During a
difficult recession, I organized a support group for fellow to help them cope
with unemployment. We provided resumé reviews, networking, and prayer support.
One problem emerged: Whenever someone got a job, he or she almost never
returned to the group to offer encouragement. That increased the loneliness and
isolation of those left in the group.
Worse,
though, were comments from those who had never experienced a job loss. They
mirrored the accusations of Job’s friends in his suffering: “If you were pure
and upright, surely now [God] would awake for you, and prosper [you]” (8:6). By
chapter 12, Job is starting to express things in terms modern workers can
understand. He says that he feels despised by those whose life is easy (v.5).
When
things are going well for us, we may start to think that we who don’t have
troubles are better somehow, or are more loved by God, than those who are
struggling. We forget that the effects of this fallen world are indiscriminate.
We are all loved by the Lord and we all need Him—in good times and bad. The successes, abundance, and positions that God has given to us are tools to help us encourage others in their time of need.
