I. The Friend spoken of in the text is none other than God Himself in the person of the Lord Jesus. "In six troubles He will be with you; yea, in seven no evil shall happen unto you." When trouble comes, it is trouble, say what we will; and when misfortune happens, it cannot do so without the evil of it touching us in some way. But if the Lord Jesus be with us in our trouble, then the trouble will be found easy to bear; and if when misfortune happens Christ is with us, we shall find that His presence outweighs in good all the evil that would crush us if it could. Learn then to cultivate nearness to Jesus. Go to Him constantly. Pray often. Read His holy word. Do His holy will. Then He will always be with you, ready to help in time of need.
II. A traveller has told us that he once witnessed a battle between a poisonous spider and an insect which it attacked. Every time the insect was bitten by the spider, and before the poison could work it settled on the leaves of a plant hard by and sucked them; and as it sucked them it was healed, and returned to the battle as strong and brave as before. But the traveller was cruel enough to take away the plant. The poor insect when bitten went as usual to look for it, but could not find it, and presently died on the spot. Here you have a picture of what is going on continually. Just like this feeble insect, you have to wage a battle with a poisonous enemy Satan. As the insect, every time it was bitten, went to the healing plant, so you must go to the Healer likewise. There is but one; it is the Lord Jesus. Go to Him, and you will come back to the battle as brave and fresh as ever. Nobody and nothing can remove Christ out of the way. He remains an everlasting refuge to all who choose to flee to Him.
G. Litting, Thirty Sermons for Children,p. 168.
References: Job 5:23. W. Burrows, Christian World Pulpit,vol. x., p. 68. Job 5:24. Preacher's Monthly,vol. iv., p. 314.Job 5:26. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. i., No. 43.Job 6:1. S. Baring-Gould, One Hundred Sermon Sketches,p. 208. Job 6:10. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxv., No. 1471.Job 6:15-17 Homiletic Magazine,vol. x., p. 71.Job 6:25. Expositor,3rd series, vol. iv., p. 79. Job 6-7 S. Cox, Ibid.,1st series, vol. iv., p. 401; Ibid., Commentary on Job,p. 88. Job 7:1. Spurgeon, Sermons,vol. xxi., No. 1258; G. Brooks, Outlines of Sermons,p. 286. Job 7:6. E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons,1st. series, p. 1.Job 7:12. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 262.