Job 19:1-29
19:1-6 Job's "friends" used his tribulation as an opportunity to exalt themselves. Their statements were made from self-righteous standpoints and it grated on Job. It was almost as if they delighted to see their formerly-close-to-perfect friend descend so low. God commanded us to love our neighbor, not love to see our neighbor fail. He did not call us to compare ourselves to our neighbor or judge our neighbor but that is exactly what these men did to Job.
We all fall short of the glory of God but Job was a good man and his friends behaved otherwise. They condemned him as if he were a cruel or corrupt person.
19:7-12 Job so misunderstood his circumstance that he believed himself to be an enemy of God. Many people, when in the midst of difficultly, feel the same. But God had purpose and great love for Job; He had a recuse plan for Job and He has one for each of us as well.
19:13-20 Job had nobody. His only tether to life was his relationship with God, and even though even that was not in a great place (on Job's end) he clung to it. God was his lifeline.
19:21-22 The thing Job most wanted from the people around him was a little empathy. He needed for the people around him to stop inaccurately analyzing his problems and just comfort him. He wanted support not condemnation.
19:23-29 Ultimately, even though it was a difficult outcome to believe in, Job knew that he would persevere by God's hand. Job knew that even in death, He would see God and also His precise judgement over the wicked. As children of God, it is such a valuable truth to hold onto: that we will see God in and after our lives on earth.
