Job 6:1-30
6:1-3 Job was weighed down by emotional suffering. Suffice to say that Job's friends were unsuccessful in assuaging his pain and interpreting the reason behind his suffering. How could they have been successful, especially on the latter? God is our comfort but He is also the only one who knows us and our situation completely.
6:4 He felt attacked by God: "the arrows of the almighty are within me...". Job neglected to remember that God does not harm His children. God disciplines, surely, when behavioral correction is needed. He disciplines to make us stronger, braver, more emotionally and spiritually intelligent, but he does not harm His children. He does not shoot arrows.
In his moments of soul deep despair, it would have been prudent and a balm for Job to remember that God was always on His side. You cannot shoot an arrow at someone you are next to. And God is with us, within us, we are within Him and remembering that can assuage our grief like no other.
6:5-7 Job used the example of flavorless food to describe how empty and bland Eliphaz's words had been. They were not a comfort and they did not provide any answers, and truths to Job about his situation.
6:8-10 He still wanted to die. It's difficult not to sympathize with Job; his life changed tragically and reduced to very little. But what benefit did his lamentation bring to him? His cry for death was unproductive, especially where his spirituality is concerned. We cannot blame Job or accuse him, his reaction was normal, expected.
Yet if Job had remembered that God is always in control, it would have lightened the weight of his grief. He would have remembered that his family was safe with God. He would have remembered that his home and property were replaceable and would be replaced by God in due time. He might even have recognized his situation as an opportunity to solidify his faith and lean ever more heavily on His God.
6:11-17 Extremely displeased with his friends' version of "counsel," Job ranted. He accused their words (though only one friend had spoken at this point) as being empty. He accused them of being afraid of his situation rubbing off on them. He felt they had accused him rather than comforted him.
From Job's reaction, we learn that we cannot comfort someone by accusing them of sin. Even if they person has sinned (and Job had not) it is not an effective form of communication, especially not to a person who's emotions are compromised.
2 Timothy 2:24-26
And a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient, in humility correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance, so that they may know the truth, and that they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will.
6:18-23 Ultimately, Job's friends' advice and opinion was useless to Job (like paths that go nowhere and vanish). If Job was looking for a clear path, he had one in faith. He only had to choose to walk it. God gave us scripture, Jesus and the holy spirit as instruction, example, and support. Faith is the path and it leads directly to God.
God repeatedly tells us to be strong, to be brave, to love others, and to trust Him. That is how we navigate!
6:24-30 Job promised his friends that he would be a conscientious listener if they had anything helpful, truthful to say. He wanted to make a point clear to them: he was not rejecting their opinion because it was painful or hard to accept, he rejected it because it was false. He wanted answers and was fully prepared to receive them, but they had none to give.
He was actually furious with his friends. He felt their opinion was not only false but cruel. He hated that they did not listen or believe what he had to say. There is truly no need to take our anger out on our friends, even if their advice is horrible and they do not understand our plight. Bring your fear, doubt, pain, confusion, question, comment and everything else to God.
It is in God's presence that we find the comfort and answers we need. God gives us the relief and understanding we passionately, perhaps desperately, seek.
It can be difficult to read the book of Job; much of Job's story is bleak. But throughout it we must be aware of the ways his despair was deepened by moments he neglected to trust God. Job stopped representing his faith by his behavior and it extended his suffering much longer than it needed to be.
Still: Job continued to respect God. Job continued to acknowledge God as the almighty power and creator. Job refused to curse God. He retained his faith in God, he just stopped utilizing its power.
