If you engage a person in conversation long enough, their true nature begins to emerge. Job finds out what his friends really think of him.
Not much has changed from these three chapters from the last three. Whereas Job’s friends initially sounded like they were reasonable, their conversation now has more of an edge to it. It sounds as if they are becoming frustrated with their friend because he insists that he is innocent when they are sure he is not. Job’s response so far seems to be best paraphrased in two sentences. 1. “I thought you had a higher opinion of me that this” 2. “If our positions were reversed, I wouldn’t treat you the way you are treating me”.
I don’t know the psychology behind this, but it seems like we often take our personal opinions too seriously, and defend them too vigorously. I know people who are deeply offended if you tease them about their favorite football team, or who should be the president. I mention this here because it seems that Job’s friends are falling into a trap of their own making. Instead of comforting their friend, and allowing him to express himself and leave it at that, they are trying to convince him that his perception is wrong.
I’m sure that they had honest intentions to begin with. They probably felt that if they could just convince Job to confess his sin God would turn his anger away and Job would be healed. They cannot conceive of the idea that Job hasn’t sinned and yet is persecuted. Because they don’t seem to have an “off switch” or an indicator light that tells them they are heading into harms way, they keep right on talking. By the time they are done they will have created more discomfort than they have fixed.
We probably all have a few friends like this. Who knows, maybe we are like this ourselves sometimes. In our rush to help we end up making the problem worse.
What’s the solution? Maybe when we come up against an opinion that counters our own belief we should stop talking and listen. Seek first to understand and then take your question to God, and to His Word. After you understand the other person’s position see if the Bible will support it. Maybe there’s room for you to grow. Maybe the teacher can still be taught.
Sadly, this isn’t the immediate case for Job’s friends. They will keep inciting one another, and Job will continue to respond through his pain and exhaustion. You can almost hear Jobs frustration as he tries to make his point.
You know, sometimes we just need our friends to acknowledge our point of view. You don’t have to agree with it, just agree that we have a point. And then ask God to come and help.
Faithfully,
PR