Encouragement

 Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees.
Job 4:4 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/job.4.4.ESV

'Job's comforter' has become synonymous with someone who does a shoddy job of comforting someone. That said, the very first couple of verses of Job's first comforter's soliloquy are positive. Eliphaz can't help but concur with God's earlier assessment of Job as a man of integrity.

Sadly, there's a 'but', and it's a big 'but'! For most of the rest of the book of Job, his comforters berate him for surely getting what he deserved. We all have an inate sense of justice- a desire and a wish that bad people get their comeuppance and that good people get vindicated. Sadly, it doesn't always happen in this life (although always in eternity).

Eliphaz admitted that Job was a genuine encourager, the opposite of a Job's comforter if you like. If someone was going down the wrong track in life, Job would do his best to set them right. If someone was feeling afraid, Job would help to steel their resolve.

The moral of this verse is to see the good in people. Just because something bad happens to someone we know doesn't mean to say we have to assume they've got their comeuppance. We should affirm what is good in others.

'God Almighty, forgive us for not always seeing the best in people. May we not assume the worst, but affirm what is good in others, in Jesus' name, amen'

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