With Friends like Job had, who needs enemies…

Job’s friends’ council can be summed up, “you got what you deserved.” His friends had concluded that Job’s suffering was certainly the result of some sin in his life.

Job grows weary of his friends’ rude and tormenting accusations. “How long will you torment me and crush me with words? Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me” (Job 19:2-3). In his affliction, he asks for pity from his friends, and starts questioning if indeed God is punishing him, “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. Why do you pursue me as God does? Will you never get enough of my flesh” (Job 19:21-22)? Despite the suffering and false accusations that Job is experiencing, and while still perplexed by God’s apparent judgment, Job still places trust in his redeemer, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him with my own eyes - I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me” (19:25-27)!

Tragedies can strike at any time and leave us confounded and numb, even questioning God for a season. Friends, even with best intentions, can fail us. Job is in the middle of a horrible situation, and despite it all, chooses to emphatically still express his strong conviction and deep trust in his redeemer. Would I do the same? What a wonderful and powerful example of true faith in God! I hope my faith can be that strong, even more, since I have greater understanding of God’s salvific and redemptive work through the cross.