Job responds here in chapter 16. He has about had it. “What a bunch of miserable comforters“. How is that for straight and open communication. I think it does bring up a good question – what kind of comforter are you? You may recall that the three friends came and sat quietly with Job for 7 days. They just spent time with him. Gradually they have become more agressive in their approach and now are accusing him of being a sinful man and one that is getting exactly what he deserves. Quite a change from the quiet and gentle way they started. When people are under stress and in the midst of struggle, I find they seldom are receptive to having truth continually crammed down their throat. That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t share it, it means our delivery needs to take into consideration the circumstances and we need to be sensitive to everything in the environment. The three amigos are starting to act like they have things to do and places to be and it is time to let Job have a full load so they can get on with life. I find that often happens. We lose focus on the person that needs our comfort and start to focus on how inconvenient it is for us to comfort them. Then we start to push and focus on our agenda and our schedule rather than the best for the one in need. Job tells them what they should be doing: “I’d never do that. I’d console and comfort, make things better, not worse”!
Job shares his despair and calls out for a mediator to represent him before God. Today we have that person – Jesus Christ. He stands in the gap between us and our God. We can call out to Him and He will represent us as we call out to God. Timothy writes about this in 1 Timothy 2:5-6 when he says: “that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us–Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free“. We have a mediator that is ready to take our story to God. Are you calling out to Jesus? Are you on your knees sharing your prayers? We all will face struggles in our life. There is no reason to go it alone. We need to be people who encourage and comfort each other, and we need to call upon the mediator that God has provided – Jesus Christ – to be our source of real comfort and strength.
Posted by asorensen 
