Job 6:24 “Teach me, and I will be silent;
make me understand how I have gone astray.
25 How forceful are upright words!
But what does reproof from you reprove?
26 Do you think that you can reprove words,
when the speech of a despairing man is wind?
27 You would even cast lots over the fatherless,
and bargain over your friend."
Job's friends had offered what they thought was a fair evaluation of Job's situation. He responded to them that they did not really understand his plight. From his perspective, God had not been fair. But he is willing to listen to his friends, only he wants them to have compassion and not self-righteousness. They were being heartless and insensitive in both what they were saying and how they were saying it.
Helping a friend through a hard time is not always easy. We want to help them see the picture clearly and objectively, but we also need to be willing to listen compassionately and with the fulness of the character of God in view. It is hard. It takes time. (The book of Job is a long conversation.) But true friends to that.
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