“How forceful are upright words! But what does reproof from you reprove?” Job 6:25 (ESV)

Be Nice

One of the reasons I love the Bible is it presents the followers of God open and frank in their dealings with life's issues and especially with the strengths and frailties of men and women of faith. Outside of the example of trust that was shown by our Lord to His Heavenly Father is the faith of Job through a horrific time of testing.

In almost two simultaneous disasters God allowed Satan to take by death Job's 10 children by a catastrophe, have all his wealth stolen from him and most of his servants put to the sword, and then have his body plagued by running, worm infested sores. He was left sitting in the ashes of his destroyed prosperity scratching his sores with a piece of pottery. His own wife told him to "curse God and die" (2:9) Then three of his friends showed up to “comfort” him. Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zopar.

They were so shocked at his horrific circumstances they sat down for 7 days and said nothing. That was the smartest thing they did during their entire visit. When they began to speak, their entire discourse was to say all the disaster that befell him was because he had sinned. After all, would God do this to a righteous person? Their belief, as with many today, was God blesses the righteous and brings calamity to those who are wicked.

There was a time in my early 40s when I endured nearly 2 years of agonizing pain due to a very large benign brain tumor. All the doctors I saw in my home state during that time, both general practitioners and neurosurgeons, did not find it. Many people thought I was faking except my immediate family who were helpless witnesses to my horrific suffering. I knew I was dying and had come to the point of acceptance of that fact. Many were the nights and days of excruciating pain when I would quote out loud Job 13:15 to the ceiling from my bed, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him; yet will I argue my ways to His face." 

One day at the height of this painful and debilitating illness I received a postcard in the mail in what appeared to be a woman's handwriting that said, “If you would just get your eyes off yourself and on to Christ everything would be fine.” I even had my pastor at that time tell me through my pain and suffering, “You just need to get busy with your life.” When my disease had advanced to the point I was bedridden he even asked when he prayed for me on one occasion “Is there any sin in your life you want to confess?” implying, even as did Job's comforters, the reason for my suffering was sin. The final affront was after my tumor was found by the Mayo Clinic and removed and I had returned home, I heard my general practitioner doctor's nurse say to him, “You mean there really was something wrong with him?”

The saying, “The Christian Army is the only army in the world that shoots its own wounded” is still unfortunately true today. As a soldier of Jesus Christ, I strive to lay aside weapons of judgment and be a medic. Christ has called us to bear each others burdens, fulfilling His Law (Galatians 6:2). Do you notice it doesn't make any difference as to what those burdens are? They could be spiritual or physical. As Christians we need to lay our weapons down and let love, mercy, and assistance toward the body of Christ be part of the kit we carry. This can only come through the strength and discernment that comes from daily reading and studying of the Word of God, along with a dedicated and sincere prayer life.
These two disciplines will impart to us the understanding, mercy and strength to also lay aside our weapons of judgment. Perhaps calamity in someone's life could be a lesson in patient endurance where the Lord wants to turn that person's molten pain into spiritual steel, that His works might be displayed in them (John 9:3). He did this for me. And it made some Christians angry! 

It is noteworthy at the end of Job's encounter with his friends God's anger burned against the three men for they did not speak what was right as Job had (42:8). God demanded Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zopar make sacrifices of bulls and rams and have Job pray for them. Fortunately for them the LORD accepted Job's prayers(vs 9). In all the trials Satan put him through Job proved God right for though he questioned Him (which is not a sin), he never cursed Him. 

Let's learn to practice the example of love and compassion Jesus set for us just like the same mercy God shows us through Christ. Think of when you've been in the furnace of affliction, or (God forbid) you find yourself or a loved one there in the future, or perhaps right now. When you consider that, it's easier to accept, love, and to help that person. That's what Christ has called us to do with His walking wounded. Be a medic. Be nice.

Ken