If we are not experiencing suffering and loss at the moment, we all know someone who is. What do we do when a friend, neighbor or acquaintance is going through a difficult time? Do we stay away because we don’t know what to say? Or do we babble nonsense because we need to say something? Or do we seek to understand God’s wisdom and heart and encourage them for the journey? As many times as I have read Job, I don’t remember ever distinguishing so clearly between man’s wisdom and God’s wisdom as on this read through.
I wonder how often readers read Bildad’s words, Zophar’s words, or Eliphaz’s words thinking, “They are in the Bible, so any verse here is God’s truth.” After all, they make sense to our impoverished minds as we read them. But, they come totally from human wisdom and not from God’s wisdom. While Job continues to confront them throughout the whole book, we don’t hear from God until the end of the book of Job. After God has dealt with Job, He addresses Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has… My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly.” Job 42:7-8
Keeping that in mind, as I read the book of Job, I know pay better attention to who is speaking and what they are saying. This book now begs me to think about how I speak to those who are suffering – to be careful to not spout off platitudes of my own understanding, but rather to prayerfully and humbly speak to the person who is suffering.
The mistake I see in Job’s friends as they speak is that they look at what is happening and, trying to make sense of it, pronounce judgment on the one suffering. Essentially they are saying, “Why would all this bad happen to you if God were not judging you for something?” And then they proceed to make up the things they believe God is judging Job for. Job must have cheated people, stole from them, disregarded people’s needs, etc. in order for God to be so angry with him as to treat him so badly because they are sure that is how God works.
Job defends himself saying that he has always cared for others. His friends don’t believe him because all the evidence (God’s judgments in their minds) point to the opposite. In the end, God vindicates Job and replaces all he lost with even more and humbles his judging friends saying that He will forgive them when Job prays for them.
“Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” Romans 8:18. Chris Tiegreen writes, “At a practical level, that means that hardships you endure today are pointing toward a purpose. They will give Him occasion to demonstrate Himself, and they will give you occasion to demonstrate your faith. Both occasions lead to a glory that far outweighs the pain. In the end, it will all be worth it. The God who endured the Cross gives you His guarantee.” January 21 in ‘Wonder of the Cross Devotional’
My hope and prayer is that I will prayerfully and humbly approach those who are currently suffering and that I will offer them the encouragement of God’s compassion, comfort, and love and together we can watch for God to demonstrate Himself and use this opportunity to grow in faith. That He is to be honored and glorified is not selfishness on God’s part and disregard for our suffering, but rather a demonstration of His caring intimately for us as He continually rescues us, comforts us, and opens our eyes to see Him for who He really is! Our God is worthy of our praise!
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