Job 1:
6 One day, when the angels had gathered around the LORD, and Satan was there with them,
7 the LORD asked, "Satan, where have you been?" Satan replied, "I have been going all over the earth."
8 Then the LORD asked, "What do you think of my servant Job? No one on earth is like him - he is a truly good person, who respects me and refuses to do evil."
9 "Why shouldn't he respect you?" Satan remarked.
10 "You are like a wall protecting not only him, but his entire family and all his property. You make him successful in whatever he does, and his flocks and herds are everywhere.
11 Try taking away everything he owns, and he will curse you to your face."
12 The LORD replied, "All right, Satan, do what you want with anything that belongs to him, but don't harm Job."
Then Satan left.    (Contemporary English Bible)

After this conversation, Satan destroyed all Job's businesses and took the lives of Job's children.
Job's response was to mourn his loss and worship God.
Then Satan asked God's permission to take away Job's health. But even after all this devastation, Job maintained his faith in God, even though God had given him no explanation as to why these things had happened to him.

Then Job's friends came to try and tell him that his sins and failures had brought this suffering into his life:
Job 4:
1 Eliphaz's First Speech:   Eliphaz from Teman said:
2 Please be patient and listen to what I have to say . . .
8 In my experience, only those who plant seeds of evil harvest trouble,
9 and then they are swept away by the angry breath of God.
10 They may roar and growl like powerful lions. But when God breaks their teeth,
11 they starve, and their children are scattered.
Job 11:
1 Zophar's First Speech:   Zophar from Naamah said:
2 So much foolish talk cannot go unanswered . . .
13 Surrender your heart to God, turn to him in prayer,
14 and give up your sins - even those you do in secret.
15 Then you won't be ashamed; you will be confident and fearless.
16 Your troubles will go away like water beneath a bridge,
17 and your darkest night will be brighter than noon.
18 You will rest safe and secure, filled with hope and emptied of worry.
19 You will sleep without fear and be greatly respected.
20 But those who are evil will go blind and lose their way. Their only escape is death!    (Contemporary English Bible)

Job's friends had no idea why Job had suffered these losses in his life.
Neither had they asked God for His explanation as to why these awful things were taking place in Job's life.

In their society, the cultural belief was that if you did well in life, it meant that God was pleased with your life-style, you were a good person, and so had rewarded you with wealth and prosperity.
Therefore, they reasoned that if you suffered reverses in life, it meant that God was no longer pleased with your life-style and that there was some secret sin in your life.

Job's friends had completely misjudged the situation and the heart of Job. This was yet another level of loss in Job's life: for his friends to judge him as unjustly as they did.
But even in this, Job was rich toward God.

Prayer:
Father in heaven, if I have misjudged others when they were suffering reverses in life, I ask that You forgive me, and help me to respond in more mature manner in future,
in Jesus' name,    Amen.

Hope