Editorial February 17, 1986 Issue

"Just words"? ... Don't believe it!

ALLISON W. PHINNEY, JR.

Words of comfort, words of inspiration, words of encouragement. Many people have come to some point in their lives when the words that have meant so much to them seem temporarily "just words."

Job's story in the Bible can be a help at such times. One lesson we might draw from it is this. When the words of Job's comforters, Zophar, Eliphaz, and Bildad, were without much meaning for him, Job still would not give up a basic conviction of God's existence and of His omnipotence and wisdom.

Though Job felt cut off from God, afflicted and humbled nearly beyond all reason or his own capacity to bear it, still he refused to believe that God had changed or lacked power. Job argued for God. He said: "He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered? Which removeth the mountains, and they know not .... Which alone spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the waves of the sea. Which maketh Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers of the south. Which doeth great things past finding out; yea, and wonders without number."^{ Job 9:4, 5, 8–10.}

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