Friends?.....comforting?.....

 Friendships?....comforting?....

I Am so glad I have good friends in many places...

A friend loves at all times,......

....but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.

Proverbs 17:17a,18:24b

Job has lost most everything...he still has his life and wife.....God...health is poor....riches, children have been taken...he is depressed...( I don’t blame him)....and his friends come to “comfort” him...for days they sit in silence, which is okay...then they  open their mouths-not so good...

With friends like these, who needs an enemy....

His comments to his “friends”....

-You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you! If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom. Your maxims are proverbs of ashes; your defenses are defenses of clay.

Job 13:4-5,12 

-“I have heard many things like these; you are miserable comforters, all of you! 

Will your long-winded speeches never end? 

What ails you that you keep on arguing? 

I also could speak like you, if you were in my place; I could make fine speeches against you and shake my head at you. 

But my mouth would encourage you; comfort from my lips would bring you relief.

Job 16:2-5 

-“How long will you torment me and crush me with words? 

Ten times now you have reproached me; shamelessly you attack me.

Job 19:2-3

My relatives have gone away; my closest friends have forgotten me. 

All my intimate friends detest me; those I love have turned against me. “Have pity on me, my friends, have pity, for the hand of God has struck me. 

Why do you pursue me as God does? 

Will you never get enough of my flesh?

Job 19:14,19,21-22 

“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?

Job 38:2 

God speaks to his friends...

-After the Lord had said these things to Job, he said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So now take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and sacrifice a burnt offering for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and I will accept his prayer and not deal with you according to your folly. You have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has.” So Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite did what the Lord told them; and the Lord accepted Job’s prayer.

Job 42:7-9 

A few of Job’s truths...

You gave me life and showed me kindness, and in your providence watched over my spirit. 

Job 10:12

In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind. Does not the ear test words as the tongue tastes food? Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? 

“To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his. What he tears down cannot be rebuilt; those he imprisons cannot be released. If he holds back the waters, there is drought; if he lets them loose, they devastate the land. 

 ,unto him belong strength and insight; both deceived and deceiver are his.

Job 12:10-16 

I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth.

Job 19:25

But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold. My feet have closely followed his steps; I have kept to his way without turning aside. I have not departed from the commands of his lips; I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my daily bread. “But he stands alone, and who can oppose him? He does whatever he pleases.

Job 23:10-13 

Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. “You said, ‘Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.’ My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes.”

Job 42:1-6 

Thank YOU that you are the Friend that I need, a true comforter...

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Psalm 23:4 

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

2 Corinthians 1:3-4