“I have heard many such things, miserable comforters are you all?”
– Job 16:2
What a statement from Job to his friends, his counselors. He says, I’m hearing so many things from you and you are miserable comforters. And in so many ways they were, they were missing the whole point. They were not comforting him because they were speaking to him. Yes, as we’ve seen so many things that were true at different points, but they were missing the ultimate truth of what was happening here.
Job 16:2 Teaches Us that They Were Twisting God’s Character
And they were twisting things in ways that did not reflect the good design and character of God. So Job looks at them and says, miserable comforters, are you all? When I read that. I think I don’t want to be a miserable comforter. I want to speak good counsel to others, especially when they walk through difficult days.
I want to, ultimately, first and foremost, just be there to love care for them, not to try to explain everything as if I can. And yes, to gently point them to truth in God, but not to assume I know every single thing that God is doing in certain situations. So can we just based on Job 16:2, pray that God would keep us from being miserable comforters, that God would make us good comforters for people in grief.
This Verse Leads Us to Ask God to Guard Us from Sin
God may it be so, we pray. We want to be good friends, comforters, counselors to those who are walking through grief and anguish and hardship and hurt and pain. God, please help us to speak truth and love in timely ways. When we need to be silent, God, help us to be silent. We need just to hug. God, help us to hug. When we need to just be with or care for in this or that way, help us to do that. And help us not to explain things we don’t know. Help us, yes, to guard others from sin, amidst anguish and grief and pain and distress.
God, help us to guard people from sin, but God, to do that at with good comfort and good counsel, not miserable, comfort and unwise counsel. God, we need your help to be good comforters to others who are walking through challenges. So please help us to be that to them, even today, oh God. Open our eyes to opportunities we have to comfort others, to encourage others. Use us as comforters and encouragers today in others lives, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
