Job 8:5-7

5 If thou wouldest seek [shachar] unto God ['el] betimes [shachar], and make thy supplication [chanan] to the Almighty [Shadday];

6 If thou wert pure [zak] and upright [yashar]; surely now he would awake [`uwr] for thee, and make the habitation [naveh] of thy righteousness [tsedeq] prosperous [shalam].

7 Though thy beginning [re'shiyth] was small [mits`ar], yet thy latter end ['achariyth] should greatly [ma`od] increase [sagah]. KJV-Interlinear

5 'If you would seek God And implore the compassion of the Almighty, 6 If you are pure and upright, Surely now He would rouse Himself for you And restore your righteous estate. 7 'Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will increase greatly. NASB

With every word spoken by the three friends, two thus far, greater presumptions, sarcasm, and irony are spilled out onto the ground. You can almost see the letters and numbers, as in a cartoon scene, spilling out of their mouths and splattering onto the ground into a useless puddle.

Bildad is echoing the words of Eliphaz. Remember too that Bildad symbolizes the wisdom of the east, with contentiousness. In other words, the wisdom of the east is nothing more than an echo of the words of Eliphaz who is from the south, but with a little more defiance, and a little more distance from the truth.

Eliphaz expresses truth but with misapplication. Bildad will take that expression to the next level of misinterpretation, presumption and irony.

According to Bildad, if Job will only turn to God, implore from God, and repent his sins, then God will reverse the suffering and hardship, reverse his status of poverty and misery, and restore Job back to his former position to an even greater scale.

Jobs beginning, meaning his present state of suffering and insignificance, will certainly increase to much more than it is now. Of course, having nothing means that even a little something, will be more than nothing.

As for each one of us, our beginning at birth is one of insignificance. When we advance in our spiritual life, our worth, our spiritual worth, will greatly multiply beyond our imaginations.

And therein lies Bildad's sarcasm. He does not believe the words that he is saying. He doesn't believe that Job will be restored to the great wealth he once had. He might, repeat, might, be restored to some form of health and a little income, but certainly not to the vast wealth he formerly had.

Bildad has no original words of his own. He is echoing those already spoken by Eliphaz. He is repeating what he just heard.

To seek God implies a very simple step in life. Just seek, though this seeking is not explained, but confession is implied, and that will solve everything.

What Bildad does not know is that Job has already entreated the Lord. Does anyone remember chapter one and two? After the first hit, 'The Lord gives and the Lord takes away.' After the second round of suffering, 'Shall we accept good only and not adversity?'

And prior to that, Job observed the offerings and sacrifices with great consistency. This is the pattern of Jobs thoughts and actions, which guided his life.

Job was silent for seven days, when his friends arrived. He had been ill for a long time before that. What was he thinking? Well we know his pattern of thought, so it is an easy leap to assume that he was praying. Even while his wife was nagging him to 'curse God and die.'

Bildad presumes that he has seen all there is to see, and know all there is to know about life. He was wrong. Remember that he is only echoing previous comments, not innovating anything new. Even in our present day of giant leaps in technology, which seem to occur on a daily basis anymore, no person will ever see all there is to see and know all there is to know. And though the technological advances of the next generation, and the next after that, will likely stagger the imagination, no one will ever know all of the wisdom of this world, let alone the wisdom of God.

This is the devils world. Evil rules. When truth is rejected, problems occur by default. Therefore, suffering is inevitable. Man's very existence is limited. No person will live forever in this world. Accidents, illness, even death is a natural phenomenon. What you think and do will not exclude you from misery.

Unbelievers suffer in order to help them recognize their need for Christ. Believers suffer in order to help them recognize the need for spiritual growth. Mature believers suffer in order to help them recognize their need for endurance in faith.

All people suffer or are tested from four great areas or sources of trouble. The first source is from your own thoughts, the second is from other people, the third is from bureaucracies, and the fourth source of trouble comes from disasters of both personal and natural causes.

In principle, when one puts away their sins and carnal life style, replacing them with the spiritual resources provided in the Bible, then life will only get better. You have to look at ones entire life in order to see the overall affect.

On a day to day basis we will all experience problems of various kinds. God guides and directs life often times through the turmoil's we will face in our life. Many times unemployment, business downturns, social difficulties, ostracism, peer pressure, enslavement, war and famine, prosperity, and many other circumstances in life will drive you to new places, or careers, or circumstances that you never expected.

You can look back on your own life and probably see the trail you have left behind, and compare it with what you thought life would be like when you were much younger.

Difficulties in life can be good things. God is not constrained by mans circumstances. God can make all things work together for good. You only need to get your spiritual life together and let God do His thing.

Bildad oversimplifies, and doesn't even believe what he is saying. Life is never simple. Most problems will not solve themselves in the blink of an eye. God has a plan for your life. And when you turn yourself over to God, then that plan will function as it is supposed to.

But, when you try to take shortcuts, when you try to hustle your way through life, when you figure that you can do things better yourself, then one thing you can be certain of, God will demonstrate your arrogance and lack of ability sooner or later. The magnitude of your stubbornness is probably the only thing, which will determine just how bad things need to get before your humility will come out.

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