Prayer: Father, may I learn from Job and his friends what it means to be a good friend and a good counselor. Amen.
Reading: Job 16:1-2
Job answered, saying:
2 “I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters, all of you!
Attention: Have you every pondered about how we know we are sinning? There is just something innate within us which tells us we are sinning. Adam and Eve knew because their eyes were opened when they ate that which they were commanded not to eat of. They even made clothing from leaves and hid their nakedness. And they hid themselves from the presence of Adonai (Genesis 3:1-24).
There is much we could discuss about this passage. Just to say, they knew, they were enlightened about what God had commanded not to do and consequences ensued. God legislated the consequences because they were His to legislate. Man’s relationship with God was forever tainted. Man would from then on have an innate awareness of God and sin.
The apostle Paul elaborates on this innateness planted within man. Some people have referred to it as a God gene. Here is how he (Paul) defines our awareness; “because what can be known about God is plain to them—for God has shown it to them. His invisible attributes—His eternal power and His divine nature—have been clearly seen ever since the creation of the world, being understood through the things that have been made. So people are without excuse” (Romans 1:18-32). We do not have to expose the sin of people; the Word and Spirit will convict them of their sin. We are tasked with sharing the gospel, allowing the Holy Spirit and the Word to convict, and comforting them.
Paul shares the comforting part of our task to the Corinthians, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, the Father of compassion and God of all encouragement. He encourages us in every trouble, so that we may be able to encourage those who are in any trouble, through the very encouragement with which we ourselves are encouraged by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). Other translations use the word comfort rather than encouragement.
So, am I a good friend, counselor, and comforter? What did Job need most from his friends? Did he need their silence and presence which they provided him in the first week? Or did he need their scrutiny and rebuke which followed? In my own experience, I have never needed someone to tell me that I blew it. However, there are times I could have used the comfort a friend with skin could provide. The Holy Spirit is also called the Comforter. Yeshua said before his death and ascension, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper” (Comforter; John 14:15-18).
Which will you determine to be to your friends, a comforter or a scrutinizer, a comforter, or an accuser?
Action: I choose to be a comforter to my friends from this day forward.
Yield: I choose to be Christ to the world.
Engage: I will engage as a comforter and encourager.
Relationship: I am a child of the King. I am His bondslave. I will live for Him who died for me.
Prayer: Father, may I be to my friends and my spouse, a comforter and encourager. In the name of Yeshua. Amen.
Memory Verse: Matthew 5:4
4 “Blessed are those who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Music Video: Healer—Hillsong
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”