After having heard all of his friends talk at him at least once (twice for Eliphaz), Job makes an observation regarding what makes the consolation of friends ineffective: TOO MUCH TALK! He said to them (Job 16:1-2a)…
“I have heard many such things; miserable comforters are you all. Shall windy words have an end?”
I think when trying to console a friend we all have the tendency to do the same thing—we feel that we need to speak magic words of comfort to them, and in our effort to locate those magic words, we end up barraging them with WAY TOO MANY words. And in the final analysis, we end up only confusing and irritating them.
More often than not it’s our presence and not our words that will bring comfort to a hurting friend. So, the next time you find yourself in a position to comfort a friend in need, try “being” more and "speaking" less.
“You will say the wrong thing if you talk too much—so be sensible and watch what you say.” (Prov. 10:19—CEV)
