ESOCS Devotional 13 May 2026 – When Misfortunes Strikes, Friends Desert
MEMORY VERSE: ““Have mercy on me, my friends, have mercy, for the hand of God has struck me.” Job 19:21 NLT
TEXT: JOB 19:21-27
“Have pity on me, have pity on me, O you my friends,
For the hand of God has struck me!
22 Why do you persecute me as God does,
And are not satisfied with my flesh?
23 “Oh, that my words were written!
Oh, that they were inscribed in a book!
24 That they were engraved on a rock
With an iron pen and lead, forever!
25 For I know that my Redeemer lives,
And He shall stand at last on the earth;
26 And after my skin is destroyed, this I know,
That in my flesh I shall see God,
27 Whom I shall see for myself,
And my eyes shall behold, and not another.
How my heart yearns within me!
READ OTHER ESOCS DEVOTIONAL HERE
A spiritually inspired Gospel Song writer released this rendition centuries ago, thus:
“There is no friend like Jesus Christ, our Lord.
He is our only faithful friend.
Worldly friends deny, worldly friends desert;
But Jesus will never forget me.”
This song calls to mind Job’s cry and tales of woe in Job 19:19: “My close friends detest me. Those I loved have turned against me” (NLT).
Dear child of God, who actually are your friends? How truly sincere do you think they are? Stop short, consider and learn from Job’s predicaments. The shallowness of the friendship of Job’s acquaintances was manifested in the fact that they quickly gave up on him in his great hour of need. It is likely they all envied him in his flourishing state, and thus demonstrated their true inner feelings of him when he lost everything.
True friends are discovered when one has nothing or is in a time of great need, (John 19:38-42). It may have been that these supposed friends were only hanging around him for the benefits they derived from the relationship. When the blessings were gone, so went they also. As all false friends deserted, only the Holy Spirit, the Comforter of heaven (John 14:16), remained. It could only have taken the counsel of the Holy Spirit to remind Job that in the absence of all worldly friends, his Redeemer lives on. Moreover, in this case, God was Job’s Redeemer. Job trusted in God, who eventually declared him innocent in the end. God rewarded him multiple times over, as we see in Job Chapter 42. When all hope is lost, when all false friends desert, Jesus is ever present.
Reflections
- Beware of false friendships. Jesus is the only true friend.
Prayer
- Lord, my God, save me from deceitful friends.
Further Reading: Genesis 7:11-18; John 19:38-42, 1 Peter 4:1-6
ESOCS Devotional 13 May 2026
