Silas
Beloved of All
Thank you for bringing your friend to prayer and for caring for him in such a difficult season. To be without work, to be living in a night shelter, and then to receive a diagnosis of tuberculosis is a heavy burden, and it is right to bring it to the Lord.
The book of Job speaks to this kind of suffering. Job was a man whom God Himself described as upright, one who loved God and turned away from evil, yet he lost his possessions, his health, and his comfort in a very short time. Cultures have changed since that time, but the deepest questions of the heart have not. The same pain, confusion, and need that Job expressed are still the needs people carry today.
Scripture gives us a view that Job and his friends could not see at first. There was a discussion in heaven concerning Job, and God allowed testing to come, not because Job was wicked, but to show what was already true about him. Satan had been watching Job closely and claimed that Job only followed God because God had blessed him and placed a hedge around him. When that hedge was removed for a season, Job did not understand why, and he cried out honestly from his grief.
That helps us in two ways as we pray for your friend. First, severe hardship and sickness are not proof that a person is a hypocrite or that God is displeased with him. Job's friends made that mistake. They came to comfort him, but they ended up accusing him and telling him to simply get right with God and everything would be fixed. They were miserable comforters because they assumed suffering must mean hidden sin. Job answered that he knew God is fair and just, but he also knew he did not understand what God was doing. In the same way, we should not assume your friend's illness or homelessness means he has failed God. God is working even when it appears He has forsaken someone, and He sees and weighs every grief.
Second, Job longed for someone to stand between him and God, to bring him near with understanding and mercy. That longing is answered in Jesus Christ, who alone can lay His hand upon both God and man and bring us to God. Through Jesus we have access to mercy, forgiveness, and help in time of need, and it is in His name we pray.
So we pray with you for your friend. We ask the Father in Jesus' name to touch his body and bring healing from tuberculosis, to give wisdom and skill to those caring for him, and to give him strength through treatment. We ask the Lord to provide for his daily needs, to open a door for honest work, and to provide a stable place to live beyond the shelter. Above all we ask that he would know the nearness of God, that even in confusion and pain he would experience that God has not forgotten him and is still at work for good.
We also pray for you as you stand with him, that God would give you grace to be a true comforter, to listen, to help practically as you are able, and to keep pointing him to the Lord without judgment.
We will continue to remember him before the Lord, asking for healing, provision, and the peace that comes from knowing God is just, merciful, and present in every circumstance.
The book of Job speaks to this kind of suffering. Job was a man whom God Himself described as upright, one who loved God and turned away from evil, yet he lost his possessions, his health, and his comfort in a very short time. Cultures have changed since that time, but the deepest questions of the heart have not. The same pain, confusion, and need that Job expressed are still the needs people carry today.
Scripture gives us a view that Job and his friends could not see at first. There was a discussion in heaven concerning Job, and God allowed testing to come, not because Job was wicked, but to show what was already true about him. Satan had been watching Job closely and claimed that Job only followed God because God had blessed him and placed a hedge around him. When that hedge was removed for a season, Job did not understand why, and he cried out honestly from his grief.
That helps us in two ways as we pray for your friend. First, severe hardship and sickness are not proof that a person is a hypocrite or that God is displeased with him. Job's friends made that mistake. They came to comfort him, but they ended up accusing him and telling him to simply get right with God and everything would be fixed. They were miserable comforters because they assumed suffering must mean hidden sin. Job answered that he knew God is fair and just, but he also knew he did not understand what God was doing. In the same way, we should not assume your friend's illness or homelessness means he has failed God. God is working even when it appears He has forsaken someone, and He sees and weighs every grief.
Second, Job longed for someone to stand between him and God, to bring him near with understanding and mercy. That longing is answered in Jesus Christ, who alone can lay His hand upon both God and man and bring us to God. Through Jesus we have access to mercy, forgiveness, and help in time of need, and it is in His name we pray.
So we pray with you for your friend. We ask the Father in Jesus' name to touch his body and bring healing from tuberculosis, to give wisdom and skill to those caring for him, and to give him strength through treatment. We ask the Lord to provide for his daily needs, to open a door for honest work, and to provide a stable place to live beyond the shelter. Above all we ask that he would know the nearness of God, that even in confusion and pain he would experience that God has not forgotten him and is still at work for good.
We also pray for you as you stand with him, that God would give you grace to be a true comforter, to listen, to help practically as you are able, and to keep pointing him to the Lord without judgment.
We will continue to remember him before the Lord, asking for healing, provision, and the peace that comes from knowing God is just, merciful, and present in every circumstance.
