I Feel Like I'm One of Job’s Friends

If you have read the story of Job, you know that in a nutshell; it is a compilation of accusations directed at Job by his three friends. They claim Job must have sinned and thus deserved the suffering he was going through. Job continually defends himself until a fourth friend, Elihu, who is much younger than them all, shuts them all up with the wisdom in his words. Finally, God closes the book with an earth-shuttering response to Job.

I am currently rereading this book and the first time I read it, I was awed by how much to Job’s story there is than what I’d ever heard. Yes, the devil accused Job and was given permission to destroy everything Job had excluding his soul. Finally, God restores to Job what he had lost in double portion. When you read the story for yourself, however, you discover that there is so much going on, so this is an encouragement to read it for yourself.

PS: It is the book placed between the book of Esther and the Psalms of David in the Old Testament 😉.

What I am seeing this second time around is the similarity I have to Job’s friends. It is disheartening that I would liken myself to people who had zero compassion for their suffering friend but alas! Here I am.

I recently found myself wondering if God takes away His favor from those He has so graciously bestowed it to. This was as a result of watching someone who in the past could hardly go a full month without getting a new job whenever he found himself unemployed. His paths just seemed straight. In other words, this person is favored, yet, these COVID times have been hard and it has been over a year since his last job. Countless applications and interviews later, he is still unemployed.

So, I wonder does God take His favor away?

My conclusion came from, I am now realizing, an ingrained belief I have always had. The belief is simply that if you are living right, good things will happen to you and if you are living wrong, it won’t take long before bad things catch up to you. I have often found myself asking God “what did I do to deserve this Lord? Why aren’t you taking it away?” whenever I was in unfavorable circumstances.

My favored friend in this context hadn’t been living “right” and so when this lengthened period of his unemployment played out, I found myself asking if God had finally had it. If God was now making him "uncomfortable" so he could seek Him.

I feel like I'm one of Job’s friends because they were simply saying the same thing I have believed all these years. If you are good then good things will happen and if you are bad…you get the gist. Yet Job was in fact good and that didn’t stop the enemy from “inciting God against him to destroy him without cause” — Job 2:3. And it didn’t stop God from agreeing to it either Job 1:12 and 2:6.

This story caused me to think of the different faces of suffering because before Job’s story, I had been reading about Joseph in the book of Genesis. Joseph was much like Job in that he was a good person and feared God. This uprightness in his walk didn’t stop him from getting sold into slavery, getting thrown in prison, or being forgotten by Pharaoh’s head butler for two whole years. Genesis 37:12– chapter 41.

I have found that there are different causes of suffering. There is a Joseph kind, where God is placing you in readiness for a great assignment. The challenges found here shape your character and build you up for what’s to come. There is a Job kind where your faith and loyalty are being tested. There is one that comes from following Jesus (John 15:18–21). There is another that is purely the attack of the enemy (Mathew 4:1–10) and one more that comes from you straying from the Lord. This last one can be seen in the story of the Israelites. The Israelites continually strayed from the Lord and would come into suffering and slavery which was a result of their sin. They would then repent and God would restore them ut then they would stray again and the cycle continued.

No matter what kind you may be going through, the answer isn’t to throw in the towel and stray from God. The answer is to keep on believing that God is for you and that He will get you out of it, no matter how long it takes. This is what Job, Joseph, and even King David did when they were faced with circumstances they couldn't understand. They all held on to their belief in God until He finally came through.

Being “good” or “righteous” by our own human standards amounts to nothing.

We all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We also live in a fallen world and have an enemy that doesn’t quit at trying to destroy us. Being “good” or “righteous” by our own human standards amounts to nothing.

I have used the phrase “being good” in this text deliberately because it may be easier to understand than being self-righteous. Job’s friends were being self-righteous because, in essence, they were saying; “You aren’t living right but we are.” I know this isn’t evident in their words but whenever you point a finger at someone and conclude that they aren’t living right, isn’t that usually based on how you are living or trying to?

I introduced my friend in this text as favored then later I said he wasn’t living right. Those two things have been a conflict for me as I have watched this person skate by on favor which according to me, he took for granted. The many days I have contemplated this caused me to harden my heart and compassion towards his current plight of being unemployed. It in essence caused me to think; “you totally deserve this! You better pray now!”

This attitude, I have realized, lacks compassion which is what Job’s friends were lacking in their unwelcome commentary. I mean, what right do I have to claim someone deserves punishment or suffering for their wrong living when my own self-righteousness is as good as filthy rags?

Living apart from God amounts to nothing good. So, as a Christian trying to live right, how am I supposed to react or treat those who may be going through trials that may seem self-imposed?

With compassion.

It’s that simple.

Consider this story found in John 8 1-12:

7 When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there. 10 Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”

The Pharisees who sought to stone the adulterous woman in the text above give me a conclusion for this story. We have all sinned. No sin is greater than the other and we are all forgiven of our sins once we accept Jesus. So, where is the compassion we have been shown when it comes to dealing with others no matter how vile they have treated us or others in the past?