Being There

When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him.

Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words.

Job 2: 11,13

There was a movie decades ago starring Peter Sellers titled, Being There. It was vintage Peter Sellers, a veteran comic who had been in the very successful Pink Panther movie series in the 1960’s. In the movie Being There, he played a clueless gardener who was taken, because of his silence and naivete, to somehow be a brilliant, wise person.

The movie was funny, but it pointed to a larger truth. Silence, often just by itself, is golden. In the book of Job, Job was beset by calamities right and left. He refused to be shaken by it, but he was comforted, at least initially, by friends who agreed together to visit their friend Job, and just be with him.   

They were a wonderful comfort to him with their presence. Then they decided to weigh in on why he was having troubles. That is where they made their mistake. Instead of being a comfort, they became a source of irritation. They tried to judge his actions, and ascribe to those actions why God was punishing Job. They meant well, I suppose, but they had become terrible “comforters”.

When they just sat with Job and were sad and lamented with him, they were of great comfort. When they started judging, they became the problem.  

So, the lesson is- just being there for someone, not offering advice or solutions, is a great gift. Do not discount the value of “being there”.

Prayer: Help us Lord not to discount the value of just “being there” with friends, Amen