Job 18:7
His strong steps grow narrow,
His own schemes cast him down.
Over the course of my lifetime, I have made more mistakes than I can count. I know God could recall each one if He so chose, and I have this sneaky suspicion that one Judgement Day, everyone will get to see them as well. Fortunately, Jesus has paid my penalty for those, and they won’t be remembered afterwards. Sometimes, I push them aside and move on, but sometimes I feel the need to ask for forgiveness before I do.
‘Strong’ was also ‘vigorous’, ‘iniquitous’, and ‘powerful’. Obviously, ‘iniquitous’ carries a different meaning, but I could find no support for it. ‘Narrow’ was also ‘shortened’, ‘weakened’, ‘straightened’, and ‘hobbled’. However, it seems that ‘straightened’ would support ‘iniquitous’, and three sources had that. ‘Grows’ was only grows with narrow and came from my favorite source, and I mainly left it because it was a ‘being’ type verb.
‘Schemes’ was also ‘counsel’. ‘Cast’ was also ‘throw’, ‘hurl’, and ‘flings’.
One mistake I made was to buy a card I didn’t want. Ok, so maybe that mistake was made a large number of times; a very large number. But one time was not so long ago, and after I made the purchase, I decided to try and remedy the mistake by trading it to someone who would want it. Well, I just finished that trade and I am giving up five cards I do not want (actually two were mistakes), and I am getting a fair value of cards in return (at least in my mind, becasue the other guys thinks I didn’t ask for enough). Since the one mistake was somewhat large, I am getting thirteen cards in return. So, at least two of these recent mistakes have had minimal negative impact.
When I think about the meaning of this verse, I want it to be correct that bad people eventually make a huge mistake and pay for their ill-gotten gains. But I know this is from Bildad, and it must be wrong, and the only time someone gets their just reward for sure is when they reject Christ on Judgment Day. Some group I was in discussed the supposed death bed conversion of a very non-Christian popular singer recently, and I found I was ok with it being true and this guy getting to go to heaven, too. My sins and his sins were different, but they all cost the same.
I have used mistake and sin interchangeably in the discourse above, but I know not every mistake is a sin and not every sin was a ‘mistake’ (ie. some sin is done on purpose). One of the key gains from being saved with time to live to glorify God and love others is that we do not have to try and live perfectly. Living for God and others is not about avoiding the wrong thing, so much as asking God to show you the right thing, and then obeying. I hit the wrong button on the phone and bought a card for a price beyond what I wanted to pay, but it was a true accident with no intent. I purposely braked late and started quickly to get in front of another car the other day. The first was not a sin, but the second one sure seemed like it to me after it was too late to stop. If I had listened, I would have know God did not want me to cut this person off, even if they were running a stop sign to get in front of me. In the old days, I would have flipped her off to make sure she knew I was irritated. So, I am still making mistakes, and I am still falling short, but at least I know I will be/have been forgiven.
I almost forgot my train of thought on the verse.
If we turn stitch one to ‘His iniquitous steps become straightened’, we have a strong alignment with the second of ‘His own schemes cast him down.’ Not sure I am willing to make that change right now, but maybe next time I look this over.
His iniquitous steps become straightened,
His own schemes cast him down
Written 9/24/25, Posted 10/17/25, Job 417/~1070