“A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.”
~ Job 6:14
Hi James and Ellen,
Do you ever have a day when nothing seems to go right? A day when nothing seems to go right is sometimes called getting up on the wrong side of the bed. Have you ever felt like you have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed? You will have days when you will feel like you have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. There may come a day when a book that you need to take to school cannot be found, your ma sends with the lunch that you are taking to school something that you have asked her not to put in your school lunch, your teacher becomes upset with you for having done something that another kid did – like the kid talked in class to another kid when he or she should have been studying, a friend invited you over to play but your ma and/or dad will not let you go over to his house all because you could not find the book that you needed to take to school, because you did not eat what you asked your ma not to be in your school lunch and because your teacher sent a note home with you from school telling your dad and ma that you talked to one of your classmates without her permission. Every guy, gal and kid has days when they feel like they have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed. Every guy, gal and kid will have days when they feel like no one cares about them. Every guy, gal and kid will have days when they feel like no one listens to them. Every guy, gal and kid will have days when they feel like they do not have any reason to live any longer. Job is someone who could say he got up one morning on the wrong side of his bed. Some guys think that Job lived during the timeframe that Abraham lived while other guys think that Job lived sometime between King Solomon’s reign to when God’s specially chosen guys, gals and kids who were living in Judah’s land area were carried away by the Babylonian army as captive slaves. It really is not that important to know when Job lived; what is important to know is that Job had some very bad days. Job’s really bad days began after Job got married, had kids, got rich and made friends. Job’s bad days began with his kids being killed by enemies, having his animals rustled and suffering from his body being covered with sores resulting in some so-called friends telling him that it is his fault that all this has happened to him. Job – in Job 6, even though he is not disagreeing with his self-styled friend – Eliphaz, who is telling him that all these bad things that have happened to him have happened because he has turned his back on God, Job knows that he has not turned against God and that God is still on his side.
Why do you think that God sometimes allowed His especially chosen guys – like Job, to have bad days? Your grandpaa knows God is always teaching him to trust in Him. A guy, gal or kid has no reason to trust in God when he or she is having good days. God allows a fallen angel called Satan or Lucifer to cause guys, gals and kids to have bad days. God allowed Lucifer to cause Job to have really bad days. God allowed Lucifer to do whatever he wanted to do – except to kill Job, to get Job to say that he no longer believes that God will help him. God allowed Lucifer to have Job’s kids murdered, have Job’s animals stolen and have Job physically suffer and then have Job’s wannabe friends tell Job that it is his fault that . . . Job accepted his kids being killed, his animals being stolen and his body being covered with sores but Job has trouble accepting his friend’s inferences that it is his fault for the bad days that he was having. Your grandpaa hopes that the friends that you will make will listen to you when you have a day when you feel like you have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed instead of telling you that you must have sinned. Your grandpaa has had bad days. When your grandpaa became the Bolivia field missionary team leader, your grandpaa had to work with the mission’s flying program – which is called SAMAir, that wanted to remain totally autonomous while wanting to have a say in all the decisions that the rest of the field team missionaries made. Your grandpaa scheduled a meeting one evening with the South American Mission (SAM) General Director, with the United States director of the flying program, with the flying program director in Bolivia and with the three Bolivia SAM field committee members. When your grandpaa asked SAM’s General Director before the meeting began if your grandmaa could also be in this meeting, SAM’s General Director told your grandpaa that your grandmaa could not be in the meeting. Just as the meeting began, the wife of SAMAir’s director in Bolivia walked into the meeting. The wife of SAMAir’s director in Bolivia was who criticized your grandpaa the most. It was really hard for your grandpaa not to show how mad that got during the meeting. Not long before this meeting, the director of SAMAir in Bolivia and his wife had come to your grandpaa’s office to talk. Benny had just spent several days flying a tribe of Yuqui Indians who had been recently contacted to an established settlement of Yuqui Indians. Benny had returned home needing to download on flying scared Yuqui Indians. Dori had promised a good friend of your grandpaa that she would teach something that same evening in his church. Dori thought that it was more important that she go to your grandpaa’s pastor friend’s church than staying home to listen to her husband – who was really looking forward to spending time talking with her. Benny asked your grandpaa what your grandpaa thought Dori should have done. Your grandpaa told Dori that she should have stayed home with Benny as your grandpaa knew that his pastor friend would understand. Benny then sided with Dori when she became very angry with your grandpaa.
Who to Job would be a real friend? Job says in verse 14 “A despairing man should have the devotion of his friends, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” Just listening is the greatest attribute of a good friend.
Job 6 (126)