“Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days
and seven nights, with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his
pain was very great.” Job 2:13 (NASB)
Job was going through a lot of grief, with horrible and permanent
losses shaking him to his core. He was in a pitiful sight, sitting in ashes.
His friends, Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar came to minister to
him. They cried aloud, tore their robes,
and sprinkled dust on their heads (Job 2:12), all common expressions of grief
in their culture. They then sat with him in silence for seven days before
saying anything to comfort him.
The past days we were grieving for the sudden loss of our Tribe
Leader, Dra. Pastora Victoria Valdez, what we needed more than anything was to
know that we were not alone. When we felt alone, we are tempted to lose hope.
Remember that isolation is where Satan comes and take us to the stairs of despair.
But when someone offers to sit alongside us in our hurts, we can find comfort
in the silent power of people.
By just simply sitting beside someone who is suffering is often
the best way to show God’s love to them.
If we read further in the book of Job, we’ll see how his
friends mess up their words. It is so easy to say something unintentionally
offensive to a grieving person, even when we’re trying to help.
When someone is in pain, many of us are not sure of what to say or do. It is indeed encouraging to learn and live this biblical example of merely sitting beside someone to comfort them. This is something that we can all learn to realize. When we sit alongside someone in their suffering, God will use His quiet power to remind them that they are not alone, but seen and loved.
