Job 6:14-21

¹⁴ “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend
    forsakes the fear of the Almighty.
¹⁵ But my brothers are as undependable as intermittent streams,
    as the streams that overflow
¹⁶ when darkened by thawing ice
    and swollen with melting snow,
¹⁷ but that stop flowing in the dry season,
    and in the heat vanish from their channels.
¹⁸ Caravans turn aside from their routes;
    they go off into the wasteland and perish.
¹⁹ The caravans of Tema look for water,
    the traveling merchants of Sheba look in hope.
²⁰ They are distressed, because they had been confident;
    they arrive there, only to be disappointed.
²¹ Now you too have proved to be of no help;
    you see something dreadful and are afraid.

From Background Notes [BN] for November 9^th & 10^th  written by Pastor Bob Brown:

That last statement is especially insightful: “You see my calamity and are afraid.” Job’s friends thought they had figured everything out (“they were confident”) until Job’s life went up for grabs, and then they were confused and became afraid. Rather than admit to Job that they didn’t have all the answers, they go into denial about his pain and try to figure out why he suffers. They reach for a stock response: he suffers because he sinned, they conclude. They assume their job for Job is to uncover his sin. Unfortunately, they seem less able to come alongside their grieving friend and give him support. Maybe what they see happening to him raises the possibility that it could happen to them, and so their explanations look more like denials than like truth. [BN,3]

Join us this week in Study, Worship, Praise and Celebration at Chicago First Church of the Nazarene:

* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 8:30am & 11:00am