Miserable Comforters

Daily Reading:  Job 16-17

I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you. (Job 16.4)

Devotional Thought: Job and his friends continue going back and forth on their theological arguments.  Job is unrelenting in his assertion that it is not his sin that has caused his life to crumble to pieces, and his friends are just as certain that Job must have some secret, hidden sins that have caused the devastation in his life.

In Job 16.4, Job turns the argument around on his friends.  First, he calls them “miserable comforters,” which is a description that surely fits his so-called friends.  He then says, “I also could speak as you do, if you were in my place; I could join words together against you and shake my head at you.”  In other words, it’s easy to sit in the judgment seat when you’re observing suffering from a distance, but what if the tables were turned?  What if you were the one experiencing the suffering?

I wonder if we are also “miserable comforters” to our friends at times.  We offer half-hearted sentiments of sympathy when they are going through the fires of life, all the while thinking that we would have done it differently, and we would have never gotten ourselves into the same situation.  In our flesh, we cannot help but try to assign blame for the hardships in others’ lives.  But, God does not view our life’s circumstances through the lens of our failings.  He knows all of our past sins, shortcomings, and failures, yet he views us through the righteous covering of his Son’s blood.  When our friends experience the trials and pains of life, may our first inclination not be self-superior judgment, but humble compassion and eagerness to follow Jesus' example and “love one another” as he first loved us.

Jenny

Prayer: Lord, we are human through and through, and you know the weakness of our flesh.  Please help us to see others as you see them, and encourage one another as we go through the trials of life.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 119.153-160

153 Look on my affliction and deliver me, for I do not forget your law.

154 Plead my cause and redeem me; give me life according to your promise!

155 Salvation is far from the wicked, for they do not seek your statutes.

156 Great is your mercy, O LORD; give me life according to your rules.

157 Many are my persecutors and my adversaries, but I do not swerve from your testimonies.

158 I look at the faithless with disgust, because they do not keep your commands.

159 Consider how I love your precepts! Give me life according to your steadfast love.

160 The sum of your word is truth, and every one of your righteous rules endures forever.