“Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous, such as the place of him who knows not God.”
– Job 18:21
Now this is counsel from Bildad and he’s responding to Job on a miserable comforter, and he’s basically saying how God will punish the wicked. He’s telling Job that, but again, he’s saying things that are true. He walks through the fate of the unrighteous and it is a sobering picture. You get to verse 21 and it summarizes it. “Surely such are the dwellings of the unrighteous.”
Job 18:21 Teaches Us about Hell
Now I just want you to think about that phrase, the dwellings of the unrighteous. Those who sin against God and do not trust in Jesus. Like we know what the Bible says. The dwellings of the unrighteous are in hell.
And so when we think about this, when we read this, aren’t we just provoked to pray, “God help us today to share the gospel with somebody who’s on a road that leads to an eternal hell. Please help us to remember the dwellings of the unrighteousness to live, to lead people to the righteousness that’s found in Jesus alone. God, we pray, help us to have boldness today to share the gospel with somebody. Not tomorrow or the next day, but today to share the gospel with somebody that they might know eternal life in you.
Job 18:21 Calls Us to Pray for the Spread of the Gospel
And God, we pray for 13 million Northern Yemeni Arabs and Yemen. They’re walking through such suffering and civil war. God, please cause the gospel to go to them that they might not experience the dwellings of the unrighteous. That they might not go from such physical suffering in this world to eternal suffering. God, we pray for the spread of the gospel to Northern Yemeni Arabs. You would save them from the dwellings of the unrighteous. You would cause the good news of your grace to go to them, that they might be saved.
This Verse Leads Us to Pray for Yemeni Arabs
God, we pray, give us urgency for the spread of the gospel in our lives and this mist that we have as we’ve prayed already according to Job. God, help us. Please help us to be serious about spreading the gospel in our lives, our families, our churches, right where we are in our cities. We pray that people this week through us might be delivered from the dwellings of the unrighteous, through faith in Jesus.
And God we pray, that Northern Yemeni Arabs, have 13 million of them. Please God, cause the good news of your grace to go to them. That they might be saved from eternal suffering. God, we pray this in light of Job, chapter 18, verse 21. In Jesus’ name, who has saved us from the dwelling of the unrighteous and who will save all who trust in him. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
