Job suffered in just about every way a man can suffer, but his troubles were compounded by the friends who came to comfort him. They were truth-tellers who didn’t bother to find out whether what they said actually applied to Job’s situation. Selective truth, misapplied can be deadly to a soul.

Children can be naughty is a true statement, but if we apply it to all children, all of the time, we may condemn them to a life of harsh discipline. Not all children misbehave all of the time. We need to know the facts about individual children in order to care for them appropriately.

Job’s friends made the mistake of applying general truths about sin and punishment to a man who didn’t meet the criteria, and Job had to use his diminished store of strength to answer them.

Three Flaws

In his book about Job titled Let God Be God, Ray Stedman points out three flaws in the thinking of Job’s friends.

First, they completely discounted Job’s agony. When he cried out in pain they attributed his words to stubborn rebellion against God and dismissed the reason for his distress. Instead of acknowledging his pain they criticized his words. Job called them poor comforters because they offered no comfort at all.

A hurting person needs to be heard. They may say things they never said before because pain has distorted or exaggerated their thinking. The best gift comforters can give to hurting people is to listen to them and believe the depths of their suffering.

The second flaw in Job’s comforters was their incomplete theology. They spoke as if they were the final authority on God, but there were dimensions to him and his plans they couldn’t even imagine. Their limited view said that all suffering is caused by sin, but not all trials are the consequence of sin. Jesus suffered more than any person who ever lived, but he never sinned. There is not always a direct correlation between suffering and sin.

The third flaw Stedman points out is that Job’s friends never asked God for help in understanding what was going on. All of the prayers in the book of Job came from Job himself. His friends never inquired into whether God agreed with their ideas before they shared them and we can’t find God’s answers to Job’s dilemma in what they say. By failing to pray, they cut themselves off from God’s wisdom.

Did Job Hide His Sins?

Job’s friends were wrong to accuse him of hidden sin because he had always been ready to deal with sin. He even watched over the souls of each of his children and offered burnt sacrifices for their sins.

“His sons used to hold feasts in their homes on their birthdays, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. When a period of feasting had run its course, Job would make arrangements for them to be purified. Early in the morning he would sacrifice a burnt offering for each of them, thinking, ‘Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.’ This was Job’s regular custom.” Job 1:4-5

Not many people could match Job’s sensitivity to sin and repentance.

How to Help Suffering People

What we can learn from Job’s story is that

• We should care for the heart of a hurting person when their words and actions tell us they are in deep distress. Believe them, listen carefully, and don’t advise or accuse.
• We should be humble regarding our theology. What we know is only part of the truth and God may be revealing new things in the situation, things we never considered before. Once again, look and listen before reaching any conclusions.
• We must pray. We should follow the lead of the suffering person and join them in what they are praying about.

Deep Thoughts About God

Despite his incomplete understanding of God, Job knew some wonderful things about him. He thought deeply about God. He had spent a lot of time observing and meditating on his Creator.

In Job 9:1-13 Job acknowledged God’s incomprehensible power. His wisdom was profound, his power was vast. No one could resist him and come out unscathed. All of creation belonged to God, he held it in his hands and did whatever he chose with it. He performed wonders and miracles, but he was invisible and when he passed by Job couldn’t see him. God was revealed in what he made, yet he existed beyond Job’s senses and sight.

Do You Meditate on God?

Do you spend time meditating on God? Could you speak about him the way Job did? You can know God more deeply . . .  if you are willing to spend time in his presence, meditating on him the way Job did.

Recurring Questions

Job kept returning to a few questions in his suffering.

• He wondered how he could defend himself if God Almighty was accusing him. He felt he is blameless, but if God still had reasons to accuse him, how could Job do more than he had already done to seek forgiveness?
• Job felt he couldn’t last much longer in his suffering. His strength was failing and his life was draining away. He didn’t want to die in sin, but he didn’t know what else to do to get clean before God. “I still dread all my sufferings, for I know you will not hold me innocent. Since I am already found guilty, why should I struggle in vain?” Job 9:28-29
• Job wondered why God made him if he was only going to torment him.“Why then did you bring me out of the womb? I wish I had died before any eye saw me.” (Job 10:18)  “Are not my few days almost over? Turn away from me so I can have a moment’s joy before I go to the place of no return, to the land of gloom and darkness, to the land of deepest night, of utter darkness and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.” Job 10:20-22

Incomplete Theology

Job’s theology was incomplete. He was mistaken in thinking that God had made him so he could torment him. God was silent in this situation. The consequences of what Satan had done were still playing out, but God had not yet spoken or acted.

Job was also wrong about his eternal destination. He was not bound for utter darkness in the place of no return and he had no reason to fear deepest gloom if he died. Why would he have walked with God to this point if he believed that was his future? Job was speaking emotionally, not from wisdom and knowledge when he voiced those fears.

Suffering Distorts Thinking

Suffering distorts our thinking. It makes us feel depressed and afraid and then we begin to expect the worst possible outcome. God is above all of that. He is quiet in his love sometimes, but he never stops loving his own. He waits patiently to act, but he always acts.

The best thing we can do when we suffer is tell the truth and pray for comforters who believe us. Then we must wait together for God and not try to reach conclusions with our incomplete theology or shortsighted understanding.

The closest we will ever draw to God may be when we turn and pound on him with our anguished ad fearful prayers. He never pushes us away in our suffering and eventually we will find that we are held in his embrace.