Christianity Oasis Forum

[cimi]

April 28
Monday



THE GREATEST
GIFT

READ:
Job 2
______________________________

They sat down with him
on the ground seven
days and seven nights,
and no one spoke a
word to him.
__Job 2:13
_______________________________

We rightly disparage Job's three friends for their insensitive response to his suffering. Yet when they came, they sat in silence beside Job for 7 days before speaking. As it turned out, those were the most eloquent moments they spent with him.

Instinctively, I shrink back from people who are in pain. Who can know whether they want to talk about their predicament or not? Do they want to be consoled, or cheered up? what good can my presence possibly do?

Tony Campolo tells of going to a funeral. By mistake he ended up in the wrong parlor. It held the body of an elderly man, and his widow was the only mourner present. She seemed so lonely that Campolo decided to stay for the funeral. He even drove with her to the cemetery.

At the conclusion of the graveside service, Campolo finally confessed that he had not known her husband. "I thought as much," said the widow. "But it doesn't really matter. You'll-never, ever, know what this means to me."

Most often those who suffer remember the quiet, unassuming person. Someone who was there when needed, who listened, who didn't keep glancing at a watch, who hugged, touched, and cried. In short, someone who was available and came on the sufferer's terms, not their own. __Philip Yancey
_____________________________________________________________

```````````````In our shattered times, anguish relents``````````````
```````````````Not at mere idle words spoken in vain,``````````````
````````````````But rather from the silent eloquence```````````````
``````Bestowed by those rare souls who share our pain. __Evans``````
_____________________________________________________________

Often, the best comfort is just being there.

******************Today's Bible Reading __ Job 2*****************

1 Again there was a day
when the sons of God came
to present themselves before
the LORD, and Satan came
also among them to present
himself before the LORD.

2 And the LORD said to
Satan, "From where do you
come?"

Satan answered the LORD
and said, "From going to
and fro on the earth, and
from walking back and forth
on it."

3 Then 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,
one who fears God and
shuns evil? and still he
holds fast to his integrity,
although you incited Me
against him, to destroy him
without cause."

4 So Satan answered the
LORD and said, "Skin for
skin! Yes, all that a man has
he will give for his life.

5 But stretch out Your hand
now, and touch his bone and
his flesh, and he will surely
curse You to Your face!"

6 And the LORD said to
Satan, "Behold, he is in your
hand, but spare his life."

7 So satan went out from
the presence of the LORD,
and struck Job with painful
boils from the sole of his
foot to the crown of his
head....

11 Now when Job's three
friends heard of all this
adversity that had come
upon him, each one came
from his own place--
Eliphaz the Temanite,
Bildad the Shuhite, and
Zophar the Naamathite. For
they had made an
appointment together to
come and mourn with him,
and to comfort him. 12 and
when they raised their eyes
from afar, and did not
recognize him, they lifted
their voices and wept....

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