{"id":6976,"date":"2020-01-02T20:00:28","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T03:00:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/?p=6976"},"modified":"2019-12-29T17:53:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-30T00:53:00","slug":"job2_1-13","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/job2_1-13\/","title":{"rendered":"The Worst Thing and the Best Thing You Can Do For a Friend In Pain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Job 2:1-13 Click here for Bible Verses<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 2:1-13.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0\u00a0In chapter 1, Job passed his first test with flying colours.\u00a0\u00a0Now a second test is coming.\u00a0\u00a0God continues to boast of Job\u2019s steadfast faith in Him, while Satan believes that if Job\u2019s own health is taken away, Job will turn away from God and curse Him.\u00a0\u00a0So, with the Lord\u2019s permission, Satan afflicts Job with painful sores from head to toe all over his body.\u00a0\u00a0The closest thing Job experiences to relief is scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery (v8).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God has a good purpose in allowing sickness.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>Once Jesus and his disciples met a blind man.\u00a0 The disciples asked Jesus, \u201cWho sinned – this blind man or his parents – to cause him to be blind?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cNeither, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life\u201d (John 9:3).\u00a0 Then Jesus would go on to heal the man’s blindness in a most interesting and gradual way.\u00a0 Though sickness is not God\u2019s original plan for us, I believe\u00a0God allows sickness and disease ultimately so that we would learn to trust Him and so that in His time He can display His redeeming, healing, resurrecting work in our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Job 2:9-10 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n9\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0His wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity? Curse God and die!”
\n10\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.<\/p>\n

On verses 9-10:\u00a0\u00a0Keep in mind that Job\u2019s wife had lost just as much as Job.\u00a0\u00a0Her children and their finances were all gone.\u00a0\u00a0At this point Job\u2019s wife thinks there is no more use in believing in God.\u00a0\u00a0She has lost all hope.\u00a0\u00a0In her anger and grief she tells Job to \u201ccurse God and die\u201d (v9).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Job, however, rejects his wife\u2019s suggestion, calling it foolish.\u00a0\u00a0His attitude is one of humility and surrender to God: \u201cShall we accept good from God, and not trouble?\u201d (v10)\u00a0\u00a0Even after losing his children, his health and his wealth, Job refuses to sin against God with his words.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Job and Job\u2019s wife represent two different approaches we can take toward tragedies we face in life.\u00a0\u00a0We can give up hope like Job\u2019s wife, cursing and blaming God.\u00a0\u00a0Or like Job we can surrender to the sovereignty of God, believing that somehow God is writing a greater story with our lives.<\/p>\n

Job\u00a02:11\u00a0(NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n11\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When 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 sympathize with him and comfort him.<\/em><\/p>\n

On verse 11:\u00a0\u00a0Job\u2019s three friends, Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar, hear about Job\u2019s troubles and their initial response is excellent.\u00a0\u00a0Together they decide that they will go to Job, sympathize with him and comfort him.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0If you want to be effective in comforting and sympathizing with people in pain, you need to be intentional about it.\u00a0\u00a0Sadly I\u2019ve seen this way too many times before: a Christian wants to comfort someone in pain, but they don\u2019t know what to do or say, so they do nothing at all.\u00a0 Perhaps they think that by doing nothing they’re somehow being respectful and not making things awkward.\u00a0 But when I do nothing, the message I’m communicating is: “I don’t care”.\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Having been on the giving end and the receiving end of all sorts of attempts to bring comfort, I can tell you this: the worst thing you can do when you hear of a friend in pain is to do nothing and pretend that life just goes on.\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0Even if you\u2019re not sure what to do or say, doing something imperfectly with a genuine heart is almost always better than doing nothing at all.\u00a0\u00a0So go out of your way to show comfort and sympathy.<\/p>\n

Job 2:12-13 (NIV)\u00a0<\/strong>
\n12\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads.
\n13\u00a0<\/sup>\u00a0Then 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.
\n<\/em>
\nOn verses 12-13:\u00a0\u00a0Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar genuinely care for Job, weeping aloud and mourning with him when they see him (v12).\u00a0\u00a0Impressively, they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights, not saying a word out of respect for him.<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0Job\u2019s three friends do an excellent job here of modeling what do you do when a friend is going through such great suffering that there are no words to comfort that person in that moment.\u00a0Sometimes the best thing you can do to comfort someone in pain is to stand with that person, put your arm around them and try to feel their pain<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0Give them the gift of your loving, attentive presence.\u00a0\u00a0Serve them with humility.\u00a0\u00a0Keep your words to a minimum.\u00a0\u00a0Let your actions speak louder than your words.\u00a0\u00a0When you do these things, you\u2019re weeping with those who weep (Romans\u00a012:15).<\/p>\n

Heavenly Father, You are the greatest comforter and healer.\u00a0\u00a0I pray that like You I would be intentional and thoughtful in the way I comfort others.\u00a0\u00a0When there are no words, I pray that I would use my presence and my service to do the comforting.\u00a0\u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name, AMEN!<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hi GAMErs,<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s passage is Job 2:1-13.\u00a0\u00a0Let\u2019s go!<\/p>\n

On verses 1-8:\u00a0\u00a0In chapter 1, Job passed his first test with flying colours.\u00a0\u00a0Now a second test is coming.\u00a0\u00a0God continues to boast of Job\u2019s steadfast faith in Him, while Satan believes that if Job\u2019s own health is taken away, Job will turn away from God and curse Him.\u00a0\u00a0So, with the Lord\u2019s permission, Satan afflicts Job with painful sores from head to toe all over his body.\u00a0\u00a0The closest thing Job experiences to relief is scraping himself with a piece of broken pottery (v8).<\/p>\n

What can we learn from this?\u00a0\u00a0God has a good purpose in allowing sickness.\u00a0\u00a0Once Jesus and his disciples met a blind man.\u00a0 The disciples asked Jesus, \u201cWho sinned – this blind man or his parents – to cause him to be blind?\u201d\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cNeither, but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life\u201d (John 9:3).\u00a0 Then Jesus would go on to heal the man’s blindness in a most interesting and gradual way.\u00a0 Though sickness is not God\u2019s original plan for us, I believe\u00a0God allows sickness and disease ultimately so that we would learn to trust Him and so that in His time He can display His redeeming, healing, resurrecting work in our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gametime-sharing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6976","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6976"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6976\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6979,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6976\/revisions\/6979"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6976"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6976"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ocbf.ca\/2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6976"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}