Good Doctrine - Bad Application - Job 18-19

Job 18:21 (ESV)
Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous,
such is the place of him who knows not God.”

In probably every journal entry I have every written about Job and his friends, I have said this thought: Good doctrine has to be applied to the right situation in the right way.   There is nothing worse than good doctrine applied in a bad way.   This, however, is the plight of Job’s three friends and their counsel to Job about his problems.   In chapter 18 we have the perfect example of this flaw.  Bildad is waxing eloquent before Job.   Almost everything he states to Job could be read in other parts of Scripture.   In the above verse we read his conclusion.   From verse five to the end of the chapter he outlines the fall of the wicked.  You could read the same things he states n many of the Psalms and in most of the book of Proverbs.   Those who reject the fear of the Lord, will indeed, have the calamity that Bildad states in the proceeding verses.  His doctrine is solid.   He is telling Job that the wicked will look just like Job because of their failure to fear the Lord.   In Bildad’s mind, “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck.” Because Job’s situation and appearance and torment, looks like what God says will happen to the wicked, Bildad simply assumes Job is wicked.  Except for the fact that we all know that Job is NOT in this situation because he is wicked.   Job is in this situation because of God and Satan and God using Job to demonstrate His grace in Job to Satan.   We can have the best doctrine in the world, but if we don’t really know the facts and don’t consider what God is doing, the best doctrine (even in the hearts and hands of those who did mean good by it) can be harmful and hurtful.  Notice in the next chapter Job’s immediate response to these words of Bildad.  Let us not forget them.  Good doctrine can cause bad hurt when done in the wrong way:

Job 19:2-3 (ESV)
“How long will you torment me
and break me in pieces with words?
These ten times you have cast reproach upon me;
are you not ashamed to wrong me?