Friday, November 22, 2013

No Comfort in Friends

Job was in more pain than the pain from the circumstances.  The posing arrows of God protruded deeply in Job inmost being. Job us unable to be comforted by his friends or his own thoughts and God was silent.  Silence from God.  That reminds me of Christ separated from God.
Job us unable to be comforted by his friends or his own thoughts.  It would have been a comfort for Job to have been unrighteous.  At least he would have had an answer to his troubles.


Job 6

New International Version (NIV)

Job

Then Job replied:
“If only my anguish could be weighed
    and all my misery be placed on the scales!
It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—
    no wonder my words have been impetuous.
The arrows of the Almighty are in me,
    my spirit drinks in their poison;
    God’s terrors are marshaled against me.
Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass,
    or an ox bellow when it has fodder?
Is tasteless food eaten without salt,
    or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow[a]?
I refuse to touch it;
    such food makes me ill.
“Oh, that I might have my request,
    that God would grant what I hope for,
that God would be willing to crush me,
    to let loose his hand and cut off my life!
10 Then I would still have this consolation—
    my joy in unrelenting pain—
    that I had not denied the words of the Holy One.
11 “What strength do I have, that I should still hope?
    What prospects, that I should be patient?
12 Do I have the strength of stone?
    Is my flesh bronze?
13 Do I have any power to help myself,
    now that success has been driven from me?
14 Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty
15 But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
    as the streams that overflow
16 when darkened by thawing ice
    and swollen with melting snow,
17 but that stop flowing in the dry season,
    and in the heat vanish from their channels.
18 Caravans turn aside from their routes;
    they go off into the wasteland and perish.
19 The caravans of Tema look for water,
    the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
20 They are distressed, because they had been confident;
    they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
21 Now you too have proved to be of no help;
    you see something dreadful and are afraid.
22 Have I ever said, ‘Give something on my behalf,
    pay a ransom for me from your wealth,
23 deliver me from the hand of the enemy,
    rescue me from the clutches of the ruthless’?
24 “Teach me, and I will be quiet;
    show me where I have been wrong.
25 How painful are honest words!
    But what do your arguments prove?
26 Do you mean to correct what I say,
    and treat my desperate words as wind?
27 You would even cast lots for the fatherless
    and barter away your friend.
28 “But now be so kind as to look at me.
    Would I lie to your face?
29 Relent, do not be unjust;
    reconsider, for my integrity is at stake.[b]
30 Is there any wickedness on my lips?
    Can my mouth not discern malice?

Job has Joy in the unrelenting pain that he has not denied the words of the Holy One.  I remember that Peter had denied Christ.  Peter never thought that he would deny Jesus and when he heard the rooster crow he remembered.   Joy in the unrelenting pain.  Job had trust in God and yet the pain was so deep that Job prayed for death.  
Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Lord.   A friend can only give what he has and no more.  Elipaz treated Job’s pain as nothing “the wind”.   How disappointing to have thought that his friend, Eliphaz would bring the kindness that Job needed.  Eliphaz forsaks the fear of the Lord and Job suffered pain and disappointment in a friend that did not know how  to be kind with Job in his suffering.   Job’s suffering was disappointing to Eliphaz.  

Thoughts
Have you had a thought that friend has grieved long enough?  
When a friend is grieving are you making up ideas in your head excusing their troubles to a God that is punishing them for something?
Remember….Christ took our punishment to the Cross!  Thinking someone is being punished by God is denying Christ.  Like Peter when he heard the rooster crow. 
What would it look like to show kindness to the one who is suffering?

Remember….Eliphaz said you and you and you….reminding Job of the words of kindness he used to help others in Job 6.  Eliphaz used scripture wrongly.  

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