Yesterday I wrote about Barnabas, the Son of Encouragement. Today, I am back in Job and wishing along with Job that he had had a friend like Barnabas. Tragically, Job’s three friends will be remembered forever as the “miserablest” (if I can say that) of comforters. They only added to Job’s pain. Job says this at the beginning of Chapter 16:
Then Job answered and said:
"I have heard many such things;
Miserable comforters are you all!
Shall words of wind have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?
I also could speak as you do,
If your soul were in my soul's place.
I could heap up words against you,
And shake my head at you;
But I would strengthen you with my mouth,
And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief.
Those last words are so very convicting! If Job’s friends had been the ones suffering, Job would have spoken words of grace to help them in their misery. I so want to be that kind of person! The kind whose words build up and edify, not pull down and destroy. Job’s words in the above verses reminded me of a verse from Isaiah. Jesus is speaking.
The Lord GOD has given Me
The tongue of the learned,
That I should know how to speak
A word in season to him who is weary.—Isaiah 50:4
The two cross reference verses for the above are Exodus 4:11-12 and Matthew 11:28. Once you look those up the heart of our God jumps off the page.
So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? 12 Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.—Exodus 4:11-12
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."—Matthew 11:28-30
Beloved…we serve a God who is compassionate! Our Most High, omnipotent, omnipresent, sovereign and majestic God condescends. He stoops to help us. His purpose for coming into the world was to to speak words of comfort to the helpless, weary and heavy laden under the burden of sin.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.—John 3:16-17
A bruised reed He will not break,
And smoking flax He will not quench;—Isaiah 42:3
1 "The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
Because the LORD has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
3 To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of the LORD, that He may be glorified."—Isaiah 61
Father…Thank you for Your word this morning. Help me to listen to You morning by morning. Teach my tongue to speak Your grace and comfort to the weary and heavy laden whom You have sovereignly placed in my life. Pour out Your grace on my lips. Work this beautiful work in my heart.
And let the beauty of the LORD our God be upon us,
And establish the work of our hands for us;
Yes, establish the work of our hands.—Psalm 90:17
Additional verses:
"Talk no more so very proudly;
Let no arrogance come from your mouth,
For the LORD is the God of knowledge;
And by Him actions are weighed.—1 Samuel 2:3
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in Your sight,
O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.—Psalm 19:14
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.—Galatians 6:2
Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep.—Romans 12:15
Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, "You shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," "You shall not steal," "You shall not bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.—Romans 13:8-10
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.—1 Corinthians 13:1-8
Love never fails.
