Stoned-Campbell Disciple

Three Things to Remember and Learn about the Sufferer.

Recently at Eastside we explored Job. I called it “The Terror of Silence.” I have read and wrestled with Job many times both before and after some earthquakes in my life. As I was camping at Steep Ravine by the Pacific earlier this month, I read through Job several times again. I am so grateful this book is in the Bible.

Cliches and platitudes are poor theology no matter how righteous they sound. People are more important than doctrines. Love is the greatest of all things. This includes love for the sufferer.

I have become convinced the Book of Job does not explain, and does not attempt to, the mystery of suffering. In other words it does not give us a theology of suffering. Rather the Book of Job gives us, especially pastorally, a theology of the SUFFERER. I ended my lesson today (and it was longer than normal) with three things to remember and three things to learn from Job.

Three Things to Remember

1) Regardless of how insightful we think we are, we do not understand the depth or nature of the Sufferer’s “problems.”

2) The Sufferer may not want, nor need, our advice. Don’t offer advice. Just be there, be available. Even in the silence.

3) As ironic as it may seem but people do not tend to suffer less when they are committed to following God, but more. This is true especially if we believe the biblical narrative.

Three Things We Must Learn, we “enter” empathetically their suffering.

1) We must learn to look up to the Sufferer. We must honor them. We look up to them, not down on them.

2) We must learn from the Sufferer.

3) We must join the Suffer in protest and prayer. We must do the opposite of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar. They were, and remain, wrong. But we often say and believe what Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar said and believed.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, January 30th, 2025 at 10:55 am and is filed under A Gathered People, Holding On, Ministry, Suffering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.