Read chapter in full: biblegateway.com/passage/?version=ESV&search=Job+016
CHAPTER 16 (ESV)
1 Then Job answered and said:
2 “I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
3 Shall windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
4 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.
5 I could strengthen you with my mouth,
and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain….
18 “O earth, cover not my blood,
and let my cry find no resting place.
19 Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven,
and he who testifies for me is on high.
20 My friends scorn me;
my eye pours out tears to God,
21 that he would argue the case of a man with God,
as a son of man does with his neighbor.
22 For when a few years have come
I shall go the way from which I shall not return.
REFLECTION:
- Job’s friends should have comforted Job in grief, but instead of doing so, they blamed him for his suffering. Job called his three friends “miserable comforters.” Job’s words reveal how a comforter should comfort those who are in pain: first of all, we should not judge things by artificial judgment; secondly we should not criticize or accuse; what we should do more is to personally feel the pain of others, and to help and encourage them with tender love. The best comforters are those who have experienced pain themselves, and thus understand deeply the pain of others.
- Job was afraid that God would abandon him, and he appealed directly to God (his witness and mediator) for his innocence. A witnesses is the one who has witnessed what happened; a mediator is an agent who can help him resolve his dispute with God. Job used these to show that he rested all the hope on his self-defence before God in heaven, for he was afraid he might die before he could defend himself on earth. From the New Testament, we know that Jesus Christ acts as our mediator and that He has overcome the world. Therefore, we should not be afraid and face it with heavenly peace, no matter what the situation is.
PRAYER:
God, please help me not to be a ‘miserable comforter.’ My heart desires to comfort those who are in pain, but I cannot control my tendency to criticize and accuse others. Please enable me to truly empathize with others’ suffering and to provide help and encouragement with a gentle and loving heart. Make me a ‘comforter who brings joy.’
HYMN:
Son of God – www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUylLWhtAr4
