul undergirds the truth Job was trying to convey, wherein it’s not the absence of the awareness of light, but that men willfully reject it. Since the creation of the world, His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. Rather than acknowledge this obvious truth, man would rather insist that it was all one serendipitous accident, without the aid of intelligent design, without the molding of God’s eternal hand. Everything was thrown in a cosmic blender, and wouldn’t you know it, a perfectly cooked, perfectly seasoned turducken magically appeared on your plate. As the adage goes, it takes more faith to believe that everything came from nothing than to believe God created it.

But it takes countless things to be perfectly proportioned for life to be possible on this rock, never mind the almost infinite plantlife, animals, microorganisms, and man himself. Too much heat, we all fry. Too much cold, we all freeze. Too much water, we all drown. Not enough, and the parched desert consumes everything. Yep, all a happy accident.

Just because men refuse to acknowledge God, it doesn’t mean He isn’t there. Just because they come up with fanciful, illogical, irrational, and specious tales about how the world came to be rather than acknowledge His eternal power and Godhead, it doesn’t make Him any less real. Just because they ignore their mortality, it doesn’t make them immortal, and just because they refuse to acknowledge that one day they will stand before God’s throne of judgment, it doesn’t mean they will bypass it.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCLVII

 Job 24:9-12, “Some snatch the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge from the poor. They cause the poor to go naked, without clothing; and they take away the sheaves from the hungry. They press out oil within their walls, and tread winepresses, yet suffer thirst. The dying groan in the city, and the souls of the wounded cry out; yet God does not charge them with wrong.”

The actions of the wicked do not occur in a vacuum. They cannot be done in secret forever. Eventually, the effects of their wickedness are readily visible to anyone with intellectual honesty who does not see the world through the prism of some allegiance, whether to a particular man, a denomination, or a political party, but as it is, warts and all.

Some demand perfection from everyone within their sphere and live in perpetual disappointment. If the microscope were turned on them, they would fail to meet their own standard, but that either doesn’t register or doesn’t bother them to the point of dialing back the rhetoric of calling everyone Ichabod until they’re left alone on their island, praising their own self-righteousness.

That said, there should be a standard and a well-defined separation between the wicked and the righteous. Yes, I expect more from pastors, preachers, teachers, and elders than I do from politicians, athletes, or television personalities, and so does God. To excuse the behaviors of spiritual leaders that are on par with the most hedonistic, deviant, and off-putting practices of the wicked, while demanding righteousness of men who never claimed nor pretended to be spiritual pillars of God’s kingdom, is hypocritical on its face.

Luke 12:47-48, “And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more.”

We cannot invert expectations and expect more of a babe in Christ, or one who has never professed Him, than one who is supposed to be seasoned and mature. A general has a far greater responsibility than does the private, and more is expected of him by the King due to the level of authority committed to him.

Job knew there was a difference between the wicked and the righteous. Job knew what the wicked did, and that he didn’t do likewise. A man can boast of his righteousness yet do as the wicked, proving his boasts to be nothing more than empty words. Likewise, a righteous man can remain silent, speak nothing of his righteousness, yet his consistent, daily actions will reveal his integrity and the content of his character to all those with whom he comes in contact.

If wickedness does not occur in a vacuum, neither does righteousness. One’s actions will speak louder than words, whether their own or the words of others about them, because actions are tangible while words are just that. I can tell my wife and daughters I love them every day, but if my actions belie my words, if everything I do contradicts my declaration of love to them, at some point, they will doubt my sincerity or the veracity of my proclamations.

I love you, Lord, but I don’t want to spend any time in your presence. I love you, Lord, but I want nothing to do with your Word. I love you, Lord, but unless I’m in a pickle and I need some miracle-level intervention, I’d rather not be bothered with anything having to do with anything pertaining to Your kingdom. I love you, Lord, but not to the extent of caring for the widow and orphan, or feeding the hungry. I love you, Lord, but I’d prefer not to deny myself or pick up my cross since I have an aversion to splinters.

When referring to the wicked, Job makes a statement that could also be seen as an open-ended question: why does God not charge the wicked with wrong when the dying groan in the city and the souls of the wounded cry out? The short answer is, He does. Just not in the timeframe we would see as equitable, some not even while here on earth, but judgment is established for the wicked, and none will escape God’s justice, whether here, in eternity, or both.

The big idea in Job’s last response to Eliphaz is that one cannot remain steeped in wickedness, committing wicked deeds, having a heart of stone, and preying and exploiting the poor, the widow, or the orphan if God is the center of their lives. One’s close proximity to the righteousness of God transforms the heart of stone into a heart of flesh; it compels transformation from the inward parts, which is visible in the outward actions.

If no such transformation is forthcoming, if no such change is visible, if the things you sought, desired, or hungered for remain unchanged after your encounter with God, then it was a momentary experience rather than a transformative event that changed the entirety of one’s life trajectory.

Our encounter with God must be no less life-altering than Saul’s encounter on the road to Damascus. We may not see a bright light or hear a voice from heaven as Saul did, but the transformation must be no less life-defining. From that moment, Saul was no longer the man he had once been. He went from being the persecutor of the brethren to the staunchest defender of Jesus throughout the nations. Salvation is transformation, it is rebirth, it is being given a new mind and a new heart that no longer yearns for the things of this world but for the presence of Christ alone.

This is the one thing Job couldn’t get his mind around. How could his friends paint him out to be a man wholly given to wickedness, a man who exploited the poor, and had no empathy for the widow or the orphan, when the singular desire of his heart was to feel God’s presence, and when he knew himself to have treasured the words of His mouth more than necessary food.

Job had never taken to pretending to be something he wasn’t, but by the same token, he wasn’t about to admit to being something he knew himself not to be. There is a time to be silent, then there is a time to speak, but in all his defense, Job did not make it about himself, but rather the juxtaposition of the wicked and the righteous, appealing to God rather than man to vindicate him, and give him justice.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.  

Job CCLVI

 Do you not possess enough discernment to know the difference between the wicked and the righteous? Do you not possess enough understanding of God, His will, and His purposes, that you would confuse those who hunger and thirst after Him with those who despise and reject Him? Can you not see the difference between those who feed the hungry, shelter the fatherless, comfort the widow, and those who shun them, exploit them, and hurt them? He did not say it quite as poignantly or directly, but this is what Job was asking his friends.

You know what the wicked do, and it should come as no surprise when they do it. They seize flocks violently and feed on them. They drive away the donkey of the fatherless. They push the needy off the road. They do abhorrent, repugnant, inhuman things and justify them every day, but the children of God do not!

This is why it comes as such a shock to the system when you hear of men who claim to be godly, who are in positions of authority requiring godliness, doing the selfsame things they condemned those of the world for doing. It’s because, while they claimed to be different, were expected to be different, and were commanded by God to be different, they were only pretending when others were watching, but in their hearts wickedness abounded.

Yes, there is a difference between the godly and the ungodly. Yes, there is a difference between those who know Him and those who do not. The difference must be clear, discernible, unambiguous, and well-defined. They do those things; those who know God do not. At least that’s the way it should be, biblically speaking, morally speaking, and logically speaking. It goes beyond projecting an image, and since I’m a jaded sort of soul, people who try too hard to project a certain image are suspect from the jump, but to the core of one’s nature, to what they have been transformed into by the salvific power of Christ.

Why so jaded? Because I’ve seen enough, heard enough, witnessed the aftermaths, and helped pick up the pieces one too many times to allow for the childish notion that every guy in a suit with gel in his hair is what he claims to be. You will know them by their fruit. If there is no fruit, there is no power. If there is no fruit, there is no righteousness. If there is no fruit, there is no authority. You can claim all these things, but the absence of fruit is proof enough that your goals are something other than furthering the Kingdom of God or rightly dividing the Word.    

The difference between the wicked and the godly should be so vividly evident as to be undeniable. We are not of the dark; we are of the light, but if we are of the light, why are so many of those claiming to be of the light so comfortable in the dark?

If you can’t tell the difference between the two, you’re still in the dark. One keeps you blind, the other illuminates everything, including the corners, nooks, and crannies of one’s heart, exposing everything and leaving nothing in the shadows. When the light of the gospel shines in the heart of man, it exposes everything and reveals it for what it is. You don’t get to pick and choose what stays and what goes. Everything goes! The carpets get ripped out, the cupboards get replaced, a new coat of paint is applied because a new tenant is moving in, and He will not abide the filth, dirt, and cobwebs left by the previous tenant.

If your new life is no different than your old life, if you are still doing all the things the wicked are known for doing, then your new life is a lie. If you are in Christ, you are a new creation. Old things have passed away. You no longer identify with they, or them, those who would gladly starve widows if it meant a little extra coin in their pocket, or needlessly burden the poor in exchange for an easier life.

Job makes it very clear that wicked men existed in his day, and this is what they did, but he could stand before both God and man and adamantly declare that he had never done such things.

We were once like them, but they were never like us. We, too, were once dead in our sins and trespasses, but no longer. It’s why we have compassion on the lost and go out of our way to consistently point the way to Jesus. Anyone who exudes spiritual elitism rather than compassion when it comes to those yet in darkness forget that they too were once slaves to sin. They forget that they, too, were once shackled with chains of their own making, and it took Jesus to set them free. They didn’t do it on their own; they didn’t discover the key to their prison in a corner somewhere, but another who had once worn similar shackles took the time to tell them that there is freedom, there is light, there is life, and there is hope in Christ.

But you don’t get it, preacher man. I dug my way out of my prison Shawshank Redemption style. I pulled myself up by my bootstraps, poured all the booze down the drain, joined AA, and took a shower. All that did for you was transfer you from solitary confinement to the general population. Unless Jesus sets you free, you’re still in prison. Unless He washed you and made you clean, you still reek of death and despair.

John 8:34-36, “Jesus answered them, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.’”

Only Jesus gives true freedom. Anything else is either an illusion of freedom or a temporary pause on one’s journey to destruction. One may stop their self-destructive ways for a season, but they will never truly be set free until Jesus makes them free.

With love in Christ,

Michael Boldea, Jr.