“Men at ease have contempt for misfortune as the fate of those whose feet are slipping…”
Job made this statement in reply to his friend, Zophar, who had just given him a lecture about God. It was really in reply to all three of his friends who were giving him “counsel” on what he needed to do to get out of the mess that he was in. Their conclusion was that Job was in dire straits because he had done something very bad and that God was punishing him. If you remember, Job was in dire straits because the Lord allowed Satan to test him. This caused me to do a little reflecting on Job, his plight and his friends. The statement in Job 12:5 tells us that when things are going good for us and not well for someone else, we should not have contempt for them as though they have done something wrong. I am not intimating that God will not bring misfortune to us to straighten us out. After all, the Bible does tell us that God disciplines us. But I think that what took place between Job and his friends should remind us to be careful not to put the blame on God for every bad thing that happens. We have to remember that Satan was involved in this event too. Job’s friends, who were “at ease,” had contempt for him as though he were a blatant sinner. This should teach us not to look at our fellow Christians with contempt when they are going through difficult times, and not to assume that they are being punished for some bad thing that they have done. Misfortune falls to all people at some point in life, and our task as Christians is to give them words of encouragement that will help them, not words of contempt that will only depress them. We read about Job’s friends in Job 1:11-13: “Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that was come upon him, they came everyone from his own place; Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; for they had made an appointment together to come to mourn with him and to comfort him. 12. And when they lifted up their eyes afar off, and knew him not, they lifted up their voice, and wept; and they rent everyone his mantle, and sprinkled dust upon their head toward heaven. 13. So they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights, and none spoke a word unto him: for they saw that his grief was very great.” Notice that in the beginning their motives were pure. Their friend had come upon misfortune and they came to comfort him. (So far so good.)They went so far as to sit with him for seven days without saying a word but only grieving with him. That was good, and in this lies a lesson for us. When we want to comfort friends who are suffering, we need to sit with them, grieve with them and keep our mouths shut. If we can’t think of something constructive to say, it is best just to be there and let that be the comfort that we give. I think that what really irked Job about his three friend's attempt at “comfort” was that they assumed that he didn’t know anything about God and that they needed to teach him about the ways of God. In fact, Job said to them in Job 12:1-3: “And Job answered and said, 2. No doubt you are the people, and wisdom shall die with you. 3. But I have understanding as well as you: I am not inferior to you: yea, who knows not such things as these?” If we are not careful, our attempts at giving words of comfort can come across as if we are “talking down” to our friend, as though we are spiritually superior. If Jesus didn’t “talk down” to people, we certainly should not. I have found that the best thing we can do for suffering friends is to pray for them and with them, and let God speak to their hearts. If we have words of wisdom to share, share them, but make sure that are really words of wisdom and not words of contempt. God wants to use us to help people, not tear them down. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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