We like answers. We especially like giving answers. Occasionally, if we are desperate, we appreciate receiving answers.
You may find it hard to believe but many answers are not correct. No matter how logical, how correct, or how wise an answer may sound, it may be defective. Are you ready for this? There are times when you and I give the wrong answer to people. There are times when people ask our advice or share a problem with us and we blow it. Our advice or our solution is not helpful. What we say may lead a person to even greater frustration because of our flawed advice.
Occasionally I have been glad that people had the good sense not to follow my advice. Of course, there have been other times when I have said to myself, “If they had only listened they would not be in such a mess today.”
The friends who came to comfort Job failed miserably in their desire to help their suffering friend. They failed so miserably the term “Job’s comforter” has become a putdown. To refer to someone as a Job’s comforter means that they are anything but a comforter. A “Job’s comforter” is the last person you want in your life if you are in need of support and help.
Although Job’s comforters failed miserably, their intentions were good. They wanted to help Job. They came to help not inflict pain. Verses 11- 13 of Job 2 tells us, “When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathise with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognise him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No-one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.”
Good intentions do not always result in good outcomes. Good intentions, a strong faith, and belief that what we have to say is right and biblical does not mean that our efforts to help a hurting person are helpful. Sometimes we don’t understand the situation. Or our theology is defective. The book of Job reminds us to consider our words carefully when we speak to those who suffer.
The failure of Job’s friends began shortly after they opened their mouths. Sometimes silence is truly golden. Their words expressed faulty thinking and false understanding. A clear example of their failure is found in Chapter 8. Bildad is explaining to Job why he is suffering. Bildad expresses his frustration at Job for maintaining his own righteousness. Then he says: “Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? When your children sinned against him, he gave them over to the penalty of their sin. But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now he will rouse himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place. Your beginnings will seem humble, so prosperous will your future be.”
Bildad’s expressed his logic and the logic of Eliphaz and Zophar clearly. God is just. What has happened to you does not reflect justice. Therefore Job, you must have failed. And by the way, the reason your children died is because they sinned. God is just and if your children had not sinned they would not have died. It is too late for your children, Job, but if you will only admit your sin and repent, God who is gracious will give you a prosperous future.
From the perspective of Job’s friends, his losses and financial setbacks were because of sin in Job’s life. He must have done something wrong or else he would still be healthy and prosperous.
This type of thinking in various forms continues today. Some television hosts have said to viewers when asking them to donate to their programs that if they don't reap a windfall despite their donations, they must be doing something to "block God's blessing — most likely, not giving enough.”
Some will say that if you pray for healing or receive prayer for healing and you are not healed, then you must not have enough faith or there is a sin in your life to which you need to confess.
Those who teach that it is God’s will for everyone to be prosperous and healthy have a difficult time with Job. In a discussion with one such person, he pointed to Job 1: 5. This verse outlines Job’s practise of offering sacrifices for his children in case they had sinned and cursed God in their hearts. He linked this to chapter 3: 25. Here Job says: “What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.”
According to this teacher, Job’s fear opened the door for the disasters which devastated him. If Job’s faith had been perfect – devoid of all fear, then he would not have suffered. The theory sounds good. But what do you do with God’s description of Job? “There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”
One Christian television ministry which has stashed away over 200 million dollars in reserves even as the leaders continue to ask viewers for more was defended by a young viewer. In essence the person said a prosperous ministry was a sign of God’s blessing. She would question whether God was blessing a ministry if it was not prospering.
Bildad and modern day teachers attribute a direct cause and effect between human faith and positive blessings (usually wealth and health). It becomes a formula. Do the right things, say the right words, have enough faith and God will bless you.
Does God honour those who put him first in their life? Yes! Does he heal those who come to him in faith? Yes! Does sin block the flow of God’s blessing in our life? Yes! Over and over again the scriptures affirm these truths. But can we reduce these truths to a formula which we apply to every situation or which we can use to make ourselves rich? What do you think?
Here is a quote from the wife of a well known television evangelist and pastor. She wrote in a book titled God’s Will Is Prosperity "You give $1 for the gospel's sake and $100 belongs to you; give $10 and receive $1000; give $1000 and receive $100,000. I know that you can multiply, but I want you to see it in black and white and see how tremendous the hundredfold return is. Give one house and get one hundred houses back or one house worth one hundred times as much.... In short, Mark 10:30 is a very good deal" (p. 171).
If it is accurate, it is a very good deal. But what if you live in countries where Christians are persecuted? Instead of health and prosperity, believers are thrown in prison where often their health is destroyed. Meanwhile the rest of the family is impoverished. Every week I receive stories of persecuted Christians – men, women and children of great faith— who know little about health and prosperity but a great deal about suffering.
All of this represents a misunderstanding of the justice of God. Job refused to accept the verdict that he was a deserving sinner because God was just.
This brings us to the second point. The comforters did not back off. Instead they attempted to prove their point by ignoring the realities of life.
Examine the viewpoint of Eliphaz in Job 15:20-26: “All his days the wicked man suffers torment, the ruthless through all the years stored up for him. Terrifying sounds fill his ears; when all seems well, marauders attack him. He despairs of escaping the darkness; he is marked for the sword. He wanders about—food for vultures; he knows the day of darkness is at hand.
Distress and anguish fill him with terror; they overwhelm him, like a king poised to attack, because he shakes his fist at God and vaunts himself against the Almighty, defiantly charging against him with a thick, strong shield.”
Is this a correct picture of every evil person? Hardly.
Will the wicked or the ungodly get away with evil? No! The Psalmist writes: “Let them (the righteous) sing before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity, (Ps 98:9).” In the book of Matthew, Jesus states clearly how the Judgement will take place. “And he (God) has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man. Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out—those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” A final and determinative judgement is coming.
We know is that many people who ignore God, choose immoral lifestyles of greed and lust, and exploit others, live healthy prosperous lives. Hugh Hefner at 80 years of age remains healthy, wealthy and immoral. It was and is evident that many who do not follow God are prosperous and healthy and there are those who follow God who are not healthy or wealthy. Yet Eliphaz chose to ignore the evidence in order to defend his belief about the justice of God.
By ignoring that not all people who are righteous are healthy and wealthy, Eliphaz and modern day Job’s comforters refuse to listen to those who suffer. They have the answer: Find out what is blocking God’s blessing and repent. You might call it a one-track approach based on a limited view of God. Don’t tell me you are innocent, that does not fit my theory. You must have sinned or else you would be healthy and prosperous. No wonder Job was frustrated. Job says: “Miserable comforters are you all! … I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you…” (Job 16: 2a, 4)
Job’s comforters said many truthful things but their truths were misapplied. If Job had not been righteous, if he had attempted to hide sin, then their words would have better fit the situation. But Job was righteous. His friends did not listen and were not wise. They were unable to see beyond their own beliefs and assumptions. So instead of giving comfort, they inflicted pain.
What if someone says to me, “I have a splitting headache.”
I respond, “I am sorry. Headaches are awful. Here try my glasses. I used to get headaches but ever since I got these glasses, my headaches went away.”
The person refuses the glasses and replies, “My headaches are not related to my eyesight. I have no problem with my vision.”
I reply, “But you have headaches. Headaches are an indication of vision problems. Therefore you have vision problems. My glasses fixed me and they will fix you.” And on and on we go.
Are glasses good? Of course they are. Do they help people with vision problems and reduced eyestrain and thus get rid of headaches? Yes. But do all headaches come from the need for glasses? No. Job’s friends were trying to outfit Job with a set of glasses that did not fit his situation. They thought they understood the problem. They thought they had God and justice figured out but they were wrong.
When God speaks at the conclusion of the story, he says to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken for me what is right, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has,” (Job 42:7-9a).
What a reversal. The ones who judged Job as unrighteous because they were confident they understood the justice of God where judged by God. God accepted Job as righteous while he judged his friends as false and foolish.
When we think we have God and life figured out – especially when it relates to God’s justice and suffering—we need to think again. There is much that we don’t understand. If we try to make all of life fit into our limited understanding, we will fail in our attempt to speak for God. We don’t know everything. When we don’t know everything, humility in our interactions with others is appropriate. Humility will lead us to listen well, pray much, be careful in the assumptions we make about the situation and seek for God’s wisdom.