The Loneliness of Suffering
April 22, 2018

Scripture: Job 2:11-13

I. Suffering is lonely because your friends don’t recognize you.

A. In Job 2:11 we read that Job’s three friends had heard about the evil – the bad circumstances – that had happened to Job. And they had good intentions for their trip. Their goal was to show Job sympathy and comfort him. The friends organized a trip to come together to visit Job rather than arriving separately. The three friends were afraid that if such horrible suffering could come upon their righteous friend Job, then what might happen to them? Job’s suffering made no sense to them because they fully believed in the principle expressed in Galatians 6:7: “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”

B. We see in vs. 12 that “when they saw (Job) from a distance, they did not recognize him.” And when they got closer to Job, the three friends were shocked to see what his suffering had done to him. Job their friend was completely unrecognizable. They had a hard time putting together the Job they remembered with the man in front of them. It was like they were looking at a stranger. When Job saw the look in his friends’ eyes as they looked at him, he felt more alone than ever.

II. Suffering is lonely because your friends don’t speak to you.

A. Notice what Job’s three friends did after they made all that effort to come and see him. “They sat with (Job) on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great” (vs. 13). At one level, this sounds like empathy and wisdom. But saying nothing to their friend for seven days was not comforting. It was actually kind of creepy. Job was probably thinking, “Say something! Anything! Don’t just stare at me. Do what you came here to do. Speak some words of comfort to me.”

B. There’s a possible reason why Job’s friends said nothing. It’s a shocking reason. They considered Job as already dead. They did not speak to Job for the same number of days (seven) as a traditional funeral lasted in those days (vs. 13). And the friends did exactly what you would do at a funeral in those days in vs. 13. When Job’s three friends threw dust on their heads, it’s like they were identifying themselves with their friend Job who in their judgment looked like death. As far as they were concerned, Job was a dead man walking.

III. You don’t have to suffer alone because of Jesus.

A. Job’s story is an Old Testament preview of Jesus’ story. When it comes to the loneliness of suffering, how did Jesus share in Job’s lonely experience with his friends? Think about the night before Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Jesus knew what was about to happen to him. He knew the pain that he would endure because of His love for us. If ever there was a time when Jesus needed His friends, this was the night. And yet on the night when Jesus needed the comfort of His friends, Jesus was all alone. See Mark 14:32-37. If you are feeling alone in your suffering today, you are never truly alone. There is someone with you. His name is Jesus. Jesus promised in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” What does that mean for you? It means that you never have to endure the loneliness of suffering. You will always have a friend – a true friend – with you when you suffer. Jesus has already suffered in every possible way.

Application:
Jesus will be with you when you suffer if you call out to Him in prayer.

Sources:
The book of Job
Commentaries on Job by Christopher Ash, Francis Andersen and David Clines
“Holding on to Hope” by Nancy Guthrie