Job 8:20 - Meaning and Application

Bildad closes his speech by summing up his case in a few words. He sets before Job life and death, blessing and curse, and says, in effect, that a man’s future will show what he really is. So, he argues, if Job prospers, he must be upright, and if he continues to suffer, he must be wicked.

On the one hand, if Job were a good and honest man, God would not cast him off (Job 8:20). Even if he seemed forsaken for a time, God would bring him back and gradually turn his sorrow into joy (Psalm 30:11). His comfort would become so full that he would laugh again, and the change would be striking and wonderful (Job 8:21; Psalm 126:2). Those who loved him would rejoice, and those who mocked his fall would be put to shame. It is true that God does not cast away an upright man. He may be brought low for a time, but he will not be cast off forever. If not in this life, then in the next, the righteous will be filled with joy. Even if their sun sets under a cloud, it will rise again in clear light. Even if they go mourning to the grave, that will not keep them from entering the joy of their Lord. And it is true that the enemies of God’s people will be shamed when they see the saints honored.

But that truth does not prove that Job would lose the mark of a righteous man unless he was restored to his former wealth and health. A godly person may suffer deeply and still remain upright.

On the other hand, if Job were a wicked man, then God would not support him but would leave him to perish in his present trouble (Job 8:20). His home would come to nothing (Job 8:22). It is also true that God will not help those who do evil. They put themselves outside his protection and lose his favor. He will not take the ungodly by the hand, meaning he will not share fellowship with them, for there can be no true fellowship between light and darkness. He will not reach out to rescue them from the misery, even eternal misery, into which they have thrown themselves. They may call for help then, but it will be too late. The great gulf will still stand between them and God.

It is true, too, that the home of the wicked will sooner or later come to nothing. Only those who make God their dwelling place are safe forever (Psalm 90:1; Psalm 91:1). Those who trust in anything else will be disappointed. Sin brings ruin on people and on families. Yet it was not fair, and not loving, to argue, as Bildad seems to do, that because Job’s family had fallen and he himself was now helpless, he must certainly be an ungodly man. That conclusion was not justified, as long as no other evidence of his wickedness had been shown. We should judge nothing before the time. We must wait until the secrets of all hearts are revealed, and until God’s present ways are fully explained to the satisfaction of all. Then the mystery of God will be finished.