"Showering our Friends With Kindness"

BIBLE READING: Job 6-9

            As the story of Job continues, Job has been hit with devastation like no one has ever been hit before.  He has lost all his children; his body being covered in boils and even his wife is encouraging him to just give up and die.  All this suffering has led to changes in Job’s appearance, so much that not even his friends can recognize him (Job 2.4).  They are so taken back by his appearance and suffering, they just sit back and listen to Job for seven days without saying a word.  Then when he can’t stand it any longer Eliphaz opens his mouth and states his belief that all of this is Job’s own fault.  If he were a righteous man, then none of these things would have ever happened to him.  Wow, can you imagine going to the hospital bed of a man who was suffering because he has just lost everything he loved and saying to him; “Well, I guess you know this is all your fault!” That man’s reply may sound a lot like the words of Job in the reading for today.  One of the things that really sticks out in Job’s reply is found in Job 6.14,
“He who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty”

Friends play a very important role in God’s plan; but when a friend withholds kindness to a person that is in desperate need of kindness, they have lost any reverence they might have had for God.  We all have friends, or people in our life that we are acquainted with that are currently suffering because of heartache, sickness and loss.  Now is the time for us to remember the reverence we have for God and shower them with kindness, so they can see the love of God living in us.  Remember, just by showing a little bit of kindness to someone we can change their whole attitude. 

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