Venting - Job 31

Everyone likes to vent. You know, we are having a bad day and we just want to say something that we probably don't mean but it needs to be said. Venting is as natural as exhaust from a car. If you are going to expend energy you are going to vent. Pressure builds - venting bursts! It is interesting, however, how others respond to our venting. This morning, after reading Job's venting in chapter 31 I didn't have time to write this devotional - rushing out the door, getting gas in the car, taking my wife to work ... whoops; I think I am venting. Sorry! Anyhow, as I was getting settled at work a fellow Christian sister started to vent to me. I didn't see the connection right away with what I read in Job 31 earlier but should have. Instead of letting her "vent" (share her pressures) I decided to give her a "theological lesson" on how the desires of our heart are ... well, you get the point. Here in chapter 31 we have Job venting. If you read some commentators on this chapter you will see them berating Job for his words in the chapter. Others seem to think Job was simply responding to his friends false accusation in chapter 29. Job, in essence, declares his innocence for this pain he is in. However, I think Job was simply venting. He was getting it off his chest. He lost his children, his property and was stuck with a faithless wife and insensitive friends. I would vent too! What do you do when other's vent? Do you take the opportunity to teach them a theological lesson or do you listen and let them release needed pressure. I suppose there is a balance here, but be careful you don't do what I did. Sometimes it nice just to let others know you hear them and will spend the day praying that the pressure they feel gets released and they find peace in the midst of the turmoil.