Through Thick & Thin

Friendship...what a blessed gift.  My life is peppered with many, many such gifts and I thank God for each one.

As I continue on in the book of Job and read what his friends have to say about Job's intense response to his horrific circumstances, I've come face-to-face with a trouble spot in my life.  I must admit, I struggle with being a "through thick and thin" kind of friend.  It's easy to be someone's friend when everything is all as it should be.  But what about the true majority of time - when things aren't all rosy and wonderful?  How does one approach a friend in turmoil and speak truth to them, without hurting feelings or injuring them on a heart level?  I absolutely despise conflict in any form.  I shrink from it.  I avoid it all cost.  But, what am I to do when my friend's in trouble and I see something in their life that needs to change...perhaps a blind spot that needs to be brought to light?  How can I avoid being fickle?  How can I be the very opposite of Job's description of his friends at the end of chapter six?

Job 6:14-30 (The Message)

"When desperate people give up on God Almighty, their friends, at least, should stick with them. But my brothers are fickle as a gulch in the desert--one day they're gushing with water from melting ice and snow cascading out of the mountains, but by midsummer they're dry, gullies baked dry in the sun.  Travelers who spot them and go out of their way for a drink end up in a waterless gulch and die of thirst.  Merchant caravans from Tema see them and expect water, tourists from Sheba hope for a cool drink.  They arrive so confident—but what a disappointment!  They get there, and their faces fall! And you, my so-called friends, are no better—there's nothing to you! One look at a hard scene and you shrink in fear.  It's not as though I asked you for anything—I didn't ask you for one red cent—nor did I beg you to go out on a limb for me.  So why all this dodging and shuffling? Confront me with the truth and I'll shut up, show me where I've gone off the track.  Honest words never hurt anyone, but what's the point of all this pious bluster?  You pretend to tell me what's wrong with my life, but treat my words of anguish as so much hot air.  Are people mere things to you? Are friends just items of profit and loss? Look me in the eyes!  Do you think I'd lie to your face?  Think it over—no double-talk! Think carefully—my integrity is on the line! Can you detect anything false in what I say? Don't you trust me to discern good from evil?"

I desire to be a source of life for my friends...a haven of rest...a place where honest, truthful, Biblical feedback is spoken in love.  Lord, I pray that you will make this true of me.