Job 19:1-4 Then Job answered and said, How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words? These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me? And be it indeed that I have erred, mine error remaineth with myself.
Poor Job. He was going along nicely, a faithful, righteous man, then unbeknownst to him, the enemy challenged God to test his righteousness. God had confidence in Job and allowed the test; anything but death. So at the enemy’s instigation, his world began falling apart for no apparent reason. Boils suddenly covered his body and he sat in ashes scraping them. His family and his livelihood disintegrated. Then his wife chastened him about his integrity, telling him to curse God and die. But Job resisted that bad advice, asking her if she only expected good and no bad from God. ‘In all this did Job not sin with his lips.’ (Job 2:10) Ah Friends, yesterday we talked about the power of words, today we have a great example of their negative aspect. First, the enemy used negative, challenging words to God. Then Job’s wife gave him negative advice. But the worst part was when three of his friends heard about his dilemma, came to mourn with and comfort him, but ended up haranguing him instead. They lectured him and insisted that he had done some awful wrong, that’s why so much calamity had suddenly befallen him. We noted earlier, that through all the misfortune Job did not sin with his lips. Who knows what was in his heart, but he uttered no disrespectful words about God, even though he was certainly driven in that direction. But he was only human and finally got fed up with his so called friends, and asked them, ‘How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?’ Ah people, the power of words again. His friends were tormenting him, driving him even further down the path of sorrow and grief by their self righteous and unfair accusations, by their hurtful words. Because their vision was short-sighted, they figured that such tribulation could only befall Job if he’d done something terribly wrong, And though he insisted that he hadn’t, they still berated and belittled him. As he said; ‘These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me?’ Poor fella. They kept on shaming and disgracing him with hurtful, uncalled for words, till he had to ask them why they were dealing so harshly with him. Ah Friends, they say words are wind, but blows are unkind, sadly though, in many cases the words hurt more than the physical blows. At least the wounds of the body heal eventually, but sometimes those inflicted on the soul by negative words never heal, or leave badly scarred souls when they do. I like Job’s spirit. He got tired of their posturing and simply declared that even if he had made a mistake, it was his, and had nothing to do with them. Yes people, sometimes we just have to tell people to shut up or buzz off when their words are negatively affecting our souls. By the same token, we’ve got to be careful we don’t do the same thing to others. So again, I implore us to try and utter only good, peaceful, positive, pleasant, uplifting, encouraging words to our fellow man. Much LOVE!…like a pile driver…hurtful words can decimate the human spirit…
Poor Job. He was going along nicely, a faithful, righteous man, then unbeknownst to him, the enemy challenged God to test his righteousness. God had confidence in Job and allowed the test; anything but death. So at the enemy’s instigation, his world began falling apart for no apparent reason. Boils suddenly covered his body and he sat in ashes scraping them. His family and his livelihood disintegrated. Then his wife chastened him about his integrity, telling him to curse God and die. But Job resisted that bad advice, asking her if she only expected good and no bad from God. ‘In all this did Job not sin with his lips.’ (Job 2:10) Ah Friends, yesterday we talked about the power of words, today we have a great example of their negative aspect. First, the enemy used negative, challenging words to God. Then Job’s wife gave him negative advice. But the worst part was when three of his friends heard about his dilemma, came to mourn with and comfort him, but ended up haranguing him instead. They lectured him and insisted that he had done some awful wrong, that’s why so much calamity had suddenly befallen him. We noted earlier, that through all the misfortune Job did not sin with his lips. Who knows what was in his heart, but he uttered no disrespectful words about God, even though he was certainly driven in that direction. But he was only human and finally got fed up with his so called friends, and asked them, ‘How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?’ Ah people, the power of words again. His friends were tormenting him, driving him even further down the path of sorrow and grief by their self righteous and unfair accusations, by their hurtful words. Because their vision was short-sighted, they figured that such tribulation could only befall Job if he’d done something terribly wrong, And though he insisted that he hadn’t, they still berated and belittled him. As he said; ‘These ten times have ye reproached me: ye are not ashamed that ye make yourselves strange to me?’ Poor fella. They kept on shaming and disgracing him with hurtful, uncalled for words, till he had to ask them why they were dealing so harshly with him. Ah Friends, they say words are wind, but blows are unkind, sadly though, in many cases the words hurt more than the physical blows. At least the wounds of the body heal eventually, but sometimes those inflicted on the soul by negative words never heal, or leave badly scarred souls when they do. I like Job’s spirit. He got tired of their posturing and simply declared that even if he had made a mistake, it was his, and had nothing to do with them. Yes people, sometimes we just have to tell people to shut up or buzz off when their words are negatively affecting our souls. By the same token, we’ve got to be careful we don’t do the same thing to others. So again, I implore us to try and utter only good, peaceful, positive, pleasant, uplifting, encouraging words to our fellow man. Much LOVE!…like a pile driver…hurtful words can decimate the human spirit…
SCRIP-BITS 