Hey, Bible readers. I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap. We continue to read Job's story today. He's just lost everything except his life. And today, he had to listen to bad advice from the second of his three friends. Yesterday, we heard from Eliphaz. Today, we heard from Bildad. But first, we heard Job's response to Eliphaz. He defends himself. He's despairing, but he doesn't curse God. He knows this pain isn't the result of sinful actions. He knows his friends were wrong. One of the questions counselors train you to ask yourself in relational difficulty is, Where's my sin in this situation? What can I own from this situation? And that's an important question to ask, especially because we're often blind to our own sin and what we've contributed to this scenario. But there are times when life is just hard or when you've just been sinned against and your troubles are not the result of something you contributed. We would never tell someone who's been raped or physically abused to think about what they did to deserve that or cause that. It's not always true that our circumstances and our problems are the result of our choices.

Sometimes, they're the result of a fallen world. Sometimes, they're the result of other people's sinful choices. Much like with Eliphaz, Bildad gave bad counsel. He told Job that he needed to repent. But again, chapter one told us that Job was blameless and upright and that these problems actually occurred because of his uprightness, not as the result of sin. Job's friends were attacking him in the midst of his grief, but I believe they really thought they were on the right track. They really thought they were helping him and that if they could just convince him to repent, all his troubles would subside. Stay tuned to see how that plays out. Job replied to Bildad with a lot of truth about God. In 9:15, Job mentioned that he would appeal for mercy to his accuser. And I don't believe this is necessarily a reference to God. I think it's a reference to Satan, because like we talked about yesterday, the word Satan means accuser, adversary. But interestingly, one of the other ways the Hebrew word that is used here can be translated is as the word judge. So he could be saying, I must appeal for mercy to my judge.

And if that's what he's saying, then it seems it would be referring to God. But regardless whether Job who is referring to his accuser, Satan, or to his judge, God, this is a good place to point out something about the word mercy. We often use the words mercy and grace interchangeably, but they actually mean very different things. They're like a pair of opposites that work together. Mercy is when you don't get what you deserve. For fallen humanity, we all deserve hell. We've all sinned against a Holy God, and we try to elevate ourselves to his rank. We deserve nothing but punishment. The fact that we're breathing right now is God's mercy toward us. He has not given us the immediate death we deserve because of our rebellion, just like he showed mercy toward Adam and Eve when they send in the garden. So mercy is when you don't get what you deserve. And grace is when you get what you don't deserve. It's everything over and above not being violated. It's the way food tastes delicious. It's the way music brings us joy. And mostly, it's the way we get to enter into a relationship with God despite our to goodness.

Job had done nothing wrong in this situation, but he was still a sinful, fallen human like the rest of us. He knew he deserved eternal punishment, but he also knew God might still show him mercy. What was your God's shot for today? Was it something about his mercy? I was tempted to hone in on that, but since I touched on it a few days ago, I thought I'd point out something new that I saw here. My God's shot was, I noticed how powerful he is. In Job 9:1-10, Job waxes about God's power for several verses. He commands the Son, he does great things, he is wise and hard and mighty in strength. We also see how this enormous God, who's so mighty, steps down to be intimate with mankind. Like Job says in 7:17, what is man that you make so much of him and that you set your heart on him? The God of the universe is in charge of everything, but his heart isn't set on the mountains or on Orion or the deities. It's set on you and me. I'm so grateful his heart is set on me because he is where the joy is.

If you or anyone you know, prefer Spanish as their language of choice, we're happy to announce that we have lots of things available for you for that very purpose. We have our podcast, the Bible reading plan, the print book, and the YouTube videos all available in Spanish. The Spanish version is called La Sinopsa de la Biblia. You can get the book wherever books are sold, and you can find the podcast across lots of platforms and the reading plan on the Bible app. But if you're searching for it and can't find it, you may need to change your language settings to Spanish first. There's more First. There's more info for you in the show notes and at the Espanol link at thebiblerecap. Com. My friends at Hope Nation have another fun song battle for all the Christian music lovers out there. Whether your 2023 included music by Brandon Lake, Lauren Degel, or for King & Country, this game recaps all the best music from the year. Watch with your family or share it with your church small group. Click the link in the show notes to check it out.