Job 6:17-30: a reflection

17In the dry season, they vanish. When it is hot, they are consumed out of their place. 18The caravans that travel beside them turn away. They go up into the waste, and perish. 19The caravans of Tema looked. The companies of Sheba waited for them. 20They were distressed because they were confident. They came there, and were confounded. 21For now you are nothing. You see a terror, and are afraid. 22Did I ever say, ‘Give to me’? or, ‘Offer a present for me from your substance’? 23or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’? or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors’? 24“Teach me, and I will hold my peace. Cause me to understand my error. 25How forcible are words of uprightness! But your reproof, what does it reprove? 26Do you intend to reprove words, since the speeches of one who is desperate are as wind? 27Yes, you would even cast lots for the fatherless, and make merchandise of your friend. 28Now therefore be pleased to look at me, for surely I will not lie to your face. 29Please return. Let there be no injustice. Yes, return again. My cause is righteous. 30Is there injustice on my tongue? Can’t my taste discern mischievous things?

Job, suffering and longing for comfort from his friends, likens them to a disappointment he knows well: seasonal streams in the desert that flow in the cool season but dry up in the heat, just when travelers, parched and desperate, come looking for water. The caravans turn aside to them and find nothing, and perish. So his friends, he says, have failed him: when he most needed their comfort, they offered only accusation. And he pleads to be heard: teach me, and I will be silent; show me where I have erred.

Notice the image Job uses for friends who fail: a dried-up desert stream. A stream that flows when water is not needed but dries up in the heat, when the thirsty traveler most needs it, is worse than useless; it raises hope only to disappoint. So Job felt about his friends: when he most needed their comfort and understanding, they offered only accusation, failing him in his time of deepest need. And beneath his complaint is a longing to be heard, not condemned: teach me, show me, but do not just accuse.

That disappointment, of friends who fail us when we most need them, is one many know; and Job's longing to be heard rather than accused is one we can share. When we suffer, we long for friends who will comfort and hear us; and it is a bitter thing when, like a dried-up stream, they fail us just when we most need them, offering accusation instead of comfort. Let Job's disappointment teach you two things. First, to be, for others, a friend who does not fail in their time of need, who offers comfort and a listening ear rather than accusation when they suffer. And second, when others fail you as Job's friends failed him, to bring your longing to be heard to God, who never fails, and who hears the suffering that others will not. Be a friend who does not dry up in another's time of need; and when human friends fail you, turn to the God who always hears.

Lord, Job, suffering and longing for comfort, likened his friends to seasonal streams that dry up in the heat, just when parched travelers most need water; when he most needed their comfort, they offered only accusation, and he pleaded to be heard, teach me, show me where I have erred. Let his disappointment teach me two things. First, to be, for others, a friend who does not fail in their time of need, who offers comfort and a listening ear rather than accusation when they suffer; keep me from being like a dried-up stream that fails others just when they most need me. And second, when others fail me as Job's friends failed him, help me bring my longing to be heard to you, who never fail, and who hear the suffering that others will not. When I suffer, I long for friends who will comfort and hear me; and it is a bitter thing when they fail me just when I most need them. Help me be a friend who does not dry up in another's time of need; and when human friends fail me, help me turn to you, Lord, who always hear the suffering that others will not. You never fail; be my comfort when others do.