Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil. And he still maintains his integrity, though you incited me against him to ruin him without any reason.” “Skin for skin!” Satan replied. “A man will give all he has for his own life. But now stretch out your hand and strike his flesh and bones, and he will surely curse you to your face.” The LORD said to Satan, “Very well, then, he is in your hands; but you must spare his life.” So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and afflicted Job with painful sores from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head. Then Job took a piece of broken pottery and scraped himself with it as he sat among the ashes. His wife said to him, “Are you still maintaining your integrity? Curse God and die!” He replied, “You are talking like a foolish woman. Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said. When Job’s three friends, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite, heard about all the troubles that had come upon him, they set out from their homes and met together by agreement to go and sympathize with him and comfort him. When they saw him from a distance, they could hardly recognize him; they began to weep aloud, and they tore their robes and sprinkled dust on their heads. Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.

—Job 2:3-13 (TNIV)

Today, the story about Satan’s diabolical plot to drive a permanent and irrevocable wedge between God and humans continues. Satan intends to show God that even (or perhaps especially) the righteous and godly do what they do because it pays, i.e., they are rewarded for doing good. This would show God that his creation is radically flawed, that redemption is unthinkable because even the most godly of people would be exposed as really being evil. God would therefore have no basis in taking delight in the righteous because they are the most self-serving of all.

Two things stand out in this passage. First, that Satan can use even our loved ones as vehicles of temptation. Notice here that he implicitly uses Job’s wife to tempt Job to curse God. (Read Job’s comment about foolish women in its context. Job is not saying that all women are foolish; he is simply calling his wife foolish for suggesting he curse God.) In the midst of our sorrow, in the depths of our despair, we must always be on guard against falling into Satan’s snare and temptations. In my experience, this is one of the hardest things to do and that is why we must call out to God for help.

Second, we are introduced to Job’s three friends and they perform their duty as grief counselors magnificently. Notice they do not offer platitudes or try to fix Job’s despair. Instead they grieve with him and they do so silently. The next time you are called to offer help to those who grieve or are in despair, remember this lesson. We naturally want to try to help others who suffer, which is a good thing. But in the case of grief, words will usually not do the trick. Let your presence be your words. Never underestimate the comforting power of your presence to those who grieve. Your words matter little. Your presence matters a lot because by being there for those who grieve, you are really telling them that you love them and care for them.