“In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune; it is ready for those whose feet slip.”
Job 12:5 ESV
Through the Bible: Job 10-13
As I read Zophar’s response to Job’s third cycle of complaints, I noticed that Job’s friends seem to be getting more and more impatient and aggravated with him the longer he talks.
They start off tentative, walking on eggshells, worried about saying something offensive. But as days pass and there seems to be no breakthrough, the gloves come off, the niceties fall away, and the frustration comes out.
Zophar is especially blunt:
2 Should this abundance of words go unanswered
and such a talker[a] be acquitted?
3 Should your babbling put others to silence,
so that you can keep on ridiculing
with no one to humiliate you?
I love the heading in my ESV Bible: “Zophar Speaks: “You Deserve Worse.”
Job must sense that his friends are losing patience. In 12:5 he notes, “In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune.”
Here’s an ugly truth to admit as a pastor: I’m not nearly as nice as my church thinks I am. I start off full of compassion and concern for someone. I listen well. I pray fervently. But as time goes on and the situation doesn’t improve (or even gets worse), my compassion can turn to aggravation.
You’ve probably realized the same thing about yourself. Have you ever groaned and gritted your teeth when you saw a call from a particular number? Have you ever ducked out of the break room because you saw a friend coming—the same friend you’ve been trying to help for weeks, with no progress, no resolution, and you are out of answers?
Maybe it’s a reaction against feeling helpless. Nobody wants to feel like they can’t solve a problem. The helplessness first wearies, then irritates, then repels. We begin going out of our way to avoid certain people. We find ourselves actually feeling angry at them for not getting better. We want to give comfort, but it’s uncomfortable.
And in those moments, I recognize myself in Job’s friends—ready to move on while my friend still suffers. I realize how far I am from the heart of Jesus. I am a callous counselor; Jesus is a Wonderful Counselor (Isaiah 9:6). I’ll say, “Well, I’ll be praying for you,” as a way to communicate, “We’ve gotta wrap this up. I’ve got things to do.”
Contrast that with Jesus, who “always lives to make intercession for us” (Hebrews 7:25).
How do you do it, Lord? How do you patiently hear the prayers of everyone in the world, when I can’t even pray consistently for one person? I want to be more like you, and less like Zophar.
If there is one prayer to pray over your pastor, pray that his heart stays tender toward those who are suffering without relief. Pray that as the Lord renews His mercies every morning, our mercy toward others would be renewed as well. Because when pastors grow weary of compassion, churches grow colder too. But when pastors remain tender, they point us all back to the Wonderful Counselor.
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