Bildad Says Man Is Inferior
25 Then Bildad the Shuhite [a]answered,
2 “Dominion and awe [b]belong to Him
Who establishes peace in His heights.
3 “Is there any number to His troops?
And upon whom does His light not rise?
4 “How then can a man be just with God?
Or how can he be clean who is born of woman?
5 “If even the moon has no brightness
And the stars are not pure in His sight,
6 How much less man, that maggot,
And the son of man, that worm!”
Once again, Bildad is a bit lacking in “charm”, but at least he is brief this time. He mistakenly associates greatness with aloofness, as if God cannot be interested in us mere worms because He is so far above us. Yet that is not the story of the Bible, and it is not what we see from the very beginning when God made man in his own image.
The worm and the maggot were not created in God’s image, nor was anything else on this earth. Just as we often assume wealthy and powerful people must be distant and cold, Bildad could not have been more wrong. Now certainly, some rich folks are snobs, but to say that’s an automatic and constant correlation is missing the mark by a long stretch. Even worse is to put our human stereotypes on God and think the worst of He who cares for humanity most.
So “how can a man be just with God, or how can he be clean who is born of woman?” Only by God himself making a way. For indeed, Moses once asked to see God and could not because it would have killed him, so it is impossible for us to be restored to God by our own efforts. But He did make a way through the life and death of Jesus. And though it was imperfect, even Job had the law and its sacrifices to cover his sins and make him right before God.
No, God is not only out there a million miles in the heavens. He is right here with us, always. In our best times and in our darkest, God is beside us, to help us live for Him, to comfort us in sorrow, and to rejoice with us also. We were created for relationship with God, and He desires our companionship. Thus He pours out His love on us, and washes us clean with the blood of His own sacrifice, so that we can know Him once more.