Tues.’s Devo - Empathy

Read: Job 4:1-7:21;1 Corinthians 14:18-40; Psalm 37:30-40; Proverbs 21:27
When I read about Job’s friends I wonder, “with friends like these, who needs enemies.” It seems to be our nature to want to figure out everyone else lives which is just what Job’s friends tried to do. Instead of helping him through it, they tried to figure out why it happened. Eliphaz’s answer to Job’s dilemma was that Job was reaping what he had sowed. He recounted how Job had helped so many other people who were down and now he was not able to help himself. Eliphaz says that if God couldn’t trust his own angels, why does Job think he is so blameless. If Job would just call on the Lord and repent, he was sure that God would forgive Job. He suggests that maybe Job has resentment and unforgiveness that could be repented of.
Job responds that though his pain is beyond comprehension, he has not gone against the Lord or refused to obey him. He feels his friends have abandoned him and have no empathy for what he is going through.
We could learn from Job’s response. When we see people going through hard times, we need to be there for them to help not to give an opinion. We can pray for God to give them insight because God is trying to get their attention, not ours. Sometimes trials are the results of our choices but many times they are to teach us to persevere or how to fight.
Paul teaches about prophecy in the church. I used to attend a church where prophecy was a normal thing, but now I attend a church where it would be totally out of place. I don’t worry about those things because I know that God is restoring his gifts to the body and when they are restored it will be totally in place. God does teach us that prophecy is not a spell that takes over a person and they have no control, but it is a word that God gives a person and he can decide when he gives it is best to say it. Whether we have thought about it or not, we have all moved in this gift. It is as simple as us thinking about something we need to tell a person and telling them. God’s gifts are not as hard as we sometimes make them to be.
Lord, restore compassion and prophecy to the church. May we learn to walk in your spirit is a way that is not flamboyant or offensive.