Unique Suffering

[Christ4Ever]

Then Job answered and said: Job 6:1 NKJV

Have you ever had one of those no-one-understands kind of days? Weeks? Months? People can say insensitive things when they self-diagnose your misery.

If you think it’s possible to know exactly what someone is going through, then one read through the book of Job should provide enough evidence that you never know the full story. Because you don’t know, you can’t understand. There’s just too much that is unique to the person suffering.

Maybe you know Job’s story. You have the benefit of knowing what he didn’t and seeing what his well-meaning friends never could. But you might feel as if you’ve both been there and done that when you read, “If my misery could be weighed, if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales, it would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!”

Call it a heavy heart, an overwhelmed spirit, or an oppressive load, but while everyone experiences this phenomenon, no one’s equipped to face it the same way. All men feel and deal with pain differently. Walk a mile in someone’s shoes instead of criticizing the way they limp.

Prayer: God, why is it so easy for me to be a know-it-all? Why is it easier to criticize than encourage? When I see a friend hurting, help me hurt with them.

 

[Admon Mikha'el]

Then Job answered and said: Job 6:1 NKJV

Have you ever had one of those no-one-understands kind of days? Weeks? Months? People can say insensitive things when they self-diagnose your misery.

If you think it’s possible to know exactly what someone is going through, then one read through the book of Job should provide enough evidence that you never know the full story. Because you don’t know, you can’t understand. There’s just too much that is unique to the person suffering.

Maybe you know Job’s story. You have the benefit of knowing what he didn’t and seeing what his well-meaning friends never could. But you might feel as if you’ve both been there and done that when you read, “If my misery could be weighed, if you could pile the whole bitter load on the scales, it would be heavier than all the sand of the sea!”

Call it a heavy heart, an overwhelmed spirit, or an oppressive load, but while everyone experiences this phenomenon, no one’s equipped to face it the same way. All men feel and deal with pain differently. Walk a mile in someone’s shoes instead of criticizing the way they limp.

Prayer: God, why is it so easy for me to be a know-it-all? Why is it easier to criticize than encourage? When I see a friend hurting, help me hurt with them.

LOL I see it often....I think it's that people really want to help...They want so much to help that they start blabbing off advice with no knowledge of the source of the pain...It makes them seem so stupid and foolish though.....We have to keep in mind their motives.....Or for our own sakes, attribute those motives to them so its easier to forgive....I get all sorts of advice on how to deal with my health problem, but the helpers know nothing about LBD....The scientists and doctors know next to nothing about LBD and still the 'experts' keep telling me how to deal with it....One has to forgive and laugh about it. Except I no longer laugh...That takes emotion and I have none.