A congregational study of the Book of Job. By Pastor Jose Luis
Session Twelve. Read Job Chapter 16-17.
Job´s answer to the words of his friends is radical. Job answered 16, 2-3:
“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all.
Have windy words no limit? Or what provokes you that you keep on talking?
Job´s lament is suddenly transformed into a criticism of the approach of his friends to his suffering. His friends are not real friends, they do not show compassion, they are “miserable comforters.” His friends “scorn him” 16, 20.
Facing the reality of the total lack of sympathy from his friends, Job proclaims 17, 1:
“My spirit is broken, my days are extinct, the grave is ready for me.”
Job feels abandoned and completely empty. He is physically exhausted, and spiritually and emotionally broken. He has lost any hope of understanding from his friends, and his faith is reaching his limits 16, 7, 9 & 11 declaring that maybe God hates him, and he doesn’t know why:
“Surely now God has worn me out; he has made desolate all my company. He has torn me in his wrath and hated me; he has gnashed his teeth at me; God gives me up to the ungodly, and casts me into the hands of the wicked.”
Job speech ends with some questions 17, 15:
where then is my hope? Who will see my hope?
How do you confront the unfairness and lack of sympathy showed by people that you trusted in your moments of deep personal crisis? How do you answer Job´s last question: Where is your hope?
Tell me your impressions. pastor@lcostampa.org