Today in God's Word—June 2023
East Tallassee Church of Christ
June 1, Job 6
”He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty. My brothers are treacherous as a torrent-bed, as torrential streams that pass away, which are dark with ice, and where the snow hides itself. When they melt, they disappear, when it is hot they vanish from their place." - Job 6:14-17
Job compared his friends to a dry river bed. Earlier that stream had been a full and swift supply of crystal clear, cold water from the melting mountain snows. But in the hot, parched months when a traveler came searching for water there, he would find only a dry stream bed.
Job was disappointed and frustrated by his sufferings. But his agony was intensified, not assuaged, by his friends who had come to give him criticism and accusation instead of the comfort he needed. Job was as disappointed as travelers who left their path to find water for themselves and their animals, only to find the water supply dried up.
Eliphaz had failed to offer Job any comfort or support. Instead, he falsely accused Job, called him a fool, and accused him of being impatient in his suffering. So on top of his misery and not knowing why he suffered so, Job also felt the agony of "friends" who spoke criticism instead of consolation.
Job sensed that his suffering was from God, or the result of something that God had done or allowed. He called his calamities the arrows of the Almighty. But he did not know why he suffered so. He did not know of anything he had done to deserve such agony. He knew Eliphaz's allegations were not true. Job was vexed and on the brink of despair.
Job was so weary from the awful experience that he longed for the comfort of death. His patience was strained. His strength was gone. He wished that God would crush him and cut him off. But in his dark agony, Job clung to one consoling thought that helped him bear the
unceasing pain. He knew he had not denied the words of God or yielded to the temptation to blame and curse God. He had not abandoned his faith and trust in the Lord.
Job begged his friends not to leave. He was hungry to hear an encouraging word from them, but told them that so far they had said nothing like that to him. He knew they were afraid, but he pleaded with them to teach him and make him understand how he had strayed from righteousness. He longed for upright words, not empty rhetoric and false accusations, They had harshly judged his cries of agony and complaint. They had judged him for what Job called "wind words," the frustrated cries of a man in despair.
When people around us are enduring grief and loss, let's be more sympathetic than Job's friends were. When we ourselves are struggling with pain or loss, let's try to remember Job's only source of comfort — that he had not denied God. Let's make up our minds to relieve and encourage our distressed friends. Let's not judge them too harshly for words they speak that we know are driven by extreme emotion.
And when we’re in distress ourselves, let's cling to God in the inevitable trials and painful experiences of life. Let's not let go of Job's last source of comfort. By strong unwavering faith and grace-enabled gritty determination, let’s cling to God and keep trusting him.
Copyright © 2023 by Michael B. McElroy. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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