I am the strong one everyone depends on and the meaning of Job 4:5 speaks directly to me. When I was young, a family situation resulted in my growing up with very little supervision. My parents were rarely home, so I learned to make my own dinner. I completed my own homework. I got a job at a carwash when I was 14 and worked every kind of job imaginable straight through college. God gave me smarts and drive to keep myself out of the worst kinds of trouble. If someone needs advice, they can come to me and I will give them rational, reasonable answers pulled directly from the Bible. I am a dependable person but what will I do when disaster strikes me?

Your Words Have Upheld Him Who Was Stumbling

Your words have upheld him who was stumbling, and you have made firm the feeble knees. But now it has come to you, and you are impatient; it touches you, and you are dismayed. Job 4:4-5 ESV

When disaster strikes Job, who is a rock in the community, the very first conversation directed to him by his friends is found in Job 4:5 and the meaning is that Job has been there for everyone else. Job has been patient to help others. And the question placed to Job asks if he is willing to listen to his own advice. Will Job be helped by listening to others?

The idea of this hits home. When calamity or need hits me, what will I do? Will the dispenser of wisdom act accordingly when his own world crashes down? It is easy to advise someone else when they crash, but would you follow your own counsel?

I Don’t Need Help

I got laid off from a job once and I was not dismayed because I do trust God, but it is stressful to be unemployed when so many depend on you. People in the community brought us meals. Someone anonymous dropped off money. At first I was frustrated. I don’t need help. I will get a job. All of this is unnecessary. How many people have my wife and I helped and supported over the years? In a moment of stress others stepped forward because they wanted to, and I needed to accept that help.

A Backhanded Challenge

Job, who has always been a rock, does not have friends quite so nice. His friend in this opening conversation is challenging Job in a backhanded way. It sounds like this: You would tell us to be patient in this storm, yet here you are “dismayed.” Will you be patient in your own storm?

Do Not Lean on Your Own Understanding

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 ESV

One imagines the wisdom Job has taught over the years. Job has displayed a life of someone who trusts God even when things don’t make sense. In this moment of pain and grief there is no understanding that makes it better. But trusting God and hoping in God is something that one can embrace to find comfort.

Take Heart

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33 ESV

While Job may not have had the full revelational clarity of God and his purpose like we have today, the truth remains that the Biblical wisdom he displayed to trust God, to turn to God alone in trouble even when the trouble seems to have come from God directly, was the true application of wisdom.