By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.   Galatians 5:22-23 (NRSV)

Job's Comforters Job was a man in a great deal of pain. In a very brief period of time, he ended up losing his children, his livestock, his wealth, and his health. He was reduced to sitting in a pile of ashes in torn clothing (the symbol of mourning), scraping at his infected boils with a piece of broken pottery (Job 2:8). While he refused to do as his wife suggested (v. 9), and did not curse God and die, he was by this time pretty miserable. Job's friends came to comfort him, and I'm sure they had kind intentions. They were genuinely horrified at the state in which they found him, and they sat with him for days as he sat, in utter silence. It was there that their comfort ended. Job's friends, of course, meant well. The road to hell, they say, is paved with good intentions. Job's friends spent chapter after chapter telling Job that his suffering was his own fault, basically. These friends were so sure of their own ideas and their own perceptions of right, wrong, justice, and God that they didn't stop once to consider that maybe they were doing more harm than good. They insisted he must have some sin against him. They told him he was unjust, unrighteous, that God was punishing him for something. They told him that no human being had the right to challenge God as boldly as Job was doing in his pain and anguish. Only one friend was at all supportive of Job, but only somewhat, and even he insisted that God wasn't going to answer Job, since God was far too majestic and powerful to be bothered, apparently. The fact is that they were wrong. Job wasn't at fault for his suffering, and this is stated at the beginning of Job (1:8) and again at the end (42:7). Job did not do anything at all to bring on or cause or otherwise deserve what befell him. God did, in fact, appear to Job eventually, and furthermore, it's pretty obvious that God didn't hold Job's outbursts against him, and even eventually commended Job for speaking truly of Him, while chastising the friends. Why were Job's friends -- and many people in the same situation today -- such unhelpful and even hurtful know-it-alls? First, I think it may have something to do with human nature in general. We see suffering, we assume there must be a cause or a reason for it. Blaming the victim is an ancient game which is still played today. In the midst of my own suffering when I was in recovery and very ill, I was told by well-meaning Christians that I must not "believe" enough, must not be trusting enough, must not be right with God, else I wouldn't suffer. Not only is this contrary to scripture (the New Testament is absolutely full of writings on suffering as a way of purification, sanctification, and bringing about character and Christian maturity), it is hurtful in the extreme. To say to a suffering, anguished, wounded person that they are at fault for their pain is just cruel. Another thing I see in Job's friends is that they thought they knew all about God and they didn't. Job didn't either, but he, at least, admitted his confusion. The friends mostly just stuck to their own views, their own ideas of How Things Work, and no matter what Job said or how hurt he was (he did argue rather vehemently), they kept right on their own track. If, for one moment, they had paused to think that they were wrong, and that really awful things can happen to apparently righteous people, they would have had to re-think their entire view of How Things Work, and it's my experience that people simply do not care to do this. Most human beings like their world -- and their God -- neat and orderly and easy to digest. No unexpected surprises to throw them off track; they want to have an "explanation" for everything. No God who does things that totally confuse and upset them. Most people like a nice, palatable, convienient set of rules, regulations, correct attitudes, and a God who performs according to their expectations and understading. To allow that God doesn't always act according to what we understand of Him is far too frightening for many people, including, apparently, Job's friends. I have personally experienced and have seen for myself that there are an awful lot of professing Christian people who have a lot more doctrine than they have compassion, a lot more knowledge than they have understanding, and an answer for just about everything. Despite the fact that it is written that God's ways and thoughts are higher than ours as the heavens above the earth (Isa 55:8-9), somehow or other they have God's ways all figured out and are all too happy to "share" their in-depth knowledge with all and sundry. Sometimes people ask me how to avoid being a "Job's comforter," and I tell them that about the best thing to do is just be there for your friend. Be supportive when you can, offer yourself, your compassion, your assistance. Many times, there really isn't anything anyone can do to help a suffering friend. But I can tell you from experience that having someone to count on and just be there to listen or to invite you to lunch or to go for a walk with is truly a godsend. Even if you do believe they're missing a point, that they did bring it on themselves, that they are theologically or ethically in error, perhaps it's not the kindest or most helpful thing to tell them how wrong they are and how right you are. In time, as there is healing and growth, there will hopefully be remorse and repentance and understanding. And who knows? You might learn something from your suffering friend, if you're willing to pay attention and not judge them harshly or tell them that they're not believing enough or trusting enough. After all, at the end of Job's terrible ordeal, it was Job who was rewarded, and his friends who earned God's displeasure: After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: "My wrath is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams, and go to my servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has done." So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them; and the LORD accepted Job's prayer. And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job when he had prayed for his friends; and the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. Job 42:7-10 (NRSV) New Main Menu About Contact The Blessing of Job

And Job died, old and full of days.   Job 42:17 (NRSV)
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