Living Room Study

Job 6

“A friend should be kind to an unhappy man, even to one who abandons Shaddai.  But my brothers are as deceptive as wadis, as wadi streams that soon run dry; they may turn dark with ice, and be hidden by piled-up snow; but as the weather warms up, they vanish; when it’s hot, they disappear; their courses run this way and that; they go up into the confusing waste and are lost.  The caravans from Tema look for them, the travelers from Sheba hope to find them; but they are disappointed, because they were confident; on arrival there, they are frustrated.” Job 6:14-20

In order to fully appreciate today’s passage, it is imperative that we understand what a “wadi” is. It is also important, because the wadi image appears many times throughout the Bible. A wadi is a desert riverbed, and thus synonymous with being unreliable.

Here in Southern California’s “Inland Empire”, where I live, the climate is very similar to that of Israel. We are very familiar with dried and cracked-earth riverbeds. Most of the year, the wadi is barely recognizable. To the watchful eye, it resembles an old ditch, whose water must have been turned-off or re-routed. Many campers have made the mistake of pitching their tents in such riverbeds…but an unseen rainstorm up in the far away mountains can cause a flash flood that hurtles down the mountain. Immediately filling the wadi, these flash floods wash away everything in their paths, with deadly consequences. Wadis cannot be trusted to stay dry.

They also cannot be trusted to stay hydrated. Consider, for instance, a traveler from a foreign country passing through the land. Exhausted and in need of a drink, the traveler spies a riverbed full of water. After refreshing himself, the traveler marks the river on his map. But on the way back home, again in need of refreshment, the traveler follows the map back to the river, only to be disappointed by a dry and cracked ditch.

This is how Job is describing his friends’ counsel: As unreliably deceptive as the wadi!!

“The caravans from Tema look for them, the travelers from Sheba hope to find them; but they are disappointed, because they were confident; on arrival there, they are frustrated.” Job 6:19-20

Whenever a person only “partly” relies on God’s Word, we cannot trust their counsel. One day, they may clearly share the refreshing truth of God’s Word, but another day they may spout forth some humanist mumbo-jumbo that leaves your soul drier than it was before!

Only God’s Word, the Bible, can be trusted every time. It is unchanging, so if you forget it, you can always go back and re-read it…refreshing your memory AND your soul.

Blessings.

Steve Wiggins