Monday, August 22: “You Call This Comfort?”

Job 5: 19: “From six troubles He will deliver you, even in seven evil will not touch you.”

Don’t you love Eliphaz? I think I’ve run across his website on my FB feed. Full of feel-good rah-rah motivation, full of empty promises–but his ‘comforting words’ were exactly the opposite of what Job was experiencing. He and his two friends may have called themselves Job’s comforters, but comfort is more than just an ear-tickling exercise. It comes from the Latin ‘fortis’ meaning ‘strength’. The purpose of comfort is not to make someone feel better, but to make them stronger. Did Job seem stronger after their visit? Eldad, Bildad, and Zophar had a lot to learn about comfort.