Insight for Living

Bill Meyer: Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll continues our study of Job, picking up in the middle of a brutal confrontation between Job and his so-called friend, Bildad. Bildad pulled no punches. He bluntly accused Job of forgetting God, compared him to a withering plant, and implied that his suffering was pure punishment.

In response, Job fired back. And in his response, he voiced one of the most profound longings in all of scripture. It was a cry for someone to stand between him and God and argue his case. Let's pick up the study now in Job chapter 8.

Chuck Swindoll: Bildad, after calling him an empty windbag, turns to the Lord God and gives Job a lesson in theology. God has uprooted you, Job. Something has happened to your root system that has led to this death-like condition in which you find yourself.

And then he closes it all with verse 20 through 22. God will not reject a man of integrity. What's the implication? You're not. Nor will He support the evildoers. By now, you're getting it. You've already seen where I'm going. He will yet fill your mouth with laughter, your lips with shouting. Those who hate you will be clothed with shame. The tent of the wicked will be no more. You'll know a day when you'll pass off this earth and all of life will be wonderfully restored for you. You'll know joy. He missed it by a mile. He certainly didn't get the point of what Job needed.

Eliphaz ventured a word, but I'm telling you Bildad was downright blunt. He opens with a blast. I just want to add here, for no extra charge, think before you write a letter of criticism. Think. If you need to do that, then say them. Say them face-to-face and say them kindly. Before you do that, put yourself in the shoes of the other person for a considerable period of time. Chances are good you'll never say a word. Or if you do, you'll say them with greater tact.

And I'm telling you things that I've had to learn the hard way. I've rarely felt sorry for things I did not say. I've often felt sorry for things I said, and almost without exception felt badly that I wrote them. And I have no one in mind. If I did, I'd call your name. But I don't because the wonderful thing about Stonebriar Community Church is that we don't have a lot of people that grouse about petty things. Thank the Lord.

Many a pastor I know right now lives under the gun of some blast from some Bildad in his life who just has taken him on as the he's in the crosshairs of his sight. I just read one yesterday in a letter from a brother who a particular officer in the church is just making his life miserable. Now, why do we do that?

Job answers, and his words are shaped hopefully to fit Bildad's brain, assuming there is one sizable enough to get it. Job answered: You idiot! No, no, he says. No, he says. He says, actually Bildad, I know all of this that you have told me. And that's not pride. It's a fact, Bildad. Bildad, listen. I know those things.

Bildad, I've walked with God my adult life. In truth, I know so much of what you're telling me. But my question is: How can a man be in the right before God? Tell me that. Scratch the itch, Bildad. You're missing the need a mile. How?

How can I be declared right before God? Oh, you know I so want Job to scoot ahead by the centuries and meet the Savior. The only way you and I can know what it is to be right before God is to be in the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the person of His Son, we are as righteous as He. Job longs to know that kind of peace.

You see how he views God? Look at his response. He says, in effect, none of what you've told me helps my case. God is huge. If one wished to dispute with Him, he could not answer Him once in a thousand times. Still speaking of the Lord God: Wise in heart and mighty in strength, who has defied Him without harm? See the fear that there is in him?

It is God who removes the mountains, they know not how. When He overturns them in His anger, who shakes the earth out of its place and its pillars tremble, referring to clearly an earthquake or a volcano. Who commands the sun not to shine and sets a seal on the stars? Who alone stretches out the heavens and tramples down the waves of the sea? Who makes the Bear, Orion, and the Pleiades, the chambers of the south? He goes to the stellar spaces and He alone does that. Who does great things unfathomable, wondrous works without number.

Yes, I know a great God He is. What I need is an audience with Him. Look at Him. He is the one who does all of this about us and He is enormous. And I fear Him. I stand before Him in awe and wonder. All I want is to be able to approach Him and talk this out. And you haven't helped me do that, Bildad.

Now, with that, there are four lines of questions that follow. And keep in mind Job has in the back of his mind, we're going to see, a courtroom. He would love to be able, if you will, to step into a divine courtroom and to speak to the judge, the Lord God. He would love to walk just as he is, covered with these sores and the sadness of his life and the bankruptcy of his condition and just stand before the judge and argue his case.

Not to be impudent, but to be on a level where they could talk this through. He knows that his God would have answers for him. So, these four lines of questions are: Number one, if I could stand before God, what would I say? Verses 14 to 19. See verse 14? How then can I answer Him and choose my words before Him?

If I could stand before God, what would I say? Though I were right, I could not answer. I would have to implore the mercy of my judge. If I called and He answered me, I could not believe that He was listening to my voice. For He bruises me with a tempest and multiplies my wounds without cause. He will not allow me to get my breath but saturates me with bitterness. It is a matter of power. Behold, He is the strong one. If it is a matter of power, He wins.

So, if I could stand before Him, what would I say? Here's the second question. If I could declare my own innocence, what good would it do? That's 20 through 24. If I could declare my innocence, what good would it do? Though I am righteous, verse 20, my mouth will condemn me. Though I am guiltless, He will declare me guilty. I am guiltless. I do not take notice of myself. I despise my life.

It is all one. Therefore I say: He destroys the guiltless and the wicked. If the scourge kills suddenly, He mocks the despair of the innocent. The earth is given into the hand of the wicked. He covers the faces of its judges. Remember this is Hebrew poetry. Leave some of it. Let it settle. It would be valuable to turn it over in our minds for another hour to plumb the depths of such writings as this. But the point is: If I could declare my own innocence, oh what good would it do?

And then 25 through 31. If I tried to be positive and cheerful, how would that help? 25 to 31. If I tried to be positive and cheerful, how would that help? Look down at verse 27. Though I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my sad countenance and be cheerful, I'm afraid of all my pains. I know that You will not acquit me. I am accounted wicked. Why then should I toil in vain? It won't work.

And now, the real question. The underlying question. If I only had a mediator, I could have my needs represented. I could have the truth told. 32 to 35. Now look closely. You'll love this. For He, referring to God, He is not a man as I am, that I may answer Him, that we may go to court together. There is no umpire between us who may lay his hand upon us both.

The point is, if I had a mediator, I could find a go-between so that I could communicate with this mighty and wise and holy God. But there is none. See the word "umpire"? He's calling for a mediator, one who could argue his case. Job wished to present his case in God's court, but he can't find a mediator.

Hold your place and look at 13:3. Job 13:3. I would speak to the Almighty, and I desire to argue with God. That means to bring his case before Him and plead it. Look at verse 15 of that same chapter. 13:15. Though He slay me, I will hope in Him. Nevertheless, I will argue my ways before Him. Verse 18. Behold, now I have prepared my case. I know that I will be vindicated. I've thought through what my case would be.

And I would love to come and stand before this holy judge, this God of mine. But I can't do it because He's not a man to come to me and I am not, I missed this earlier, the end of verse 35 chapter 9, I am not like that in myself. I don't have what it takes to come before Him. I need a go-between. I need an arbitrator. I need a mediator.

Years ago, when I worked as a machinist working my way through school, there was there was the threat of a strike. And the union stood on one side with the laborers, and management stood on the other side, and there was a great gap in between. Interestingly, an arbitrator was hired to come in. He had nothing to gain in the eyes of the union. He had nothing to gain in the eyes of the management. He was supposedly completely neutral.

And he came and worked long and hard to hear both sides as both presented their causes, and then he passed a decision. And the paper had been signed that if the arbitrator could bring the two together, the issue would be solved and there would be no strike. In fact, he did and there was no strike.

But it was interesting to watch the process occurring because this man became the representative of both sides and yet not gaining from the argument or losing because of the argument. He was able to judge in the midst of the argument the best decision. And it was fair and it was right and it solved he put his hand on one, he put his hand on the other as it were, and he stood between the two and he solved the issue. That's what Job wants.

But he doesn't have one. He doesn't qualify to stand before God. He isn't God or he isn't deity. And God is not a man that he can come stand before Him, so he's stuck. You see why I said: Would that Job had lived a few centuries later? Let me show you why. Look at 1 Timothy 2. Oh, there is a New Testament. 1 Timothy 2, verse 3. Paul writes to the his younger Timothy, explaining here the go-between, the mediator.

1 Timothy 2:3. Not 2nd Timothy, it's 1st Timothy 2:3. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator. One go-between. One arbitrator. One umpire.

There is one God. Don't forget that in this era of many gods. Don't you tell one another that all the gods are the same. Don't you believe that lie. There is one God. The Creator God. It is not Allah. It is the living God of the Scriptures. There is one God.

And there is one mediator between this God of the heavens who has made us and all things pertaining to us, and humanity on this earth. And He is identified. There is one mediator, the man Christ Jesus. There are not many. The way is narrow. Don't believe the lie. Don't be afraid to be that specific.

When I hear people struggle with specificity. When I hear people struggle with that, I think: Do you want people to be specific about the flight you take? You ever call up and they'll say: Well, it's flight 413 or it actually might be 1096. Or really it could be 309. You say: No, no, I want to know which flight is it.

Well, and also it takes off from DFW. Actually could be Love Field. And flight departs at 12:14 or thereabouts. Maybe 1:10 or 2:30. You go: Wait a minute. Get specific. Isn't that amazing? Something as simple as a flight, we want exact numbers and times and gates. You don't want to walk all over the airport going: Oh, let's see. I'm open-minded. I'll take whatever flies. Just so the pilot is sincere and it looks good. It seems right. It just, I need to feel it deeply when I get on the plane. What a crock.

There is one God. There is one mediator between God and men and it is the man Christ Jesus. That is truth, men and women. In a pluralistic world, you will not hear that. And by saying that, you will be called intolerant, which is one of the great compliments you will ever hear from from the liberal to be called narrow.

Jesus said it: I am the way, the truth, the life. No man comes to the Father but through me. Not us. Not several. One God, one mediator, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper time. Oh, Job, there is a mediator. You just haven't met Him. But someday, someday, Job, you'll hear of this.

Job, therefore, back to Job 9. Don't you hate to go back? I just want to stay in Timothy because it's so it's so helpful there. Campbell Morgan writes the cry of Job was born of a double consciousness, which at the moment was mastering him. First, that of the appalling greatness and majesty of God, and secondly, that of his own comparative littleness. It was the cry of a man who knew God and was overwhelmed by the sense of His greatness.

Over against this was the sense of his own comparative smallness. Track this. This is great writing. He felt he could not get to God. He was altogether too small. It is as though Job had said: There is no umpire, there is no arbitrator, there is no one who can stand between us, interpreting each to the other, me to God, God to me. There is no one to lay his hand upon us. Job is crying out for someone who could stand authoritatively between God and himself and so create a way of meeting, a possibility of contact.

We now turn from the elemental cry of Job from the Old Testament to consider the apostolic word concerning Jesus: There is one mediator between God and man. That is the gospel in brief. That is Christianity fundamentally. By faith alone in Christ alone. And there is no other. There is no other way.

Job says, because he doesn't have that umpire, verse 1 of chapter 10: I loathe my own life. It's like he would yawn. He just gasps. I loathe the fact that I haven't a way to stand before the judge on that great divine throne. So I plead, verse 2: Do not condemn me. Let me know why you contend with me. Is it right for you indeed to oppress me?

He has every right to ask that. He's confused. He doesn't get it. He doesn't have a mediator to say: Job, let me explain what's happening to you. And to the living God to represent your case. That's why I'm here. I love toward the end of this chapter, I need to race through this, verse 18: Why then have you brought me out of the womb?

He's back to that same old song he was in in chapter 3. Why did you let me be born alive? Would that I had died and no eye had seen me. Would that I had died in the womb and never having been seen. I should have been as though I had not been carried from womb to tomb.

Isn't that a great way to put it? You know that was in the Bible? When I first read that several years ago, I thought: What a perfect slogan for a church and its ministry. From womb to tomb. We minister from womb to tomb. Boom! Boy. Then I looked at the context and I thought: Yikes! I don't want to do that. That's not a it's it's like you'll sometimes see in a graveyard etched on tombstones: A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest. And it'll say Proverbs, or it'll say: Sleep well, darling, or whatever on the stone.

And I appreciate that, but when you check out Proverbs 6:10, you realize that is addressing the sluggard, the lazy slobs. Sleeping late, refusing to wake up, to get involved. And it says at the end of that same section: Your poverty will come like a vagabond. Yikes! Take that off the stone, you know. You don't want to put that on your stone: A little sleep, a little slumber. When you look at a whole context, it makes better sense, doesn't it?

Why didn't He just take me from the womb right to the tomb? Oh, Job. And have your testimony missed by so many of us who need to read it and learn from you? Job, though God stays silent, remember there's no word from God in here, bless his heart. Let me give you a couple lessons that linger and then I'm through.

When misery breaks our spirit, philosophical words don't help us cope. When misery breaks our spirit, philosophical words don't help us cope. And that's all those men had to offer. As hard as Bildad may have tried, he said nothing that brought relief or solace or strength to Job in his misery. When misery breaks our spirit, philosophical words won't help us cope.

And here's the second and more powerful of the two. When a mediator can't be found, futile searches won't give us hope. When a mediator can't be found, futile searches won't give us hope. Job is right. Death is better than this if I haven't a mediator.

The good news is every person here, whether you even have thought of it before, everyone of you has a mediator. Everyone of it's the same mediator. The same one who represented me as a little boy who came to Jesus just as I was and told the Lord God, I believe in you and I trust you and I believe Jesus died for me and I believe He's living, I believe He was raised from the dead for me. And you know at that moment, my mediator represented me before the living God. How wonderful. And He will do the same for you. Do the very same. Because you have an umpire. Great thought.

Let's bow together. If you've never turned in faith to this one who has opened the way for you, this is the perfect time to do it. One God, one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. This is the call for you to turn to Christ alone.

Thank you, Father, for the hope that there is in the Lord Jesus and in Him alone. Thank you for the reminder that we have what Job didn't have. We have an umpire. We have an arbitrator. We have the precious treasure of the Savior. And it's in Him we find our reason for continuing, though our current world temporarily falls apart. Thank you for the rock, the stability that He is for us. And we find our hope only in Him. May those who've never met Him come to know Him this very day. I ask believingly in Jesus' dear name. Everyone said: Amen.

Bill Meyer: A beautiful reminder from Chuck Swindoll. Job longed for a mediator, someone to stand between him and God and argue his case. And today, you and I have exactly that. In our darkest moment, when words fail, Jesus Christ stands on our behalf.

You're listening to Insight for Living and a comprehensive study about one of the most remarkable men in the Bible. His name was Job. Chuck titled today's message: Continuing the Verbal Fistfight. When you think about it, Job is far more than a book in the Old Testament. It's actually a mirror. And when we stare into the glass, we're forced to ask a penetrating question: Can my faith survive the fire?

If you're willing to wrestle with that question, we have a resource built just for that purpose. I'm referring to the Searching the Scriptures Bible study workbook for this series. Whether you're studying on your own or leading a small group through honest, meaningful conversation, this spiral-bound resource will take you deep into the text. The Bible study workbook for Job is part of a bundle. Alongside the workbook, you'll receive all 22 sermons from this series on CD or MP3. And there's also Chuck's full-length biography of Job. It's a compelling, page-turning portrayal of this man's journey through devastating loss to hard-won faith. Three resources, one transformative bundle. All the details are at insight.org/workbooks or call us at 800-772-8888.

Before we go, here's something you won't want to miss. Not long ago, Chuck sat down with pastor and evangelist Greg Laurie. These two men have walked long roads, preached to millions, and faced their share of personal battles. Now Chuck and Greg open up about their struggles and the moments when God's grace showed up in ways they didn't expect. The full interview is available at insight.org/conversations. That's insight.org/conversations.

How should we respond when someone assaults our character? I'm Bill Meyer, inviting you to hear Chuck Swindoll's answer tomorrow on Insight for Living.

The preceding message, Continuing the Verbal Fistfight, was copyrighted in 2002, 2004, and 2026, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 2026 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.