Readings for today: Job 16-19, Psalms 139
I try to imagine how I would respond if I had a friend like Job. Someone who loses it all. Would I be faithful? Would I stand by his or her side? Would I offer to help? Would I be willing to sit with them in their grief and pain? Would I be willing to listen as they lashed out? I think back over the years of my life. I have known many who have gone through very hard times. They lose their families. They lose their children. They lose their jobs. They lose their homes. I’ve seen friends end up on the streets. I’ve seen those I love and serve as a pastor walk away from their faith. Thankfully not often. At least not in these extreme cases. How did I respond? I like to think I offered better comfort than Job’s friends but I know I’ve made my mistakes along the way. Especially when I was younger and less experienced. I can think of times when I said the exact wrong thing at the bedside of someone who was suffering. I can think of times when I said something insensitive at a funeral. I can think of times where I responded selfishly rather than selflessly to those who were hurting and in need.
Job’s words pierced my heart this morning and the memories of my mistakes came flooding back in. “How long will you torment me and crush me with words? You have humiliated me ten times now, and you mistreat me without shame.” (Job 19:2-3 CSB) The faces of those I unwittingly “tormented and crushed” with my words flash through my mind. One after the other. How many times did I pile on instead of relieve their burdens? How many times did I try to give them an answer for their suffering rather than simply sit with them in it? How many times did I avoid them altogether because of my own discomfort with pain? “Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for God’s hand has struck me. Why do you persecute me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh?” (Job 19:21-22 CSB) How many times did I fail to have mercy? How many times did I fail to have compassion? How many times did I fail to love?
Thankfully, there is forgiveness. Many of those I’ve so carelessly mistreated over the years showed me immeasurable grace. Thankfully, there is growth as well. I am no longer the foolish man I once was. I am no longer naive and ignorant. I am no longer as prideful and arrogant. I am comfortable with discomfort. I am able to manage my anxiety even as I sit with those who are hurting and afraid. I have become quicker to listen and slower to speak over the years. I am not there to be sure. I still make my mistakes and say careless and foolish things from time to time. But God is faithful. He has used me more and more to bring His comfort and peace. He has grown me in my ability to be compassionate and caring and patient in times of great distress. Ultimately, my ability to bring comfort rests on the same confidence that Job exhibits in one of the more famous lines from the book. “But I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the end he will stand on the dust. Even after my skin has been destroyed, yet I will see God in my flesh. I will see him myself; my eyes will look at him, and not as a stranger. My heart longs within me.” (Job 19:25-27 CSB) God alone can provide the comfort we all so desperately need. Pointing people beyond ourselves, beyond this world, beyond any answers we think we can provide is what brings them hope in hopeless situations and help when they are hurting.
Readings for tomorrow: Job 20-23, Psalms 140