| How often do you visit a friend or relative in a hospital room? What did you say? Did you find it difficult to make conversation, especially if the patient was very seriously ill? What did you say to the family? It is not easy to say the "right thing", is it? But give these men credit where credit is due. They came when Job's need was greatest. They sat with him where he was on the ash heap. In that sense they identified with Job in his terrible physical and emotional state. Job's appearance must have been repulsive, but they stayed with him. They were there, which is perhaps the greatest possible expression of friendship when someone is really hurting. Unfortunately they finally broke their silence. It is obvious that they all knew God. We could say they knew the same God Job knew, but their ideas about God and how He works were both right and wrong, actually more wrong than right. They gave him the kind of advice this world may offer, but they overlooked the nature of God. All God's plans for us are made because of His love. Jeremiah said it well, "I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." What did the men say? Overall their emphasis was on the character of Job, more than anything else. John Stott said, "They told him not to look at himself and his suffering but to look at himself and his sin." All three accuse him again and again of his sin and even the sins of his children. But in that they were all wrong. God may discipline us but He will never punish believers for their sin. Remember Christ bore our sin in His own body on the cross. The price has been paid. Whatever God allows now, is only to help us grow in grace and the likeness of Christ. Please read Romans 8:28-29 and thank God for those re-assuring comforting words. | 
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