March 5, 2024

How Do You Help Your Friends When They are Grieving?

Job 2

Seth Jackson
Tuesday's Devo

March 5, 2024

Tuesday's Devo

March 5, 2024

Tuesday's Devo

March 5, 2024

Tuesday's Devo

March 5, 2024

Big Book Idea

God is at work even when we can't see it.

Key Verse | Job 2:13

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Job 2

Satan Attacks Job's Health

1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them to present himself before the LORD. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.” 3 And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him to destroy him without reason.” 4 Then Satan answered the LORD and said, “Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. 5 But stretch out your hand and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse you to your face.” 6 And the LORD said to Satan, “Behold, he is in your hand; only spare his life.”

7 So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and struck Job with loathsome sores from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. 8 And he took a piece of broken pottery with which to scrape himself while he sat in the ashes.

9 Then his wife said to him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.” 10 But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” 1 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11 In all this Job did not sin with his lips.

Job's Three Friends

11 Now when Job's three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him. 12 And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven. 13 And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

Footnotes

[1] 2:10 Or disaster; also verse 11
Table of Contents
Introduction to Job

Introduction to Job

Timeline

Author and Date

The unknown Israelite author of this book presents Job as a person living in Uz (see note on 1:1). Job’s godliness (1:1) matches the ideals of Israelite wisdom literature. He clearly knows Yahweh (1:21). The events of the book seem to be set in the times of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob).

Theological Themes

The book of Job concerns itself with the question of faith in a sovereign God. Can God be trusted? Is he good and just in his rule of the world? The book shows that the reasons for human suffering often remain a secret to human beings.

In the book of Job, God seems both too close and too far away. On the one hand, Job complains that God is watching him every moment so that he cannot even swallow his spit (7:19). On the other hand, Job finds God elusive (9:11). Though God is greatly concerned about humans, he does not always answer their most agonizing questions.

At the same time, Job’s friends offer no real help. They come to “comfort” him (2:11), but Job ends up declaring them “miserable comforters” who would console him “with empty nothings” (21:34). These friends represent an oversimplified view of faith. They think that all human troubles are divine punishments for wrongdoing. Their “comfort” consists largely of urging Job to identify his sin and repent of it. These friends are negative examples of how to comfort those who are suffering.

The book illustrates that one does not need to fully understand God’s will in order to be faithful while suffering. Those who suffer need not be afraid to express to God their confusion and questions.

Purpose

The book of Job was written to those who struggle with the question of how God can be good when the world is filled with suffering.

The author does not provide a formal defense of God’s justice. Rather, as Job’s friends offer their inadequate answers, the author shows how their reasoning fails. Then, in chs. 38–41, the Lord speaks in his own defense, bringing Job to fuller understanding (ch. 42).

Even during his suffering and confusion, before God finally speaks, Job can triumphantly declare, “I know that my Redeemer lives” (19:25).

Outline

  1. Prologue: Job’s Character and the Circumstances of His Test (1:1–2:13)
  2. Dialogue: Job, His Suffering, and His Standing before God (3:1–42:6)
    1. Job: despair for the day of his birth (3:1–26)
    2. The friends and Job: can Job be right before God? (4:1–25:6)
      1. First cycle (4:1–14:22)
      2. Second cycle (15:1–21:34)
      3. Third cycle (22:1–25:6)
    3. Job: the power of God, place of wisdom, and path of integrity (26:1–31:40)
    4. Elihu: suffering as a discipline (32:1–37:24)
    5. Challenge: the Lord answers Job (38:1–42:6)
  3. Epilogue: The Vindication, Intercession, and Restoration of Job (42:7–17)
The Global Message of Job

The Global Message of Job

Universal Questions

With its story of one man’s life and suffering, the book of Job raises universal questions. Why do people suffer, especially godly people? Where is God in suffering? Can God be trusted amid suffering? Job’s friends try to answer such questions with superficial and simplistic solutions, eventually earning God’s rebuke (Job 42:7–9).

Ultimately we learn from Job that we can hope steadfastly in our sovereign God. Instead of providing easy answers to hard questions, this incomparably glorious, all-knowing, and almighty God presents to people in all places and in all times the simplest, most powerful, and most universal answer to these questions. God’s answer to human suffering has everything to do with his own infinite goodness and care for his creation.

Suffering in a Fallen World

In the life of Job we see the breadth and depth of human suffering. We see suffering in health (Job 2:7), suffering in the loss of property (1:14–17), and suffering in the tragic death of family members (1:18–19). In Job we also listen in on a discussion in the heavenly courtroom between God and Satan (1:6–12; 2:1–7), in which God delights in the upright life of Job. There we are given a window into the normally invisible reasons for our trials and suffering.

Sin and suffering. Suffering is universal, though the kind of suffering differs from circumstance to circumstance. Sometimes we suffer because of our own sin. There is no such thing as sin without consequences. Sometimes God himself directly chastises his people for their sins. However, Job’s friends are wrong to assume that his suffering is a direct result of disobedience (Job 8:4), and it would likewise be wrong to conclude that all or even most suffering in the world today is divine punishment for specific sins. The speeches of Eliphaz (chs. 4; 5; 15; 22), Bildad (chs. 8; 18; 25), and Zophar (chs. 11; 20) reflect such wrong assumptions.

Common suffering. Another type of suffering is what we might call “common suffering.” This is suffering that affects all people without distinction. It is simply the result of living in a fallen world. It includes health problems from colds to cancer. It includes bad weather, earthquakes, and typhoons. It includes financial struggles, and even death itself. Each tragic incident in Job’s life includes an element of this common suffering.

Godliness and suffering. Not only are godly people afflicted with suffering just as others are, but the godly experience some kinds of suffering due specifically to their godliness (Matt. 10:24–33; Acts 14:22; 2 Tim. 3:12). Faithfulness to Christ will bring insult and at times persecution—suffering that could be avoided if we were not disciples of Christ. We see this principle in Job, for it was precisely Job’s uprightness that prompted God to single him out to Satan and then led Satan to seek to afflict him (Job 1:8–12).

Devastating suffering. Job’s suffering is uniquely profound and painful. Some suffering, we learn, defies any category. We discover in Job that Satan has a hand in some of the suffering of God’s people (Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7; compare 2 Cor. 12:1–10). But even such demonically instigated suffering is not outside of God’s sovereignty. Nor should our focus be on Satan when we suffer but rather on persisting in steadfast faith amid such God-ordained pain. At the very least a lesson to be learned from Job is that our vision and insight into suffering is severely limited. What is not limited, however, is God’s perfect understanding and sovereign control over every event in our lives. In the “Yahweh speeches” of Job (chs. 38–41), God does not engage Job in the details of his questions and complaints. Rather, God reminds Job that God is God and Job is not. God laid the foundation of the earth (38:4); he is God over the seas (38:8, 16), over the stars (38:31–33), and over every creature (39:1–30; 40:15–41:34).

A Global Message of Comfort and Hope

The almighty, all-good God. Despite its focus on challenges and sufferings, the book of Job speaks a message of great hope to the world. We live in a world longing for comfort and hope, and such hope is found in the sovereign God who sees, who is good, and who is faithful. We are not victims of random fate or uncontrolled circumstances. We are loved faithfully and passionately by a sovereign God who works all things for our good (Rom. 8:28). The suffering global church can take comfort amid suffering, knowing that God is pleased with our faithfulness to him, even as God expressed delight in “my servant Job” (Job 1:6–8; 2:3). James 5:11 reminds us that God will fulfill his good purposes and is indeed compassionate and merciful toward his people.

No neat formulas. Living an upright life of faith in God does not exempt us from suffering. This was the fundamental misunderstanding of Job’s friends (Job 8:6) and the reason that their “comfort” was so “miserable” (16:2). Indeed, in Job and in all of Scripture we see that suffering is a part of the experience of godly people, and that suffering is also a means for our sanctification. Suffering is a blessing as through it we learn that God’s ways and purposes are much greater than we can know (chs. 40–41). His purposes and faithfulness are much greater than the achievement of ease and a comfortable life; the global church must not make an idol out of worldly comfort and earthly abundance.

The sufferings of the Savior. Job confessed faith in the living Redeemer (Job 19:25). That Redeemer would one day come and suffer for us on a cross. Here we have yet another kind of suffering, the atoning sufferings of Christ. He suffered for our salvation, bearing the penalty for our sin. It is also our great privilege to share in his suffering (2 Cor. 1:5; 2 Tim. 1:8; 2:3; 1 Pet. 4:13). These are not the sufferings of health problems or bad weather or the consequences of our own folly. These are sufferings that flow from our union with and loyalty to Christ. There is a global attack on the righteous, but God will continue to provide sufficient grace to his people (2 Cor. 12:9).He will grow both his people and his kingdom through such suffering as it is endured in faith.

Our Intercession and Mission of Hope

Though God’s righteous anger burned against the three friends of Job, their folly was forgiven in response to the righteous intervention of Job’s prayers (Job 42:7–9). What then is the Christian response to those who suffer—and to those who cause suffering?

We are to intercede for the world, both in prayer and in life. We are to “comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1:4). This comfort must find expression in our ministry and service to those in need both where we live as well as around the world—to orphans, widows, and all those who suffer.

This comfort is most gloriously and eternally known as the church ministers the gospel of new hope in Christ to the world—to the lost, to the downtrodden, and even to our enemies (Matt. 5:44). For the greatest suffering in this world is not the loss of property or even family; it is to be lost in sin, without the living Redeemer.

Proverbs Fact #1: Wisdom

Fact: Wisdom

Wisdom is a key term in Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes. The word can mean “skilled at making sound decisions in life.” Proverbs 9:10 states that “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.”

Job Fact #1: Comfort

Fact: Comfort

Comfort is a key word in the book of Job. When faced with personal tragedies, Job receives no comfort from his friends (16:2). But when God answers him (see chs. 38–41), he finds the comfort he needs.

Job Fact #7: Three cycles of conversations

Fact: Three cycles of conversations

The book of Job includes three cycles of conversations in which the friends of Job offer their comfort and advice, and then listen as Job responds. The first cycle covers chs. 4–14.

Job Fact #15: Elihu

Fact: Elihu

Elihu is the only character in the book of Job with a Hebrew name.

Job Fact #2: Seven days and seven nights

Fact: Seven days and seven nights

Seven days and seven nights was a traditional period for mourning in the ancient Near East (2:13).

Job

Job

Job was a wealthy man whom the Bible describes as “blameless and upright” (1:1). When God pointed out Job’s faithfulness, Satan responded that Job feared God only because the Lord had protected and blessed him. To test Job’s integrity, God allowed Satan to take away all of Job’s possessions and his children. In a single day Job lost everything, yet he responded faithfully (1:21). Next God gave Satan permission to attack Job’s health. He struck Job with painful sores (2:7). Job’s wife then urged him to “curse God and die” (2:9). Job’s friends wrongly concluded that his sins caused his suffering, but Job refused to accept this. Instead, Job asked God to explain why he was suffering. God eventually answered Job’s cries, and Job humbly submitted to God’s sovereignty. The Lord then restored Job’s fortune, giving him “twice as much as he had before” (42:10), and blessed him with more children. (Job 19:25)

Study Notes

Job 2:3 The Lord points out to Satan that even after all that has happened to him, Job still holds fast his integrity. His grief, worship, and profession of faith in 1:20–21 are a faithful response to the tragedies.

Study Notes

Job 2:4–5 Skin for skin! All that a man has he will give for his life. Satan is suggesting that Job has remained faithful so far because it cost him only the “skin” of his livestock and family, which he was happy to trade for his own life.

Study Notes

Job 2:1–6 The second glimpse of the heavenly court (Again, v. 1) deliberately echoes the first (compare 1:6–12).

Job 2:6 only spare his life. For Job’s faith to be truly tested, his life must be spared; he must be denied the mercy of death (compare 3:20–23).

Study Notes

Job 2:9 Curse God and die. Job’s wife advises him to respond to his suffering in the very way that Satan was hoping he would respond (see 1:11; 2:5).

Study Notes

Job 2:1–10 Job’s second test is like the first (1:6–22), but includes an attack on his health.

Job 2:10 Job does not presume fully to know his wife’s heart, but he warns her against speaking like one of the foolish women.

Study Notes

Job 2:11 Eliphaz is from Teman, an important city in Edom (Gen. 36:11, 15; Ezek. 25:13; Amos 1:11–12). It was apparently known for its wisdom (Jer. 49:7). Bildad is from Shuah, which was probably in Edom or Arabia. Zophar is from Naamah, which was probably in the Sinai Peninsula or Arabian Desert.

Study Notes

Job 2:12 It is likely that Job’s friends did not recognize him because, in addition to his sores, Job bore other external effects of his grief (see 1:20; 2:7–8).

Study Notes

1:1–2:13 Prologue: Job’s Character and the Circumstances of His Test. The book opens by introducing Job as blameless and upright. He is blessed with family and possessions. His life embodies faith in God both for himself and on behalf of his family (1:1–5). The author then describes conversations between God and Satan as Satan requests permission to test Job’s character by afflicting him (1:6–2:10). The author then describes how Job’s three friends hear of his suffering and come to offer sympathy and comfort (2:11–13). This creates the context for the rest of the book.

Job 2:13 The silence over seven days and seven nights signifies a time of mourning in response to Job’s suffering. Ezekiel exhibited a similar response upon meeting the exiles in Babylon (see Ezek. 3:15).

Job Fact #2: Seven days and seven nights

Fact: Seven days and seven nights

Seven days and seven nights was a traditional period for mourning in the ancient Near East (2:13).

Job

Job

Job was a wealthy man whom the Bible describes as “blameless and upright” (1:1). When God pointed out Job’s faithfulness, Satan responded that Job feared God only because the Lord had protected and blessed him. To test Job’s integrity, God allowed Satan to take away all of Job’s possessions and his children. In a single day Job lost everything, yet he responded faithfully (1:21). Next God gave Satan permission to attack Job’s health. He struck Job with painful sores (2:7). Job’s wife then urged him to “curse God and die” (2:9). Job’s friends wrongly concluded that his sins caused his suffering, but Job refused to accept this. Instead, Job asked God to explain why he was suffering. God eventually answered Job’s cries, and Job humbly submitted to God’s sovereignty. The Lord then restored Job’s fortune, giving him “twice as much as he had before” (42:10), and blessed him with more children. (Job 19:25)

S3:047 Job 2

Listen Now

Dive Deeper | Job 2

In today's passage, we see Job's suffering continue as the Lord allows Satan to affect Job's health. We see that the suffering inflicted upon Job is not from his sin but rather a trial inflicted to produce a purer faith and an opportunity to glorify God. It reminds me of when Jesus healed a blind man and afterward the disciples questioned whose sin had caused the man's blindness. "And his disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?' Jesus answered, 'It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.'" (John 9:2-3) Sometimes, the Lord allows suffering so that we are pointed to His glory.

Today, we get to witness the responses of some of those who are closest to Job as he is going through these trials. When Job's friends heard of his suffering, together they made the decision to go and be there for him in that suffering. When they arrived and saw Job, they immediately began to mourn with him and joined him where he was sitting among the ashes. They didn't tell him everything was going to be okay or try to cheer him up. They didn't immediately try to justify his suffering or offer an explanation. They simply sat with him in silence for seven days.

I don't know about you, but there have been times in my life when I've had a friend suffering and I felt completely helpless and unable to do anything. Words of comfort eluded me, and I couldn't offer a clear answer on why everything was happening in his life. But I was able to say, "I'm here for you for whatever you need, and we can walk through this suffering together." And sometimes, that's all it takes. Just being willing to sit with people who are suffering and let them know they are not alone is the most comforting thing we can do for them.

This month's memory verse

but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

– Romans 5:8

Discussion Questions

1. Is there anything you are going through right now that feels like an unjustified trial? How can you choose to glorify God in spite of or even because of that trial?

2. Think back on a time when you were going through a difficult time. Who were the people around you that supported you? What were some of the things they did to comfort you and help get you through that difficult season?

3. What people in your life are going through difficult times, and how can you be there to support them?

As we gear up to release even more features for Join The Journey in 2025, our staff team, unfortunately, no longer has the margin to continue to support the comment functionality. We have big things in store for Join The Journey 2025. Stay tuned!

GJ

greg jones

Great devotional. This is a very important point that is made: “Sometimes, the Lord allows suffering so that we are pointed to His glory.” In agreement with the deeper dive when it says that point reminds me of John 9:2-3. However, “the suffering inflicted upon Job is…a trial inflicted to produce a purer faith and an opportunity to glorify God” Isn’t what the book of Job says here in chapter two. And the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, who fears God and turns away from evil? He still holds fast his integrity, although you incited me against him [to destroy him without reason].” Job 2:3 Ouch In a mixture of John 9 and Job 1 and 2 if the disciples had a chance to talk to the servant who escaped the house that fell on Job’s children they would have asked “who’s sin caused their death ? Their’s or their father’s? And Jesus would have had to say “neither, God was incited by Satan to kill them without reason”. I don’t see the intention of the book of Job to be about describing what God is like. I see the book of Job refuting a view of God that some had at the time of its writing. The view would have been very similar to the simplified transactional view of punishment for sin, blessing for obedience view the disciples are expressing. In the book of John Jesus doesn’t endorse the disciples view of God. In Job, Job is not going to endorse the view of God that is presented. And personally I find Job to be much deeper when it’s read as a book where the Spirit has inspired authors to describe God’s view of man’s view of God, rather than, God’s revelation of Himself.
MS

Michael Sisson

Re: Job 2:11 Job 2:11 (NASB) Now when Job's three friends heard of all this adversity that had come upon him, they came each one from his own place, >>>Eliphaz the Temanite<<<, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite; and they made an appointment together to come to sympathize with him and comfort him. Believed to be Eliphaz son of Esau (See Gen 36:4). Moreover, Eliphaz was the father of Amalek (See Gen 36:12).
SB

Sue Bohlin

Bless you, Seth. I'm so glad we get to see Job's friends--before they went off the rails--modeling "the ministry of presence." What a difference that makes. I see two things in this chapter that resonate deeply with me. One is that Satan has power to inflict disease on people, consistent with Jesus' assessment of him as coming to "steal, kill and destroy." The other is that he has to submit to the limits God puts on him when he does that. I think of it as a spiritual choke collar. I recently had a follow-up appointment with the surgeon who cut out a third of my tongue and 20 lymph nodes from my neck a year ago. From the moment I learned I had cancer (delivered with incredible tenderness and compassion from Waterrmark's Dr. John Wallace, to whom I will always be indebted for his kindness), I sensed it was spiritual warfare, a direct attack from the enemy. But the Lord has so far kept the choke collar on the enemy, and the cancer has not returned. I am so grateful!
MS

Michael Scaman

Martin Luther would have much to say on this and he could have written the following My dear friends in Christ, Let us gather our hearts and minds as we delve into the depths of God's word. As we turn to the story of Job, we are confronted with the profound mystery of God's sovereignty and providence in suffering. In Job chapter 2 it is God who calls on Job to consider Job. It was not the devil who brought Job up. This is now the second such time where it was God who did that. Just as in the story of Job, we see God's hand at work, not Satan's. It is God who orchestrates the events of our lives, knowing the end from the beginning. And though we may face trials and tribulations, we can trust in His good and perfect plan. Satan was merely speaking in a manner not unlike the voice of fallen man who often says these things regarding good or ill from the hand of the Lord towards His beloved. This was no cosmic bar bet between God and the devil. The devil is merely a two bit player who steps in and out of the house speaking no differnt than voice of men with fallen natures speak and then the stage is set and he is gone. The devil has no power apart what God has sovereignly allows. In seven days of empathetic silence, Jobs friend bear witness to the profound truth that sometimes the greatest comfort we can offer is simply to be present with one another. But let us not forget the promise of the New Covenant . As Jeremiah proclaimed [in Jeremiah 32:40] God will never turn from doing us good. Just as He had a plan beyond what anyone could imagine for Job, so too does He have a plan for each and every one of us. So let us take heart, knowing that our God is sovereign and His plans are for our good. Let us trust in Him, even in the midst of life's trials, knowing that He is always working for our redemption and ultimate joy. May we, like Job, cling to faith in the midst of suffering, knowing that our God is faithful and His love endures forever. Forgive me as I shall belabor to repeat myself. Be it noted that everyone in the Great Story saw this as a work of a Sovereign God and not once brought up Satan after the introduction pages and they were right to do so. Not once did they bring him up again. Job, Job's wife, Job's friends and even the devil say God in control. Though the earth with devils filled one little word shall fell him and that name be Jesus. In Christ, Martin Luther
AL

Amy Lowther

1. No. But, it is important to remember God unconditionally loves each of us no matter what anyone says or does towards us. 2. God, Jesus, and close friends support me through tough times. They are all nice because we talk about life, listen to each other, and consider God’s ideas as we do things. 3. Currently, my dad has huge meetings at work that will possibly continue for another few weeks. He is required to facilitate a bunch of people in presenting company and association values while achieving company and association goals set in March/April 2023. My mom has the job of supporting him through it. I (as their child) can encourage them to see things like God and to do their best like God prefers. Seth - Thank you for sharing your ideas. Thank you for your point of, “Just being willing to sit with people who are suffering and let them know they are not alone is the most comforting thing we can do for them”. The patience and the caring skills people would receive would be priceless.