“Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, each one came from his own place—Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him. And when they raised their eyes from afar, and did not recognize him, they lifted their voices and wept; and each one tore his robe and sprinkled dust on his head toward heaven. So they sat down with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his grief was very great” (Job 2:11-13).
Heavenly Father, I am glad that You are the One pointing out all of these beginnings, because beginnings are very important, in an effort to secure a positive end. You who have existed even before there was a beginning, began Your work of creation in order to provide Your children with a blessed home in the end. And even when sin entered Your world, because You were in charge at the beginning, we are assured of a perfect home, in the end. We thank You for this, in the name of Jesus Christ, Your Son. Amen.
Today we begin with the visit of Job’s “friends.” I have always thought that they “wore out their welcome,” by staying beyond the seven days and seven nights in silence.
The number seven is the number of completion. For seven days, they entered into his grief, “for they saw that his grief was very great.” And they did it in silence! At certain times, such as a time of bereavement, silence can be golden. Speaking from personal experience, sometimes the person grieving will not remember what you said, they will only remember that you were there! And that your presence brought them comfort! And sometimes, they may not even remember that you were there!
I truly believe that the intentions of Job’s friends were genuine in the beginning; “For they had made an appointment together to come and mourn with him, and to comfort him.” So where did this visit take the wrong turn? I would like to submit for your consideration the following: When people are suffering, they do not need Theodicy, defined as: “the vindication of divine providence in view of the existence of evil” (Oxford Languages). I usually just call it, “trying to defend God.” We cannot defend the Sovereign of the Universe; nor does He need us attempting to do so. He is God all by Himself!
What they need is a Theology of the One and Only God, who loves them, and to whom they can respond, in love!
If there is one topic, human beings need to stand clear of, is how God deals with His creatures. God will make this clear in His response to Job. . . “Where were you when I . . .?”
Right now, all around us people are grieving! Grieving comes as the result of loss. In my humble opinion, death of a loved one is the greatest loss. The reason I see it this way, is because things can be replaced, but not people.
The loss of a pet is another real, reason for grieving. Every dog, or cat, or bird, or turtle, or any other pet, is not your dog, or cat or bird, or turtle, or whatever your pet happens to be. Therefore, to the owner, they too, are considered irreplaceable. Some pets are genuine members of a person’s family; and in situations where people do not have any other relative or person in their life, when that pet dies, or is lost in some other way, they grieve.
But people grieve over other losses as well; jobs, homes, broken relationships. I have heard, that next to death, divorce can be a real reason for grieving, and when children are involved, this grief is even more profound! I am sure that there are multiple other reasons for grieving because of our individuality, and personalities. Let me just say right now, that God, is mindful of whatever is causing you grief, and He cares.
God is not indifferent to our pain; and He has promised, and His promises cannot, will not, fail; that He will not give us more than we can bear (1 Corinthians 10:13).
In our next devotional, we will look at some of the conversations between Job and his friends. I hope we will pay close attention to the effect these conversations had on Job, and that we will ask God to make us sensitive to the pain, and grieving of others, so that we do not cause them greater pain.