“Daddy, my head hurts.” “Daddy, I’m so cold.” “Daddy, can you rub my feet?”
A high fever, chills, and body aches recently descended cruelly upon my teenage daughter. She wanted me to make it better. But mostly she just wanted me near. Eventually we took her to urgent care. “Virus,” we were told. Nothing to do but ride it out.
I sat with my sick girl for hours that day. Rubbing her feet. Getting her medicine. Desperately wanting her to feel better. Occasionally, my selfish side complained, This is hard. Indeed, it is hard to sit with people’s suffering, to witness their hurt up close.
Job’s friends saw his suffering up close too. These three guys are often—fairly!—criticized for their later poor treatment of Job. But it’s easy to forget that, initially, they simply sat with him: “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 2:13).
Jobs’ friends remind us that when someone we love is hurting, it’s our presence—our being there, whether we speak or not—that often matters most. Their example reminds us that even though we may not always know what to say, simply sitting with someone in their suffering may be the greatest gift we can give.
Who do you know who’s struggling? How might you be present for them?
Heavenly Father, thank You for sending Jesus to save our suffering world. Please help me to see those whom You might have me encourage amid their struggles and pain. Â
Job’s friends were doing very well in their mission of comfort until they started talking. For seven days, they were a silent presence with their suffering friend (Job 2:13). Silence tends to make us uncomfortable, so we may try to fill that void with words. But in times of great suffering (like Job’s), words alone are often inadequate to express the comfort or help that the hurting person truly needs. We can credit Job’s friends for their sacrificial seven days of silent presence, but they caused hurt when they began to offer answers that didn’t ease Job’s hurt, pain, or loss. We can ask God to give us wisdom to know when to speak and when to offer the comfort of a silent presence with those who are hurting.
