Job 15 and 16

Read it here. . .

In case you've been snoozing through the last like ten chapters of Job, here's a recap: Job loses everything, his life sucks more than you can imagine, and oh yea, he is covered in painful boils and he really just wants to die. So a bunch of his buddies popped over to bring him some soup and some tissues. Although the timeline in the book of Job is kind of shifty we can assume its been maybe like a week perhaps that they've been over, and basically they keep accusing Job of being a sinner and telling him not to talk to God the way he does.

Don't you just want to tell Job's "friends" to shut up? The poor guy could use some encouragement and they just keep kicking him while he's down. Obviously they don't understand the situation.  I mean come on, we can clearly see the bigger picture. Job is a GOOD guy. God knows that. Job just needs a huuggg right now. I mean, a nice gentle one of course because he's in pain. . .but still.

The thing is, sometimes people don't need a lecture, they need compassion. We don't know the bigger picture of people's lives, just like Job's friends didn't fullly understand what was up in his life. Only God does. Sometimes its too easy for us to judge, or try to tell people what they are doing wrong. But sometimes its better to just be silent. Be a listening ear, be a quiet companion. Launching into a speech sometimes hurts more than it helps. Ecclesiastes 5:3

You know that person who complains all the time? Maybe you are tired of hearing it and don't even care anymore? But maybe what they really need is someone to give them a HUG and let them vent. Then they can move on and be HAPPY. If the body of Christ can't do that, who will? The world is full of hurting people with crappy circumstances. We all just need someone to care. To listen. Instead of judging, and excluding.