KINDNESS TO THE AFFLICTED

“To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friend, even though he forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” ~ Job 6:14

REFERENCE:

Job 6:11-15

Nobody wishes to go through afflictions. These include emotional pain, lack, and ill health. Take a look at your network, and you will discover that someone is afflicted by troubles. They may be going through a divorce, job loss, bereavement, physical pain, miscarriage of a pregnancy, or a crucial marital crisis. What God expects is that you show kindness to the afflicted.

Sadly, when people are afflicted, the people around them become ‘expert counselors.’ They tell the afflicted what they have done wrong and how they are not praying, giving, or holy enough. We are quick to point out a sin or to tell them the error that has unleashed the affliction on them. We tell them it is in their family and they need deliverance. We think we are providing them with perspective, but we are hurting them more. That is what Job’s friends did to him.

Job’s wife told him to curse God and die. A friend told him to forsake the iniquity in his hand, and another insinuated that he was a sinner. They made it their duty to inform him that God was punishing him for ‘some sin.’ He could not take it and told them, “To him who is afflicted, kindness should be shown by his friends.” It was the least Job expected from them.

The least that those at ease can do for those afflicted is to empathize and pity them; it is to feel a tender concern for them. The desperate need of the afflicted is comfort. If we judge and adduce reasons for their affliction, we will be judges with incomplete information and impure motives. We will hurt them more than help them. Shame to the person who despises his friend in affliction; he is adding salt to his injury and removing his coat on a cold winter night.

Kindness is the medicine most fitting for the afflicted. Is any afflicted around you? Pray for them, assure them of God’s love, fan the flames of hope in them, support them financially or materially, cheer their spirit with scriptures about God’s goodness, visit them, and show them you care. Stop being a judge, teacher, or counselor; better to show kindness to the afflicted.

Is a friend of yours going through afflictions? Make a move and show kindness to them today.

PHOTO QUOTE

ADDITIONAL TEXTS:

Job 16:1-5, Job 19:21, and Hebrews 13:3

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+ Lord, keep me from the judgmental spirit that finds fault or accuses those afflicted. May I be a source of comfort, not a pain to those already in pain.

+ Lord, help me to bring relief and show kindness to the afflicted. I choose to be a healing balm and a word of hope to all those going through a tough time around me, in Jesus’ name.