Job 19:28-29
If you say, ‘How we will pursue him!’
and, ‘The root of the matter is found in him,’
be afraid of the sword,
for wrath brings the punishment of the sword,
that you may know there is a judgment.”
Tag: Comfort the Hurting or Hound the Hurting?
Job is suffering. We know this. He is suffering because God has allowed Satan to touch his life. We know this. Job was a righteous man. God said so in the first verses of this book. We know this. But, Job’s friends no NONE of this. They only know their stable world of belief and values. They only know what they have observed in life: “Good thing happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people. Job is having something bad happen to him, so he must be bad.” This is the sum of their beliefs and values. Although they set out to comfort Job, they have, instead found a way to “pursue him” and have decided that, “the root of the matter is found in him” (as the above verse states). Job, however, is not the problem. (Job is becoming a problem as he continues to justify himself, but that is another issues.) Job wants these men to know that although they set out to comfort him, they are now hounding him and berating him. As a result, he wants them to know that what lies before them is the same judgment they are accusing him about (see Romans 2:1-5). He is telling them that they are hypocrites and instead of showing him mercy in his suffering they are judging him and what awaits them is the “sword” and “wrath” that is punishment of the sword. We can’t attempt to minister to others and, instead, point out that they are the problem. Our role, as servants of Christ, is to point them to truth as we balance that and deliver that with love. Instead these friends attacked Job. They set out to comfort hm. What turned them? What they were seeing was NOT in alignment with their philosophy. When Job presented an alternative view of his suffering they rejected his truth and started beating him over the head with their truth. Hence the problem.
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