With Others in Suffering
October 6, 2024

With Others in Suffering

Job 2: 11-13 (ESV)
Pastor David Tori
October 6, 2024

Sermon in a Sentence: Often, we experience the comfort of God through the people of God.

2 Corinthians 1: 3-4 (ESV)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

1) Godly Friends Show Up

2) Godly Friends Enter with Empathy

3) Godly Friends Don’t Speak

Godly Friends Show Up: Job 2: 11 (ESV)

Question: What kind of friend are you?

Godly Friends Enter with Empathy

Job 2:12

And when they saw him from a distance, they did not recognize him. And they raised their voices and wept, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads toward heaven.

  1. Saw, but did not recognize
  2. Voice- Raised to Weep
  3. Physical: Tore Robes and Sprinkled Dust on Their Heads

What does Empathy Look Like in 2024?

Romans 12: 9-16 (NIV)

Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.

Question: How do you enter into the life of a friend?

Prayer: Lord, help me to take the risk of empathy. To mourn with those who mourn.

Job 2:13

And they sat with him on the ground seven days and seven nights, and no one spoke a word to him, for they saw that his suffering was very great.

“Attention is focused, not on the abstract mystery of evil, not on the moral question of undeserved suffering, but on one man’s physical existence in bodily pain. There was nothing to be said. These wise men are horrified and speechless. They were true friends, bringing to Job’s lonely ash-heap the compassion of a silent presence.” Francis Anderson

Proverbs 25: 20 (NIV)

Like one who takes away a garment on a cold day,
or like vinegar poured on a wound,
is one who sings songs to a heavy heart.