With Friends Like These

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

Audio Version at http://tinyurl.com/23h8fn

With friends like these, who needs enemies? That’s a phrase that most of us have heard over the years. I don’t know the exact origin of the phrase, but the concept is quite ancient.

Examples in ancient literature, history and even the Bible show that friends sometimes turn and become enemies themselves. If your friends turn on you, there is no need to have any enemies. Your hands are already full.

In perhaps the oldest book of the Old Testament, Job, we find a situation where a man falls into very dire circumstances and his friends come from a great distance to be with him. That’s the good part. But then, instead of providing him with comfort, they begin to place the blame for his situation on the man himself. That’s the bad part. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

You may recall the horrible day that Job had in chapter one. Four messengers came to Job, and each messenger brought news of a terrible loss. As one was finishing up, another one appeared. Job couldn’t blame these men for what had happened. After all, they were only the messengers of bad news. Upon hearing of his great misfortune, including the loss of all ten of his children, Job arose, tore his robe, shaved his head and worshiped.

His next phase of bad news came when his health was taken away from him. Now, this once great leader of the community, a wealthy and healthy man, was reduced to a poor, despicable man covered with boils from the top of his head to the soles of his feet. It is at this time that Job’s first friend, his wife, begins to turn on him. She says in Job 2:9, “Curse God and die!” After the loss of all wealth, all ten children and his own personal health, Job surely deserved better support from his wife. Nevertheless, he pressed on.

At the end of chapter two we are introduced to three of Job’s friends: Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. These friends had heard of Job’s predicament and arranged to make the journey to be with Job. Their purpose was to mourn with him and to comfort him.

But they were so shocked when they saw him that they didn’t even recognize Job. Utterly speechless, these friends simply sat down on the ground and stayed with Job for a full week before even speaking one word.

I’m sure that we’ve all been at a loss for words from time to time. I remember meeting the family of a man who had taken his life. I really couldn’t find any words that seemed appropriate at that very moment. Their situation was so tragic, so heavy and so overwhelming that words simply didn’t come to me.

After that week, Job began to elaborate on his misfortunes. He even goes so far as to talk against the day of his birth as well as his conception. He is really struggling with his misery. After all, Job is a righteous man, one who is blameless and upright. Now is the best opportunity for his friends to speak up with some words of encouragement.

However, that is not to be. Instead of being the supporting friends that Job needed, these men began, each in turn, to instruct Job that it must be his fault that these things have happened.

Can you imagine that? Could you imagine being in some state of shock after a great tragedy in your life and have someone to tell you that it was all your fault? That would be bad enough from a stranger. What if it came from your best friends?

The friends had based their speeches on a false assumption. Most realize that when we sin there are consequences to pay. In other words, the evil doers will suffer. But the reverse is not always so. Not everyone who suffers does so because they sinned. Job’s friends assumed that his great misery must have been a result of Job somehow deserving his fate by turning on God.

In the end, Job is vindicated and his friends are compelled to repent and make things right. With friends like these, Job didn’t need any enemies.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we begin each day by affirming our loyalty to God no matter what happens during the day. May we never forget that God is always there for us, even in the darkest hours of our lives.

Our thought for the day: “Troubles are often the tools by which God fashions us for better things.” Henry Ward Beecher.

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.