What kind of witness is that?

So now we’ve arrived at Job Chapter 15 and Job’s friend Eliphaz’s latest response to his friend. I set you the challenge yesterday of reflecting on how you would respond. I wonder if it was anything like this.

Eliphaz: Would a wise person speak so many words that are basically just a load of nonsense? Where is all this stuff coming from, Job? I don’t understand what’s happened to you. You seem to be saying that it’s not worth trusting God. This isn’t like you at all. Where’s Job gone? What have you done to him? I’m not making you look a fool. You’re doing a great job of that all by yourself.

Who do you think you are? Why do you think it’s any different for you than for anyone else? What do you know that we do not know? There are plenty of older and wiser people around than you, you know.

You seem so angry at God. Your rage scares me. Why can’t you find comfort in your God? You really have no right to speak out against God like that.

Listen to me and I will explain. Bad things happen to bad people. Because they turn on God and don’t respect Him. Don’t be like that. Please.

Harsh words again. So Job has a go at replying. He’s not ready to hear any of it. And this is where the phrase Job’s comforters come in –

I have heard many things like these;
you are miserable comforters, all of you!  Job 16:2

It’s a phrase used today –

Job’s comforters: people who aggravate distress under the guise of giving comfort.

We all know some of them, I imagine. Anyway, back to Job.

Job: Oh my word! Great friends you lot are turning out to be! A fat lot of use you are. You’re supposed to be comforting me, not making it worse. You go on and on….what’s got into you all? I guessed if we swapped places, I could talk like you. I’d think I was doing the right thing too. I could shake my head. I could disapprove. But I would want to find a way to encourage  you too. To bring you comfort and relief.

God has drained everything last drop of positivity from me. He’s ruined me and everyone has seen it. Everyone knows what I have become. People are watching how God is treating me. What kind of witness is that? Everyone’s laughing at me.

Everything was going so well and then disaster struck. He’s attacking me over and over again. I can’t pretend everything is OK any more. I can’t stop crying. All I can say is my hands have been free of violence and my prayer is pure. It’s OK that everyone hears me crying. God can hear me.

‘My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God;
on behalf of a man he pleads with God as one pleads for a friend.’ Job 16:20-21

(I have no idea what these words mean for Job and who he is referring to – I just feel they sum up perfectly Jesus’ role as he intercedes for us before the Father…..’Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them’. Hebrews 7:25 and ‘In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.’ Romans 8:26)

Surely I haven’t got long left now. I am a broken man. God, no one understands. No one can see why you’re allowing this. I am giving people an excuse not to follow you. I can’t see straight any more. Everyone is appalled. This is shaking their faith in you. It takes a really strong person to trust you when everything is crying out the opposite.

But come on then. Let’s hear what you have to say now. You know I just want to curl up and die. Where then is my hope – who can see any hope for me? Is hope going to die with me?

What kind of witness is that? I was brought up to believe that the most important thing was to be a good witness. And that sometimes ended up being about pretending everything was OK when it wasn’t. Saying all the right words when my heart was screaming the opposite. I’ve always been too honest, you see. I’ve wanted people to see the real me. Which got me into all sorts of trouble when I was meant to be projecting a perfect Christian life so that others would want the kind of life I had and become Christians for themselves. So testimonies were never really testimonies. Well, they were, but they were only ever the success stories. The struggles were kept well hidden. And once I remember being too honest in a meeting and being told off by my Dad for airing my dirty laundry in public. That’s just how it was.

It still happens, I think. We’re scared to let people see the real us in case we put them off God. This is what Job was saying. ‘People are watching how God is treating me. What kind of witness is that?’. You see, the problem is if we get people to turn to God by saying that all will be well once you’re a Christian and God will give you all that you ask for, then what do we do with the times when He does not? What happens when you pray in victory for healing and then the person dies? What kind of witness is that?

When things go wrong for us and we fail and get it spectacularly wrong or we suffer so badly we wish we were dead, what kind of witness is that? Does that give the people around us an excuse not to follow God? Does it shake the faith of those around us?

I can think of some sudden inexplicable tragedies that have shaken my faith. Shaken the faith of those around me. We have no words. We cannot explain. We have no answer to why God has allowed this.

Nevertheless, the righteous will hold to their ways,
and those with clean hands will grow stronger.  Job 17:9

This is faith. This is a witness. Clinging onto God when all the evidence is screaming the contrary. Trusting and obeying when we can’t begin to understand. Developing a resilience in our faith so that it is not dependent on all going well but can survive the bad times too.

People know. Everyone knows there will be bad times. What they want is a faith that can cope with the bad times. A God that gives the grace to carry on. A love that never fails. A God who will always be there.

So it’s OK to be honest. To admit to being fully human. To express our doubts and fears and insecurities and anxieties. To need help. To ask for help. To accept help. To grieve. To be confused. To be angry. To develop a faith that is strengthened in the tough times. That’s what everyone wants. That’s what everyone needs to hear about. That is Good News.