We often hear about Job’s friends in a negative tone. They did earn God’s rebuke ( but we won’t see that until chapter 42 :) ) but I want to defend them just a bit. They did some things right.
They came. They CAME. They were there in his sorrow, they CAME. They didn’t just pray for him or send word. They CAME.
They empathized. When their friend hurt, they hurt with him. Chances are that things in their own little worlds were great but they laid that aside and wept with him. They bore his burdens.
They stayed. Surely they had their own business to attend to but they chose to stay with Job in his pain. Not a quick word and a drop off of a casserole (although that is a good thing, just sayin). They stayed.
I want to note the right things about them and apply that in my life towards others who are hurting. Come, empathize, stay.
Where they erred was when they spoke! Our words reveal our hearts - their words show us what they believed. And the evidence shows us that they believed lies about God. They believed that being righteous entitled one to blessing, namely prosperity. And if blessing/prosperity was absent, then it could only be explained by the presence of sin. (20: 9,22:21, 22:6,7,9) Their false accusations of Job were a result of the erroneous belief that all suffering is caused by sin. And that blessing (prosperity) was God’s favor as a result of being blameless.
This is a subject that is easily misunderstood and the truth often misapplied. Suffering CAN be a result of sin - making wrong choices leads to painful consequences. But suffering is not ALWAYS an indication of sin. John 16:33 is one of many verses that tells us to expect trouble in this world. It is not our place to judge the reason for suffering in someone else’s life. The other error of Job’s friends is that of believing there to be a position of entitlement - if we are righteous, then God “owes” us blessing. The truth is, God owes us nothing but judgment. It is His mercy and generosity that bestows blessing on us. And while following Him DOES help us avoid some painful consequences and allows us to enjoy the blessings of obedience, we are not entitled to that. He blesses because HE is good. And He blesses the righteous AND the unrighteous.(Matthew 5:45)
So Job’s friends had some stuff right and some stuff wrong.
So did Job.
Job believed that he didn’t deserve any of the suffering he was enduring (continuously proclaimed his righteous innocence) and while seeing it as from God,he felt it was arbitrary, purposeless, unfair.
In Job 24:1-12, we see that Job had a very short term perspective on life.
What are some applications for us?