“I have heard many such things;
miserable comforters are you all.
Shall windy words have an end?
Or what provokes you that you answer?”
– Job 16:2-3

Consider this a practical reminder from Job that when you’re comforting someone, you don’t have to try and explain everything. It usually isn’t helpful and may actually be hurtful. You don’t have to find “the right words” when someone is in agony, grief, or sorrow. Just be there for them. Love them. Weep with them. Mourn with them. Pray for them. Bless them with your presence. You aren’t required to explain why difficult things are happening, especially when you don’t know!

We live in a fallen world, infected and affected by human sin, under a curse, and constantly stirred up by the evil works of the devil. Because this is the world in which we live, people we care about – friends, relatives, colleagues, neighbors – will go through bad things. Illness, injury, betrayal, injustice, oppression, abandonment, disability, death, and more. Much of the time, no human can say with specificity why a particular bad thing is happening. So, don’t feel like you have to. Even if the person asks you.

It is usually enough just to be there. To offer prayers and the assurance of Christ’s love and God’s presence. To sit with them in their pain. To help in practical ways. To walk with them through hard seasons. Often, there are no “right words” because words can’t fix what’s wrong. Don’t stress about the words or your lack of them! Learn to be comfortable with silence. Simply be the presence of Jesus with those walking through the dark valleys of life. #FollowJesus

“Will you speak falsely for God
and speak deceitfully for him?”
– Job 13:7

As Job rebukes his “friends” for their false and hurtful theology, he highlights a problem we should all remember in this era of social media. There are many people who speak with a false piety about God. Who wrap themselves in religion while sharing words of insight or prophecy God didn’t give. Who speak confidently about God’s perspective on people or situations without a genuine biblical basis. Who radically distort the character of God while claiming (perhaps even believing) that they love Him. Be on the lookout for them, because they now have algorithms aiming their content straight at you!

Job is right about these folks. Later in the book, God will rebuke the men and have Job offer sacrifices on their behalf because they’ve spoken falsely about His nature. What did they do? Said things that were true but incomplete about God’s justice, knowledge, and power. Things that were immature and inadequate in understanding the difference between earthly life in a fallen world and eternal life with the Lord. Inadequate in understanding the existence of Satan and his role in testing the faith of God’s people. Immature in understanding that God’s perfect justice will play out in eternity but that there will be injustice on earth until Jesus returns. Then they used those partial truths as weapons against Job, declaring that obviously his suffering was being inflicted by God as punishment for some hidden sin. This was utterly false as the earlier chapters clearly revealed.

So, be careful with what you watch or read from your “feed”. Be careful about what you like, share, or forward. Test it against the Bible. Test it against the character of God. Test it against the words, actions, and attitudes of Jesus. If it sounds exactly like what you want to hear, test it again! The Bible is clear that we must be careful about things that really make our itching ears happy! Understand that the way God sovereignly rules over this world is infinitely more complicated that humans can understand. So be careful of anything that is “too simple”. Most importantly, spend more time reading and listening to God’s Word than you do reading and listening to people online. Get offline and #FollowJesus out into the world instead. Share His good news with others., Be His hands and feet of love to those in need.

“Who alone stretched out the heavens
and trampled the waves of the sea;”
– Job 9:8

This verse speaks to the majesty and power of God, our Creator. By His will, He created all of the universe – galaxies, stars, sun, moon, and planets. Closer to home, He is master over the seemingly chaotic forces of the ocean. He is worthy of all praise, worship, honor, and awe that we can give.

This verse also illuminates one of the most interesting actions of Jesus… There was a night when the disciples had been rowing for hours against the wind and waves on the Sea of Galilee. They had made little progress when they were startled to see Jesus walking near them on top of the water. He was literally “trampling the waves of the sea.” In Job 9:11, it says, “He passes by me” and Mark’s gospel reports that Jesus intended to “pass them by”. This wasn’t a coincidence or random detail. It was given to help the disciples, and us, draw the line between our Savior and our Creator. This was yet another subtle (to us, clear to them) statement that Jesus IS God come in the flesh.

Jesus is truly “the image of the invisible God”. All the fullness of God’s nature dwells in Jesus. To see Jesus is to see the Father. He is, indeed, the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Jesus. #FollowJesus

“Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.” – Genesis 5:24

What was quite rare in ancient times is widely available to every blood-bought believer in Jesus Christ… YOU can walk with God habitually. Enoch was unique because of the depth of his relationship with God at a time of widespread ungodliness. However, if Jesus is your Lord, then the Spirit of God lives in you and you’re invited to walk in step with Him (Galatians 5). Are you?

Is your walk with the Lord your top priority? Do you intentionally stop what you’re doing at times to pray and talk to God? Do you soak in His Word, reading, studying, and meditating on Scripture? Do you work hard to imitate Jesus, thinking like Him, speaking like Him, and acting like Him? Do you battle the temptations of your flesh that draw you away from God? Do you seek to put those temptations to death, fleeing from those which are too strong for you in the moment?

If so, then you’re truly walking with God. While you probably won’t be directly taken up to heaven like Enoch, you can certainly enjoy that same sweet fellowship with the Lord every day of your life. #FollowJesus