When Others are Hurting: Part 1 — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

Most of us are aware, I think, when others are upset or hurting over issues in life, you can see it in their faces when they talk to you on the phone or you meet them in person. I’m afraid that’s life, isn’t it? That’s the way it is. Life’s got this habit of dishing up hurtful experiences. No one’s exempt, and sometimes we need friends who are available to listen and care for us.

And I hope you’ve had the support and love of someone when you’ve needed them. And it’s a great tragedy, actually, if we’re all alone without that kind of support. I want to speak today about, someone in the Old Testament, Job. Now, you can read about Job in the, in the book, Book of Job. A very wealthy man, a good living man who worshipped God. But for Job, things started to go terribly wrong. He’d lost his wealth, his children and his health.

You can actually read more about that in Job 1 and 2, and Job was very confused, but more than that, he was very angry at God and in fact cursed the day he was born. He suffered intensely because God actually had allowed Satan to test him, and this is quite an amazing book in the scripture to read if you haven’t read from the book of Job.

Lessons for life on hurting

But we’re also told in Job that he had 3 friends who came to bring help and comfort and advice, and the Bible says in chapter 2, verse 13 of Job that when they came to him, they hardly recognised him. So great was the distress and the physical change, the suffering that had struck poor Job. And we read in chapter 2, verse 13, for 7 days and nights they sat silently on the ground beside him because they realised what terrible pain he was in.

So it was good in one way that Job had these three men to come and support him. But the story didn’t end there. We read of the dialogue that went on between these three, supposedly helpful people. And even though there was nothing said for 7 days, they did launch into a string of critical comments and they started condemning Job for his sin.

In fact, what they were saying – You are suffering, Job, because of your sin.

The well-known psychologist in in the US called Doctor Frank Minirth, he’s highly respected as one of the most eloquent psychologists in the US. He’s written more than 80 books. Well, in one of his books, Doctor Frank Minirth suggests that Job’s friends were talkers. They were not listeners. They may have been eloquent people, but he says they were too directive. They were too fast and legalistic, and they became very dogmatic.

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And so these three didn’t really convey to Job a proper attitude. Why? Well, they did what I think many of us do, if we’re honest, they failed to understand, and they became harsh and they became cruel in their accusation. They really weren’t very good counsellors, and I’m sure that an effective counsellor is someone who is keen to listen and try to understand what it is that you’re saying. Now, as I said, they realised, or they maintain rather Job had sinned.

The question is, what evidence did they have? Well, Job argues with them, with them, and the three councillors become quite indignant. And so this argument became heated, and Job’s friends who came to offer help forgot their original purpose. And I find that very interesting. And for me it reinforces this powerful use of listening to people rather than talking at them or talking down to them. Have you had that experience yourself of a friend, you know, someone who’s well-meaning and quite genuine?

And when they come to see you, what happens is they give you a lecture instead of trying to understand your situation.

Now if you’re an active Christian, listening to me, you will know the importance of helping someone who is hurting. After all, that’s what Jesus did, and he encourages us as his followers to follow that same example. We, we want to help those who are hurting.

But I think there are a few things here we must recognise that caring alone is not enough, and Job’s friends have been, I guess, unfairly castigated for lacking compassion. But I want to take this a bit further tomorrow as we look at the matter here of how to help the hurting.

Let’s pray

Well, dear God, we know that there are many hurting people without hope, no future, nowhere to turn, and I want Lord to be an agent of hope for them, a friend to guide and someone to walk with them. So help me to do that in an effective way. I pray for Jesus’ sake, amen.

When Others are Hurting: Part 2 — Morning Devotions

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