Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Confidence”
Our Bible verse for today: “When Job’s three friends … heard about all this adversity that had happened to him, each of them came from his home. They met together to go and sympathize with him and comfort him … Then they sat on the ground with him seven days and nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw that his suffering was very intense.” Job 2:11; 13 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “Have the confidence to simply be there.”
We need each other – especially when times are tough. When we’re going through hard times one of God’s greatest gifts is a friend who will simply be with us. It’s called “The ministry of presence” and it involves just being with someone and entering into their suffering with them. You don’t have to do anything, you don’t have to say anything, just be there.
As much as we’re critical of Job’s three friends for the way they ended up being so unhelpful, we need to acknowledge that they started out well. They heard their friend was suffering and so they went to him and simply sat with him. They entered into his suffering and they mourned with him, they comforted him, and they blessed him with their presence. That was good – it was very good.
Pastor and author Tony Campolo tells the story of the time he was going to the funeral of a friend but accidently ended up in the wrong funeral home. When he got there he found a widow mourning her husband and the funeral was about to begin. But there was nobody else in the room. Tony realized that the widow was the only one who was going to be there. So he sat down and attended that funeral even though he didn’t know the man. Then he went to the cemetery too and attended the burial. As they were leaving the cemetery the widow thanked him for being there. Tony sheepishly admitted that he didn’t know the man. The widow just smiled, patted his arm and said, “I know that. My husband didn’t have many friends and I didn’t recognize you. I realized you were just being kind -and it means more to me than you will ever know. Thank you very much.”
The ministry of presence is one of the most meaningful things we can do for others. But it is also something that many of us don’t have the confidence to do. It makes us uncomfortable because we don’t know what to say, we don’t know what to do. We have the mistaken belief that we have to do or say something that will make things better for our suffering friend. But that’s just not true. Most of the time there is nothing you can say or do. The person needs to go through the stages of the grieving process and that takes time. But it helps to have someone there.
Philip Yancey once asked a group of people to name someone who had been a great source of comfort to them during a difficult time in their life. He reported that not one of the people named a famous philosopher or self-help guru. Many people named a quiet, unassuming individual who was simply there when they needed them to be; a person who didn’t do or say much, but just sat with them, hugged them, cried with them.
I encourage you to have the confidence to be there for others. We need each other.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 