A
heart bowed down with anxiety, how a kind word can refresh it!”—Proverbs 12:25,
Knox.
CHRISTIANS are not immune to adversity. At
times they experience anxiety because of living in these “critical times hard
to deal with.”—2 Timothy 3:1.
When suffering such calamity, what a blessing
it is to hear kind words from a loyal friend! “A true companion is loving all
the time, and is a brother that is born for when there is distress,” says the
Bible. (Proverbs 17:17) The faithful man Job was known for being this type of
friend. Even Eliphaz said of him: “When someone stumbled, weak and tired, your
words encouraged him to stand.”—Job 4:4, Today’s English Version.
However, when Job himself needed
encouragement, Eliphaz and his companions did not utter kind words. They blamed
Job for his adversity, implying that he must have had some secret fault. (Job
4:8) The Interpreter’s Bible comments: “What Job needs is the compassion
of a human heart. What he gets is a series of absolutely ‘true’ and absolutely
beautiful religious clichés and moral platitudes.” So distraught was Job at
hearing the speech of Eliphaz and his companions that he was compelled to cry
out: “How long will you men keep irritating my soul and keep crushing me with
words?”—Job 19:2.
Never should we cause anyone to cry out in
distress because of our thoughtless, unkind words. (Compare Deuteronomy 24:15.)
A Bible proverb warns: “What you say can preserve life or destroy it; so you
must accept the consequences of your words.”—Proverbs 18:21, TEV.
Recognizing the power
of speech, let us follow the example of the apostle Paul. While in Macedonia,
he was “encouraging the ones there with many a word.”—Acts 20:www.jw.org
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