With Friends Like These... Series

Job is one of the most unique stories you’ll hear – not just inside the Bible but anywhere. It’s the story of man named Job, a man whose character was tremendously strong but suffered exceedingly. But one day Satan says to God, “The reason Job follows you is you’re so good to him. Stop blessing him and he’ll turn away from you in a heartbeat.” Job is a book about the pain we experience in life. It’s a book about the loss of children, the family with autistic children, and the wife and mother who is diagnosed with a terminal disease. We find his life and his book endlessly interesting because he asks God the question we all want to ask – “Why?” But the “why” question is always closely related to another question for people who are hurting and that’s the “How” question. How will get through this? And of the ways, God has helped us to command and encourage us to love one another and to help each other through pain and hurt.

At the center of our story is a man named Job – a very good man. He was as pure as the driven snow. There were no skeletons in his closet. The IRS could not find one thing wrong with his tax returns. The local sheriff couldn’t find even one blemish on his character. They asked Job’s pastor and his high school teacher and everyone agreed Job was an exceedingly good man. But this very good man experiences tremendous suffering in his life – his children die, he loses his wealth, and he’s near the point of death. Hearing about their friend Job, three of his closest friends show up: Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. As you’re going to see in the moments to come, if Job and his three friends were alive today, Job would surely “unfriend” these three from his Facebook profile. But Job wasn’t on social media discussing his problems. Instead, Job was in the same room with these three men and as much as he wouldn’t have wanted to, he couldn’t get away from them.

For the next few minutes, I want to speak to you about how to care for one another we hard times come. Along the way, the book of Job is really a challenge or a test of God’s ways in this world. One atheist recently said this in a debate: “I think God, if he, she or it exists, should be ashamed of him, her, or itself. For the last couple of thousand years it has caused us nothing but trouble.… I do not respect the Judeo-Christian God because I regard him, or her, or it, as a brute who has created great cruelty and great horror in this world, if he, or she, in fact exists.…” Many question, “Is God right, just, or fair for acting the way He does?”

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1. What They Did Right

2. What They Said Wrong

3. What You Should Do

1. What They Did Right

“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” (Job 2:11–13).

1.1 They Showed Up

When their friend was sick, they showed up. Good friends do this – they show up when life goes bad. 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” (Job 2:11). Evidently, a lot of Job’s friends turned against him during this time (Job 19:14-19). His relatives stopped returning his calls (Job 19:14). His wife refused him and his brothers and sisters ran from him (Job 19:17). Not only did these three show up, they spent seven days with him. Now, it’s true that eventually Job wishes these three men would have ran from him just as family and wife did… … but, nevertheless, they came!

1.2 They Spoke Up

They Spoke to Him and Not About Him They could have talked about him behind his back, instead, they showed up and spoke directly to him. They cared enough about their friend to tell him what he didn’t want to hear. No doubt, they talked together about Job before they showed up. Somehow they communicated with one another (Job 2:11) and there was a team strategy meeting of some sorts. They were all on the same page as they arrived. So the three men compared notes and came to the same conclusion.