If only my anguish could be weighed and all my misery be placed on the scales! – Job 6:2

Today's Scripture Reading (August 17, 2024): Job 6

She meant it as a joke. A friend was moving, and a group of people volunteered to help move the furniture out of the apartment and into the rented truck. Then, at the other end of the journey, from the truck into the new place that would become the friend's home for the next few years. Two muscular guys had picked up a couch and started carrying it to the truck. And this is where her joke came in. She watched as these two musclebound, handsome guys picked up the couch; she laughed and said, "Hey, let me help." And then she jumped up onto the couch.

I don't know if you have ever tried to pick up a couch, but in the process, there is often that moment when you are juggling a little bit, trying to make sure you have a grip on the piece of furniture. That was the particular moment that this friend had decided to jump on the couch. As a result, one of the guys didn't have a grip, and the sofa slid out of his hands and right on his foot. It could have been worse; nothing was broken. But the pain was genuine. And for a little while, one of the movers was out of commission. She meant it as a joke, but it had an authentic effect on the day.

Job responds to the accusation of Eliphaz. He begins by saying that he wishes his anguish could be weighed. He wishes there was an objective scale where he could show his friends the depth of his pain. The reality was that Eliphaz had played the same part the girl playing a joke on her friends had played on moving day. Job had been trying to lift his heavy burdens by himself. Maybe Eliphaz had meant to help, to take some of the burdens on himself. But all that he had succeeded in doing was making something that was already heavy just a little heavier. Eliphaz had jumped on top of Job's suffering, making the load heavier than it needed to be.

Job wishes that he could quantify what he was feeling. But he also knew that that was impossible. It is a secret of life. No one can truly feel our pain; even people who empathize with us are really just feeling their own pain. The weight of our suffering is ours to bear, and no one can carry it for us or understand how heavy the circumstances under which we are struggling are.

It is the secret that Eliphaz missed. In his foolishness, he had made Job's situation worse. His silence had been welcome, but now his speech had reversed that. Job needed friends to sit with him, not jump on top of the weight and make it heavier. It is a lesson that I need to learn, and maybe you do too.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Job 7