Bildad the Shuhite

Ronny Graham, focusing on II Thessalonians 2:16-17, a passage emphasizing comfort and consolation, asks us whether we are good comforters. When loved ones die, we may find it difficult to express comfort to the family. One of the major themes of the book of Job is comfort, ranging from the miserable comforters consisting of Job's friends to Jesus Christ's comforting words on the night of His last Passover. One of Job's friends , Eliaphaz, seemed to get counsel from a familiar spirit, providing Job with no comfort. Jesus Christ, in John 13-17, provides words of comfort to His disciples, promising them the indwelling of God's Holy Spirit. The words of comfort we give to others should be true, helpful, inspiring, necessary, and kind.

David C. Grabbe:  The story of Job has long been a place of inquiry for those enduring severe trials. ...

John Ritenbaugh asserts that only a converted person humbles himself before the truth, making a conscientious, unflagging effort to follow the light of evidence, even to the most unwelcome conclusions, resisting desire, passion, and prejudices acquired through our culture. Human nature is hostile to God's truth, but rejecting truth leads to idolatry and a debased mind (Romans 1:28). We have been redeemed from the traditions and philosophies produced by corrupt men, inspired by demons, the patterns of thinking and conduct that are at odds with the truth of God. We have to desperately fight the perverse downward pull of human nature (inspired by the culture into which we are immersed) to ignore the truth.