Just repent and get right with God - Job 8-10

Now that Job's friend Eliphaz's argument of "just stand stronger in the face of suffering" had been dealt with along comes Bildad. Bildad (which means "confusing love") comes along and rather than tell Job to stand strong, he tells him to repent. His argument is that God only punishes those who do evil, so Job must have done something evil(8:3). He even believes Job's sons must have sinned and that is why they were killed (8:4). He wants Job to repent and then God will care for him and protect him against evil. Bildad's argument is that people who are "right" before God don't suffer like this. Job doesn't disagree (9:1). He too believes if you are right before God you won't suffer. But, he turns the tables on his friend and simply asks, "How can a man be right before God?" (9:1b). Yes, he says to Bildad, if we are right before God than God would have no reason to afflict us or allow affliction to find us. However, no one is "right" before God (9:4ff). We often think of pain and suffering falling on those who "deserve" it and we fail to realize that all men "deserve" any pain and suffering they receive in this life. If we truly received what we deserved all men would perish and die. No man can stand before God. That is Job's argument. He knows he did little to deserve his pain but the little he did do was indeed enough for him to have such affliction. We ought never think that we don't deserve pain and suffering, or that someone else does. Were it not for the grace of God in our lives we would all suffer much. When we don't suffer it is due only to grace.