Job 6-9: One of the most challenging things about going through a hard time is feeling you are all alone. When Job was going through his losses and sickness he expressed those same feelings and he had friends around him. The alone feeling may just be because it is so hard for others to understand or comprehend all you are going through. They want to help, but don’t know how. Then there are other times when friends really aren’t there. Here is how Job put it.

Job 6:21 “For you have now become nothing;
you see my calamity and are afraid.”

Seeing what someone is going through and having fear is a response repeated more than we want to admit. Many times we don’t know what to say so we stay away. Other times we believe we will say the wrong thing and offend so we leave a wide birth. Fear takes on many forms and keeps us from being able to just be there for someone who needs us.

In Job’s case he felt like people stayed away because they feared him asking them for something. He had lost everything and now even his health was affected. They may have thought he would ask for finances or even favors. If he had been sinful they may just not have wanted to be pulled into his downfall.

It is evident Job’s friends did not understand his calamity and those who had at one time respected him now treated him with disdain.

What can we learn from this? When friends are hurting they need you. Don’t allow fear or not understanding keep you away. When friends get sick or have great loss, they need our friendship then as much or more than when things were good. You don’t have to have all of the answers. Sometimes just a prayer for strength is what they need. Don’t feel the need to explain things. Some things just have no explanation. I have often said chocolate fixes many things. Take them brownies or their favorite candy bar and just be with them. It is not about our wisdom, but our presence.

Love them well without fear. “Perfect love casts our fear.” We love others because He first loved us. In these cases. we are given the opportunity to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Don’t miss that blessing.