Nobility, affliction, and friendship

Job 19.1-5; 29.21 – 30.1; 30.9-10.

Never was Job so noble as when he was humbled in his affliction.  Yet never was he held in such low esteem by his friends.  Sometimes Christians suffer because of their sin.  Sometimes Christians (like Job) suffer because they are special to God — and He wants to make them more special.  We are often dense at telling the difference — like Job’s three friends.  There is a part of us as sinners which secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) takes pleasure in the fall of another.  Not a fall into to sin necessarily, but a fall from glory, from position and prestige.  Even if we had nothing against the person, their fall somehow makes us feel better about ourselves.  And the greater they were before the fall, the better it makes us feel when they fall.  This ugly facet of human nature is one of many that is explored in the book of Job.  It was precisely this aspect of fallen nature that added insult to injury for Job and was especially difficult for him to bear.  Much of the benefit of this remarkable book comes not when we imagine ourselves as Job, but when we recognize ourselves in his friends.