Comfort the Afflicted

“But Job answered and said, Oh that my grief were thoroughly weighed, and my calamity laid in the balances together! For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea: therefore my words are swallowed up. For the arrows of the Almighty are within me, the poison whereof drinketh up my spirit: the terrors of God do set themselves in array against me. Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder? … The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat. Oh that I might have my request; and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! Then should I yet have comfort; yea, I would harden myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One. What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life? Is my strength the strength of stones? or is my flesh of brass? … To him that is afflicted pity should be shewed from his friend; but he forsaketh the fear of the Almighty. My brethren have dealt deceitfully as a brook, and as the stream of brooks they pass away… What time they wax warm, they vanish: when it is hot, they are consumed out of their place” (Job 6:1-17). All I can say is that this testimony came from a place of pain and despair that nobody wants to go to, and nobody feels that they can return from if they do find themselves there.

Job saw absolutely no way for his life to continue, nor did he want it to; yet somehow God made the way for his life to not only continue, but to also be blessed abundantly. That blessed state came about with no thanks to his ‘friends.’ As Job alluded to here, his 'friends’ who should have been of comfort to him in his affliction, became judges, jurors, and executioners instead. That is not our calling my friend, and we should soberly remember when someone is hurting that our responsibility is to be the opposite of Job’s friends. The scripture says of Jesus, “A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench” (Isa. 42:3). Job, feeling a pain worse than death, pleaded with his uncaring friends; “Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me. Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?” (Job 19:21,22). Maybe Job’s “miserable comforters” should have feared God a little more, and maybe they should have heeded the admonition of this proverb: “If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain; If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” (Prov. 24:11,12). Too many folks who profess the faith of Christ are just too busy 'getting things done’ to bother noticing someone who is in pain, and trying to lift them up; though they be right in front of them. I’m afraid that there are far too many who are mindful of much 'ministry,’ who don’t really know what the ministry of the Gospel is really about.

The Gospel is about healing a tragic world that is in untold distress, and sometimes that 'world’ is right in our lap and we somehow manage to overlook it. Job’s friends felt that they were plenty wise, and that they knew God quite well; yet they were systematically tearing down a mighty man of God who just happened to be in an affliction so great that it is still renowned in the earth like none other. They were doing the opposite of what Isaiah said about Jesus, and were determined to break the bruised reed and to quench the smoking flax. That my friend is not the mind of Christ. Job somehow survived his devastating losses and his friends’ destructive lack of wisdom and care; but it should be noted that his faith was the greatest of anyone in the earth (Job 1:8). The point is that there are very few who will manage to endure being either totally neglected, or even stepped on when they are in their time of greatest pain. It simply is not in our design to be on either end of that cruel stick. But since we can’t do anything about the fact that we may sometime find ourselves on the downtrodden end of that stick, we should do EVERYTHING we can to insure that we are not on the injurious end. It really isn’t difficult to be more helpful to someone in need than harmful. All it takes is to “keep [ourselves] in the love of God,” and we will naturally draw to the pain and despair of those who are hurting; including when they are right in front of our eyes (Jude 1:21). One thing is certain, if the children of God don’t tend to the suffering of the children of God, then it just isn’t going to be tended to or remedied, period. In conclusion I can only say that this is not a lesson that we can afford to learn at someone’s else’s expense, only after it is too late. Amen.