I've been enjoying my time alone with Holy Spirit a lot this week. And this morning was no exception. He graciously brought something to mind that gave me peace about some conversations we've had in the recent past and more importantly, I think He was giving me some assurance for the near future.
I was processing through some conversations Dale and I have had over the last couple of weeks and something he said in one of them about the "friends of Job". I know I've used this phrase before to describe someone when they have tried to heap on guilt or blame me somehow for the circumstances we are in. Like somehow, we were personally responsible for an entire nation being plunged into a deep recession or the housing market taking a nose-dive all over the country.
Since a "friend of Job" is someone you consider a friend...yeah, it hurts when this happens. It makes you doubt, mistrust, fear intimacy and authenticity with others. And in many ways, it contributes to one of the biggest "tests" you could ever dream of going through...it's that emotionally toxic.
And just like that it hit me! Possibly the biggest test Job went through that is recorded in the book of the Bible named after him is not when satan accuses Job of only serving God because God has blessed him and so God allows satan to take away everything...yes, everything...his home, his children (ALL of them), his livelihood and possessions. The biggest test isn't when satan accuses Job before God a second time saying essentially, 'Well of course he still serves You...he's still healthy!' And so God allows satan to strike Job's body with painful, oozing boils from head to toe. Through all of this Job continues to praise God and serve Him in his heart.
No, I believe Job's biggest trial just may have been when his friends showed up. Now, don't get me wrong...these are apparently close, loving, maybe even righteous friends. They also wear sackcloth and heap ashes on their heads as an act of solidarity in grief with Job. They sit in this manner with him for seven days...not even uttering a word.
Then for some reason, unbeknown to us...one of them speaks. Ugh!
I haven't done a detailed study of Job, but my understanding is that they don't speak to give comfort, but each one...in turn, accuses Job that he just must have done something wrong in order to receive such punishment from God. Over and Over and Over again, Job defends himself and proclaims his innocence to his friends. But does this shut them up...no!
Now maybe you've already realized this...but it was literally an epiphany to me. After all, while losing everything and being plagued with boils from head to foot is absolutely awful...the author of Job only takes two chapters to describe all that happens to him physically. The third chapter of the book is Job's lament...a lament that curses the day of his birth.
But the next THIRTY-FOUR chapters are Job's friends attacking his character and accusing him of some guilt he MUST be hiding ("after all, nothing this bad happens to the innocent," is their way of thinking!) and Job refutes them throughout. Have you ever wondered why it only takes two chapters to describe the physical distress and pain and thirty-four to describe the emotional, mental and spiritual pain? Because those obviously run deeper, don't they?
Interestingly enough, we don't know whether satan had to stand before God accusing Job in order to get the ball rolling on this last attack. Maybe satan didn't have to...someone else in their self-righteousness was more than willing to take on the role of Accuser in satan's place. Sad isn't it?
Now, while I by no means equate our experience with the level of destruction that Job underwent, I also acknowledge that I am in no way as righteous as he was either. But I DO know that Scripture teaches us there is an Accuser that stands before God condemning us day and night. Our brother, Jesus, pleads our case on the other side of the aisle...extending to us divine mercy because of the sacrifice He made with His life for us. We are also taught that "our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places." (Ephesians 6:12)
But I'm afraid sometimes we step into the role of that Accuser. When someone's life is in the toilet, their husband or wife leaves, their child turns to a life of wretched sin...do we not in our hearts, our minds or even with our tongues do the same thing as Job's friends? "It must be their own fault;" "She must have neglected him and his needs in favor of the kids;" "He seemed to be a miserable person to live with;" "They must not have raised them right!" Yikes!
Don't we all stand guilty at some time of thinking or saying one of these? Just last summer I wanted to meet with a recently separated mom to tell her about the ideas of service Dale and I were receiving from the Holy Spirit for single moms...but before we could meet, she had to clarify that I wasn't going to lecture her on how to save her marriage. While nothing of the kind had ever entered my mind, I was grieved that she'd obviously had that experience and needed to be on guard with whom she could have a conversation.
Oh God! Forgive us for usurping You as Judge, Jury and Executioner.
How does my epiphany challenge me? My prayer is the next time I see someone going through a tough time...financially, emotionally, spiritually, or relationally that I stop and remember Job's friends. I pray Holy Spirit reminds me to intercede on their behalf because they may be so distraught that they can't pray for themselves. Most sincerely, I hope I have enough experience with tragedy to remember that no one is ever entirely at fault...we all have upbringings, backgrounds, histories, environments over which we never had any choice.
I once said, "I think satan is just such a masterful deceiver. He somehow coaxes us into believing that we have control over our lives when there really is very little over which we have control." Chew on that and allow the gracious gift of love from Jesus to pour ALL over your heart, your mind and your life...and maybe, one day someone will say, "Those friends of ____________ are the kind of friends that live out God's love on earth...the kind of friends I want!"
Isn't that the kind of friend we all want? Then that's the kind of friend we need to be!
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