Spend time in prayer and silence with God asking Him to meet with you and speak to you.
Bible Reading
When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.
– Job 2:11-13
Devotion
Job’s friends came to mourn with him during his darkest days. While it is true that, as we will see later, Job suffered even more at the hands of these friends, it is important to recognize they all shared similar ideas about God’s character and believed that suffering must be caused by one’s own sin. The fact that they came to mourn with Job is admirable. They sat in silence with him for seven days and nights, sharing in his misery and showing their concern for him. True friendship almost invariably demonstrates itself more perfectly in action than by speech.
The Big Question
How have people attempted to console you during a time of suffering? Have you ever experienced a time when friends came just to mourn with you without trying to “cheer you up”? How did this make you feel? How do you console others in their suffering? How can you discern when to speak and when to be silent?
Conclude your time in prayer and silence reflecting on what you have learned.