Job’s friends, Eliphaz, Zophar, and Elihu, confronted him about his attitude toward suffering. Then another friend entered the conversation. Bildad, a traditionalist, made it clear that he could tolerate nothing but a black and white world. There were no gray areas in his thinking. It was obvious to Bildad that people suffered because of their own wickedness, and Job’s anger and refusal to confess sin proved his guilt. Bildad seemed convinced, as Konkel observes, “the world is not a safe and stable place if we allow it to be mucked up with gray.” In his mind, good people prospered and bad people suffered. The good guys wore white hats and rode white horses. The bad guys wore black hats and rode black horses. The characters in the old westerns were simple. There was never confusion in Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, or The Lone Ranger. Unfortunately, life is not like that at all. There is no such thing as a simple character. Everyone is complex, life is complex, and God deals with each person in ways that are often beyond our understanding. I must admit that my own conclusions about others have occasionally been drawn far too quickly.
All of Job’s friends blamed him for his predicament. Yet the truth remains that we do not know enough to judge others. God eventually confronted Job’s friends with this reality. We cannot place ourselves in God’s position in the lives of others. When Jesus’ disciples encountered a blind man, they assumed his suffering must have resulted from personal or family sin. Jesus saw him differently. Rather than using him as a theological debate topic, Jesus saw him as an opportunity for God’s work. Why was he blind? “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him” (John 9:3). How often have I reached conclusions with limited information, only to discover later that the story was still unfolding? Max Lucado asks, “Dare we judge a book while chapters are yet unwritten? Should we pass a verdict on a painting while the artist still holds the brush?” Those questions have a way of settling the dust of my certainty.
Jesus spoke clearly about judgment and mercy. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:37). He revealed a kingdom where grace replaces harsh verdicts and patience replaces quick conclusions. Christ did not come to sort humanity into neat categories but to redeem complicated people with complicated stories. On the cross He bore the weight of human failure and misunderstanding, offering forgiveness rather than condemnation. In Him we see a Savior who understands every tangled circumstance and who deals with each life with wisdom far deeper than our simple assumptions.