Job's friends turned out to be "miserable comforters" (Job 16:2). Instead of helping Job deal with his sorrows, they added to his misery by charging him with sin. Despite Job's repeated claims of innocence, his friends insisted he was suffering at the hands of God because he had committed some great sin. Their advice: come clean, confess your sins, make your life right with God, and then God will remove this punishment and give you relief from your suffering.

At the end of the book, Job's friends discover they were wrong about both Job and God. The Lord told them, "My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has" (Job 42:7). These men were not speaking the truth when they insisted Job was suffering at the hand of God because of his great sin. They were misrepresenting God, and God was holding them accountable.

The same thing can happen to us today. Like Job's friends, sometimes it happens when we are trying to help those who are suffering. We want to comfort them, but we must be careful not to make claims that cannot be backed up with Scripture. Looking for something to say, we speak from our own ideas and preconceived notions of how we think God must feel about things rather than taking the time to study the Bible and find out what, if anything, God has actually said on the subject. At other times, the Lord is misrepresented when brethren bind their judgments and scruples as the law of God. We have no right to hold brethren accountable to standards that have not been set by the Lord.

James warned, "My brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment" (James 3:1). God will hold us accountable. If we are going to claim to speak for God, let's make sure we are speaking the truth and are not misrepresenting God.