The end of yesterday’s reading showed us some of the pain Job felt as he prayed: “I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul” (Job 7:11). He had found that he could not escape from the heartbreak by sleeping: “When I say, ‘My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,’ then you scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions, so that I would choose strangling and death rather than this body” (7:13-15).

(Bible trivia question of the day: Who was the shortest man in the Bible? Many guess Zacchaeus, but that’s wrong. A few guess Knee-high-miah, but that’s wrong, too. It was Bildad the Shoe-height.)

In today’s reading we see Bildad the Shuhite jumping forward to scold Job for being a windbag. “How long will you say these things, and the words of your mouth be a great wind?” (8:2). Bildad offers the stark judgment that Job’s children died because God was punishing them for their sinfulness (8:4). “Such are the paths of all who forget God; the hope of the godless shall perish” (8:13).

To comfort Job in his grief, Bildad offers this advice: “See, God will not reject a blameless person, nor take the hand of evildoers” (8:20) – which is to say, the disaster Job has experienced proves he is not blameless; God has not extended his hand of mercy to Job because Job is an evildoer. Bildad’s view comes to this: Job should just shut up and accept that all this disaster is his own godless evil fault.

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Even when our friends are berating us, O Lord, I am grateful that you give us permission to pour out our souls before you: to vocalize the fear and the rage and the doubt, and to have the confidence that you will hear us out, and hold us close even in our anguish.

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