"Job's Friends" in Your Life

But you even undermine the fear of God and hinder meditation before Him.

Job 15:4 (HCSB)

One day, during a Bible study focused on the trials of Job, one of the participants argued that Job's friends did not truly know God, and that it was precisely this ignorance that drove them to stone him—so to speak—with the words of their mouths. In his view, anyone who truly knows God would never address a person enduring such a severe trial in that manner. He pointed out that, as he read the account himself, he could see—right from the very beginning—that Job carried the fear of God in his heart. I replied that what the story reveals to him—allowing him to view the situation with the necessary hindsight—is not what Job's friends were able to perceive at that specific moment.

It goes without saying that knowing, right from the start, who lies behind Job's misfortune gives us an advantage over his friends, who, for their part, knew absolutely nothing about it. However, we are not so different from those friends when we witness the profound suffering of others. We all tend to believe that, somewhere in their personal history, this suffering is the consequence of their own mistakes or of some grave sin. Job's friends were not entirely wrong in what they said, for they themselves knew God; their error lay in directing those words at Job—attempting to convince him to confess his guilt—without realizing that he himself already knew exactly why he felt such frustration toward God.

Allow me to tell you one thing: neither you nor I are immune to divine trials. No matter at what stage of life they strike us, there will always be at least one person who steps forward to play the role of "Job's friends" in our lives. This may occur at a moment when we are absolutely convinced that our faith has reached its zenith. Or perhaps this will occur precisely when we feel that God has withdrawn from us. Let us ensure that our words and our attitude do not negate the reverence we owe to God, nor prolong the duration of this trial—for God alone knows when we will be ready for Him to lift it. The "friends of Job" present in your life do not know the plan God has for you.

May God’s grace and peace be with you.