Ministering to Those Who Are Hurting

by Diane Fenlason (Niece of Lois)
Used by permission

 

 This year, I am reading through the Bible chronologically. I also decided to get a journaling Bible (found one on sale at the Christian bookstore last month - YAY!). I'm not an artist, but I love the idea of being able to make notes and highlight specific things I want to remember as I go along.

Reading in Job, there are a few things that jumped out at me this time through; things that I didn't really latch onto before. For instance, we all know that Job's three "friends" are really accusatory toward Job, and we don't like them. We don't like those kind of people in our own lives! 

BUT.....if you pay attention to Job 2:11-13, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar really seemed like they had the best intentions of "being there" for their good friend! 

They had to coordinate the trip, since they all lived in different locations. They were approaching Job's home, and when they saw him from a distance, it broke their hearts! When they finally got to him, they just SAT with him for seven days and seven nights! So...how many of us would do that for a friend? They were just coming along side of him and BEING THERE. When Job finally started sharing from his heart, and was letting his friends know how he was struggling, they just couldn't keep their mouths shut. It's like they couldn't take the pain, so they wanted a fix for it. The problem is, in the process, they completely overlooked God's sovereignty in the situation and made the assumption that they knew God's purpose in allowing Job to suffer.

Here's the scary thing: I easily condemn those three men for how they treated Job and were so judgmental. But, how often do we do the very same thing? It is a gross failure in the art of compassion. We aren't called to judge someone's suffering. We are called to show compassion and lovingly .... LOVINGLY .... speak the truth to them while just BEING there for them, realizing that we don't need to have the answers, but gently pointing them to the One who does! 

We can have the grandest of intentions to minister to someone who is hurting. But let's prayerfully come alongside and not ruin that ministry by trying to act like we need to have the answers for that person.