6 May | EVERYONE
“Then Eliphaz the Temanite answered and said: ‘If one attempts a word with you, will you become weary? But who can withhold himself from speaking? Surely you have instructed many, and you have strengthened weak hands. Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have strengthened the feeble knees; but now it comes upon you, and you are weary; it touches you, and you are troubled.'" Job 4:1-5
Intelligence without love makes you wicked, justice without love makes you ruthless, and gentleness without mercy makes you a hypocrite. Eliphaz, one of Job's friends, tried to be kind, but his heart exuded poison, and his words were fiery arrows that afflicted the patriarch's soul.
Eliphaz was born in Teman, an Edomite city known as a center of wisdom. From there he traveled to the land of Uz to visit his friend who was passing through the valley of the shadow of death. He came with his saddlebag full of studied words, but when he saw his friend's miserable state, hidden envy welled up from his liPsalm As we read in today's text, he accused him of having given wonderful words of comfort to others and not being able to live out his own advice now.
"Job's professed friends were miserable comforters, making his case more bitter and unbearable" (Ellen G. White, Testimonies for Ministers and Gospel Workers, p, 350).
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If a friend fails you, do not blame them, try to understand them. Do not give back bad for bad. Do not be guilty of the sin of which you accuse them. Live the gospel. And when faced with the pain of those who suffer, remain silent. Suffer with them, and do not say a word. Words are unnecessary when your heart is united with theirs.