We Need Friends

Ministry wives need friends. When this life is unfair, and it seems that you can’t take another breath – we need someone who will come and sit with us. People who will not judge us but come and just be with us. Words seem empty in tough seasons. Advice is empty when the suffering is deep and intense and personal loss is great. 

From a purely human perspective, life was unfair for Job and his wife. They had no idea about the conversations between our great accuser and magnificent Creator. At the close of chapter two of Job, we discover that the word is spreading about the family’s adversity. Job’s closest three friends meet and decide upon a time to go and see him. In verses eleven through thirteen of chapter two, the scene unfolds as each of his friends comes from their own place. Eliphaz, the Temanite, Bildad, the Shuhite, and Zophar, the Naamathite, came to console and comfort their friend. They lifted their eyes to heaven as they saw him seated upon the ash heap at a distance. The scripture says, “They saw that his pain was very great.”

It stopped them in their tracks. They were not prepared for the sight of their wise, Godly friend. It took them so off guard that they did what good friends would do. There were no words to offer, so they raised their voices and wept. This was not a little tear shed for a hurt friend. They raised their voices and sobbed loudly. Then, they tore their robes and threw dust over their heads toward the sky. These actions were signs of great grief and mourning in the culture of the day. Then they sat down on the ground with him, and for seven days and seven nights, not one word was spoken from any of them.

Job opens his mouth and curses the day that he was born. His three friends listened to him speak his first words in seven days. You would have thought that hearing their friend’s words, especially in his physical and emotional condition, would have moved Job’s friends to express mercy and grace. But not these friends. In the following twenty-five chapters of the book of Job, these men try to convince Job of their theological views of hidden sin and blasphemy – that God does not hurt innocent people – that Job must have hidden sin, and because Job will not repent – God’s judgment has come. If Job would just confess and repent, there would be restoration.

Ladies, a primary insulator for our lives against giving up and fortifying our lives is to develop Godly friends. 

We need women friends who will sit with us silently when the pain is unbearable. 

We need women who will intercede for us, pray for us, and not judge us critically or harshly. 

We need the type of friends who will speak the truth to us in love even when we don’t want to hear it. 

Friends that will speak volumes to us with their silence. 

The kind of friends who will encourage us to go the distance in our journey when we want to give up. 

Friends that will not allow us to give up – no matter what happens. 

We need friends who will hold us accountable when we want to stop or be less than our God desires. 

Friends that will not have hidden agendas or their own perception of what God is doing. 

Friends who don’t want to control us but do desire God’s best for us. Friends who will listen to the deepest, darkest parts of our hearts and still see past all of that and believe the very best of what God has planned for us. 

Friends who bless us.

 We need Friends who encourage us. 

A woman needs friends who are faithful to the end of our days on this planet.

A true friend…..

Gives Encouragement. Romans 15:4-7 (NLT)

4 Such things were written in the Scriptures long ago to teach us. They give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises. 5 May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other—each with the attitude of Christ Jesus toward the other. 6 Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. 7 So accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified.

Love you and praying for friends for each of you. Praying you have the friends you need to make it through the hardest places. DM if I can pray with you.