Job 20:27–29: “The heavens will reveal his iniquity, / And the earth will rise up against him. / The increase of his house will depart, / And his goods will flow away in the day of His wrath. / This is the portion from God for a wicked man, / The heritage appointed to him by God.”

December 15th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Zophar took up his argument against Job again, claiming that God would make a sinner’s earthly life miserable. That is not absolutely true as God allows storms to come into the believer’s life as well as the unbeliever’s. But that was not the biggest problem with this counsel and comfort from Zophar. He was again simply accusing Job of hiding some great sin, rather than trying to comfort him or help him: “This is the portion from God for a wicked man. Job, you’re just experiencing the same trials and pain that comes to every person who tries to hide his sin.”

How careful we need to be of the words we speak to people in need of comfort. Why not simply admit that godly men and women also have struggles along the road of life? Why not simply agree that life is hard and sometimes even the strongest believers experience things that are too hard for them? Why not admit your own struggles in order to encourage the struggling saint sitting next to you, humbly relating some small thing God did or said that helped you. God is good and every one of us needs to be reminded of that frequently. He waits for us to let Him intervene in life’s problems.

“LORD, we surrender to Your power and love today.”