“Do I have any power to help myself?” Job 6:13a
I‘ve heard them called bear trap moments. You walk up to a good friend, a neighbor or a brother or sister at church and ask the simple, polite question…how are things going? Only to then have a pile of anguish, trouble, or grief dropped right on your head. In your light-hearted conversation starter, you find out that they are in the throes of losing a close loved one or dealing with a bitter, life-threatening illness. You’ve walked right into a bear trap without even knowing it. In this moment, what do you say to offer comfort? What are the right words to console? Where exactly do you locate the words of solace and encouragement they are pleading for?
Job chapter 6 finds him wrapping up his rebuttal to his friend Eliphaz’s misdiagnosis of his situation. Eliphaz had travelled all this way to see his friend after he heard of the great sickness and tremendous loss that had befallen Job. As he saw Job’s physical condition from a distance, he wept for the plight of his friend. As he approached, he could not find the words, so he sat with Job for seven days, wordless. And when Eliphaz finally found the words, they were not the right ones. Eliphaz tells Job that he clearly must be hiding some secret debaucherous sin from God in order to receive such constant piercing arrows from above. But Job knows better. As Eliphaz finishes offering his useless words of advice, Job strikes bone when he delivers these words to Eliphaz, “do I have help within me?” Do I have the words of life within me to answer what is happening to me? Of course, Job’s resounding rhetorical question can be answered with a very firm, no. No man or woman does.
Almighty God left us His Word for a reason. Within it lies the truth, wisdom, and righteousness that we on our own cannot ever hope to generate. Just like a well-spring, we must continue to go back to it daily to fill our vessels with the life it holds. Words of truth cannot generate within us; it comes only from God’s Word. True words of wisdom cannot come internally from the human heart; the human heart can only deliver the residue left behind from encountering the pure truth of God’s Word. True words of encouragement and consolation cannot come from the human condition. The situations we encounter where one is crying out for comfort from the Lord will only boggle and confuse our human minds as we are not capable of delivering the desired words. Yet, as you do find yourself walking into a bear trap moment, go to the one place where true comfort and honest answers lie, the power of God’s Holy Word. And in doing this, you will be admitting and accepting a truth that few are willing to admit today…you have no help within yourself. Words of wisdom and truth lie not within the human heart, but within the human heart that has been supplanted with the power of the Word of God.
“The unfolding of your Words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple.” Psalm 119:130
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