Adding Insult to Injury
Reflections on Job Chapter 18
Have you ever heard the saying, “Adding insult to injury”? That is what we find in Job chapter 18. Job was already suffering terribly, yet Bildad the Shuhite brought him another argument instead of comfort.
“How long will it be ere ye make an end of words?” Bildad asked in verse 2. Then, in verse 3, he complained, “Wherefore are we counted as beasts, and reputed vile in your sight?”
Bildad seemed more concerned about how Job regarded his friends than about the pain Job was enduring. Because Job would not accept their accusations, their words became increasingly harsh.
Sometimes people need someone to stand beside them, yet all they receive is someone standing over them, telling them where they have gone wrong.
I once heard about a young couple whose marriage was tested when the wife became seriously ill. Her husband left and later remarried and had children. Thankfully, she recovered and also remarried. Hearing that story made me think about the difference between physical attraction and the love that remains when circumstances change.
I remember a girl I dated who ended the relationship by telling me, “You only have a physical attraction to me.” Looking back, there was truth in what she said. She was a beautiful girl, but lasting love needs deeper roots than appearance.
Years later, my own marriage faced a devastating trial.
My wife suffered an aneurysm. There were problems with a machine at the hospital, and I was told that without an operation she would die. The surgeons had to open her skull to operate. I was devastated.
When she finally came home after several months, she was a shadow of her former self. She could not wash or dress herself and needed help with the ordinary things most of us take for granted. A member of the hospital staff told me that I would not be able to look after her.
But I loved her. I prayed and kept thinking of ways to help her recover, doing whatever I could, one day at a time.
Her recovery took about five years. Looking back now, those years almost seem like a few days. Around twenty years have passed, and today she reads, shops online, and enjoys everyday life again. I thank God for how far she has come.
Love becomes more than words when someone needs your patience, your time, and your care.
That is what Job needed from his friends.
Instead, Bildad delivered a frightening description of the downfall of the wicked. There was truth in his belief that wickedness brings consequences, but he wrongly applied it to Job. He treated Job’s suffering as evidence of guilt, although the opening chapters show us that Job’s ordeal was a testing of his faith, not punishment for the secret wickedness his friends imagined.
A true principle can become a cruel accusation when we apply it without understanding someone’s circumstances.
Bildad spoke as though he understood the whole situation. He did not. His words appeared increasingly driven by anger because Job refused to agree with him.
Instead of being a blessing, he became a blight. Instead of helping to carry Job’s burden, he added to its weight.
Later, in Job 42:7, God rebuked Eliphaz and his two friends because they had not spoken rightly about Him as Job had. Their confident speeches had misrepresented both God and His suffering servant.
There is a lesson here for all of us. Someone’s illness, grief, or hardship does not give us permission to assume that we know what God is doing in their life.
Before we speak, we should ask ourselves: Have I listened? Do I understand? Will my words help this person bear their burden?
Sometimes the most faithful thing we can do is sit beside someone, pray with them, and offer practical help. We may have no explanation for their suffering, but we can still show them love.
When someone is already wounded, let us bring the kindness that helps them heal.
Written for George Web Ministries
18th October 2026
God is a Good God
God Knows, God Loves, God Cares.
Leave a Reply