People Problems

  • Job 2:10 “…In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
  • 11 Now when Job’s three friends…”
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Have you ever noticed that our text is a transitional thought? Most sermons and lessons on Job focus on the first two and last chapters of Job. However, Job 2 ends with a transition. Satan did not get Job to curse God. Job did not sin in all of that with his lips. Yet, when Job’s friends arrived on the scene, things took a turn for the worst. They blamed all of Job’s trials on Job himself and were not a great comfort to their friend. By chapter 12, Job is upset, angry, frustrated, and sarcastic with his friends.

  • Job 12:1 “And Job answered and said,
  • vs. 2 No doubt but ye are the people, and wisdom shall die with you.”
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  • Job 13:4 “But ye are forgers of lies, ye are all physicians of no value.
  • 5 O that ye would altogether hold your peace! and it should be your wisdom.”
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By the end of Job, we learn that Job’s feelings were wrong towards his three friends. Even if what they had said about Job was wrong, Job was still wrong for his negative feelings towards them. As a result, Job 42:10 explains:

  • Job 42:10 And the LORD turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends: also the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.”
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This is an important lesson in our trials. Those around us can often be the biggest trial in our trials! Wrong things are thought, said, and done to those who are in trials by those who are not. Like Job’s friends did to Job, those closest to us may cause us the most shock and hurt. As a result, the one going through trials may not curse God, but may be “cursing” those around them! However, no matter how bad your trials or how bad those around you treat you, like Job, you will be out of relationship and blessings with God if you harbor negative feelings toward them. Make sure that you “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.” (Heb. 12:14)