If there is one Bible character I can relate to at this juncture in my life, it’s Job. Having serious health challenges that affect my everyday functioning, like grocery shopping, driving, preparing meals, etc. certainly gives me sympathy for Job, who went through much worse than I have experienced. I would hope if I had been one of his “friends,” I would have shown more sympathy. However, it seems that, to Job’s friends, to have compassion on Job would mean blaming God. So, they blamed Job instead, Job was the wicked one.
Reading Job today we see that back in Chapter 1 verse 8 God spoke of Job to Satan, saying, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil?”
But in Job chapter 20, Zophar puts the blame on Job for the evil that has come upon him. “You did evil getting your wealth — it’s payback time.” You can see why when people criticize us in times of our trouble, they are referred to as “Job’s comforters.”
Job’s reply was that “evil men are escaping God’s wrath all the time, but not me. They have wealth and families, without God. I have not walked in their counsel. Life and death are not equal. Your nonsense does not control me. Look around you.”
Job’s friends did not take into consideration what they knew of Job through years of friendship, the evil of other people (as in those who robbed Job), acts of nature (the storm that killed Job’s children), the work of Satan, nor the permissive will of God.
May the Lord find our counsel to others to be full of grace and love for those who are hurting from loss and pain. Ask and expect God to show people if there is something he knows about them that needs to change. And pray for them with a loving heart.
Marcy Alves, Concord, N.H.
