Attack of loneliness… a false sense of isolation.
As I mentioned last week, I have been doing an in-depth study of Job, during which I have paused, frozen in my tracks by a particular concept that lured me into a time of deeper reflection. In my previous post, I shared several verses that allowed me to connect with Job on a more human and emotional level. Before I move to my next point, let us take a moment to recall Satan’s motive in this attack on Job. Satan insists that if Job’s blessings are removed, he will no longer be God’s faithful servant, and in Job 1:11, the devil goes as far as to argue that “…he will curse thee to thy face” (KJV). Thus, the devil sets out to pull Job away from God.
This brings me to the second point that pressed on my heart because I believe this is a strategy the enemy tries to use against us so often. Loneliness. As Job sits, having just lost his children and pretty much everything else, and is now covered in painful sores, in Job 2:9, his wife says to him, “…Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die” (KJV). Wow… not exactly words of encouragement. Now, in no way am I defending her words or her lack of support to her husband, but I also think that as we pass judgment, we have to consider her mental state in that she has also just lost her children and is now watching her husband writhing in excruciating pain. Yet, Job remains steadfast, and not only does he not heed her advice, but he also guides her in the right steps of faith, fulfilling his role as her husband, leading his household in the ways of the Lord. In Job 2:10, Job replies to her comment, “…What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”, and the verse continues on to inform, “…In all this did not Job sin with his lips” (KJV).
As one can imagine the isolation that must be plaguing Job as he seems to have no family to lean on, his situation appears to look up for a moment as three friends come on the scene, seeming to have good intentions to offer support. Job 2:11 notes Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar “… made an appointment together to come and mourn with him and to comfort him” (KJV), and verse 13 details, “… they sat down with him upon the ground seven days and seven nights…” (KJV). However, after the seven days, their mouths open and instead of words of encouragement, they deliver speeches of condescension and accusations. For example, in Job 15:20, Eliphas asserts, “The wicked man travaileth with pain all his days…,” and in Job 11:13 & 15, Zophar advises, “If thou prepare thine heart, and stretch out thine hand toward Him; …For then shalt thou lift up thy face without spot…” (KJV). And to top it off, after Job has just lost his children, Zophar has the gall to say, “If thy children have sinned against Him, and He have cast them away for their transgression” (Job 8:4 KJV). At this point, I can’t even begin to imagine the dark cloud of loneliness pressing around Job. Sure, three people are sitting there in his midst. But can’t we be in a crowd of people or even in a room with our closest friends and family, and somehow the devil can convince us that we are all alone and no one cares. Yet, the devil’s tactic did not work on Job. He does not fall prey to what his friends believe about him. He knew it was God’s view of him that mattered. Job declares, “But He knoweth the way that I take: when He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10 KJV).
In closing, let us pray for strength against the devil’s tactics and wisdom to discern God’s TRUTH from the enemy’s lies. And when we are those friends in the position to encourage and comfort, let us remember the instructions in Romans 12:15: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice; and weep with them that weep” (KJV).
