Job 6:1-16: a reflection

1Then Job answered, 2“Oh that my anguish were weighed, and all my calamity laid in the balances! 3For now it would be heavier than the sand of the seas, therefore my words have been rash. 4For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. My spirit drinks up their poison. The terrors of God set themselves in array against me. 5Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder? 6Can that which has no flavor be eaten without salt? Or is there any taste in the white of an egg? 7My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me. 8“Oh that I might have my request, that God would grant the thing that I long for, 9even that it would please God to crush me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off! 10Let it still be my consolation, yes, let me exult in pain that doesn’t spare, that I have not denied the words of the Holy One. 11What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient? 12Is my strength the strength of stones? Or is my flesh of bronze? 13Isn’t it that I have no help in me, that wisdom is driven away from me? 14“To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend; even to him who forsakes the fear of the Almighty. 15My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away; 16which are black by reason of the ice, in which the snow hides itself.

In the depths of his anguish, Job speaks a word about what a suffering person needs from a friend, and how his own friends had failed him. To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend, he says. But his friends had been like a seasonal brook that dries up: My brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away. When Job most needed kindness, in his fainting and despair, his friends failed him, drying up like a stream that runs when it is not needed and vanishes in the heat when it is. The one ready to faint needs kindness from his friend; but Job's friends had dried up when he most needed them.

Notice both the need and the failure: the fainting need kindness, and Job's friends dried up. Job names the duty plainly: to one ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend. The despairing, the fainting, the one at the end of himself, needs the kindness of a friend most of all. But Job's friends had failed him precisely then, like a brook that flows in the wet season when water is plentiful and dries up in the heat when the traveler most needs it. They were friends when Job was well, but dried up in his despair. The failure was to withhold kindness when it was most needed, to dry up like a seasonal brook precisely when the fainting friend most needed the water of kindness.

That is worth taking to heart, for we are called to show kindness to a friend in despair, not to fail them when they most need us. When a friend is fainting, despairing, at the end of themselves, they need our kindness most of all; and we can fail them then, drying up like a seasonal brook, absent or unhelpful precisely when they most need us, as Job's friends failed him. The fainting friend needs kindness, not a friend who dries up. Do not be a friend who dries up when a friend most needs you; show kindness to the fainting and despairing, precisely when they need it most, as Job longed for from his friends. Show kindness to a friend in despair, not failing them like a brook that dries up when they most need you, as Job's friends failed him in his fainting; for the one ready to faint needs the kindness of a friend most of all, and we are called to be present and kind precisely when a friend is at the end of themselves, not to dry up when they most need us.

Lord, in the depths of his anguish, Job speaks a word about what a suffering person needs from a friend, and how his own friends had failed him. To him who is ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend, he says. But his friends had been like a seasonal brook that dries up: my brothers have dealt deceitfully as a brook, as the channel of brooks that pass away. When Job most needed kindness, in his fainting and despair, his friends failed him, drying up like a stream that vanishes in the heat when it is most needed. Show me both the need and the failure: the fainting need kindness, and Job's friends dried up. Job names the duty plainly: to one ready to faint, kindness should be shown from his friend. The despairing, the fainting, the one at the end of himself, needs the kindness of a friend most of all. But Job's friends had failed him precisely then, like a brook that flows when water is plentiful and dries up in the heat when the traveler most needs it. The failure was to withhold kindness when it was most needed. Take that to my heart, for I am called to show kindness to a friend in despair, not to fail them when they most need me. When a friend is fainting, despairing, at the end of themselves, they need my kindness most of all; and I can fail them then, drying up like a seasonal brook, absent precisely when they most need me, as Job's friends failed him. Keep me from being a friend who dries up when a friend most needs me; help me show kindness to the fainting and despairing, Lord, precisely when they need it most, as Job longed for from his friends.