“Are You Still Maintaining Your Integrity”

So Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes.

His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!”

He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?”

In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

Job 2:7-13

When Job experienced devastating loss of his children and became afflicted by painful sores, his suffering was overwhelming.

Job’s friends initially showed remarkable understanding. They sense Job needed someone to sit and mourn with him. The irony is that when friends do begin to speak, they end up giving Job poor advice.

Often the best thing we can do when comforting a hurting friend is to sit with them in their suffering.

A friend’s presence in the midst of suffering provides great comfort.

Our Daily Bread – June 24, 2018