Job 6:14 “Anyone who withholds kindness from a friend forsakes the fear of the Almighty.” (NIV)

Job 6:28 “But now be so kind as to look at me. Would I lie to your face?” (NIV)

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Kindness can be hard to quantify. 

It’s the kind of thing you recognize when you see it. Job also recognized its absence. It was something he longed for. He deeply desired it from God. He earnestly expected it from his friends. 

We can’t say everything we need to know about kindness here in these few words, but we can notice a couple of things from Job’s speech that help us live a life of kindly disposition. 

Each of us bears some measure of kindness in our hearts and minds. Some cultivate kindness so that they always have a measure to offer those in need of this grace. For these, every word, every touch, and every lead measure is shaped by kindness. Aren’t we glad for people like this? 

On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the best, what would you say your level of kindness is at this moment? Is this an attribute of God that you need him to build into your life with greater force and clarity? If you were called on to provide deep and healing kindness today, how much would you be able to offer? 

These are convicting questions, aren’t they? As my pastor from the days of my youth enjoyed saying, “Every time I point one finger at you, I’m pointing four back to me.” I’m assuming he included his thumb in that group of four.

Job tells us that kindness is something we dare not withhold from our friends. To do so would be to ignore the very heart of God. It would be to operate contrary to his will and ways.

Lesson number one for the day regarding kindness is to offer it whenever it’s needed. Maybe we should say instead to offer it whether we perceive it is needed or not. 

Lesson number two is what we find in verse 28. Another measure of kindness is positive, focused attention. Job says, “Be so kind as to look at me.” 

His pain and his condition were apparently hard to look at. It’s easier for us to pontificate about another person’s problems when we’re not looking at or experiencing those problems ourselves. 

Job’s friends had seen him at his best. Now they saw him at his worst. Through no fault of his own, he had lost almost everything that was dear to him. The psychological wounds ran deep. The emotional loss was insurmountable, and on top of that, his physical ailments gave him no hope of relief. 

Job was hard to look at. Even today, so many years after his singular experience, it’s hard to read this book. It’s difficult to consider the depths of his anguish. It is so much easier to look away. I think that’s why Job said, “Be so kind to look at me.” 

There is at least some measure of healing that comes from a kind and loving face. Understanding hearts are soothing. Job helps us understand just how meaningful it is to have somebody who’s on our side during the dark nights of our souls.

Here are some Godly Commitments for our Lives:

1. Offer kindness wherever it is needed.
2. Give positive, focused attention to those we would rather look away from.

I’m going to listen to Lectio 365 this morning. If you have not discovered this devotional podcast, you will surely want to look it up and subscribe. The concluding prayer each morning says, in part, “Jesus, help me give myself away to others, being kind to everyone I meet.” The Job’s in our lives say “Amen.” What say you?

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I will be kind to everyone I meet.

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Our Father, deliver me from the temptation to withhold kindness. Dear Jesus, empower me to give kind attention to those I would rather look away from. Fill my empty reserves of kindness so that I always have what is required in each moment. Thank you for never running out of this elixir of life. Amen.