Don't be a wadi.

My brothers have acted deceitfully like a wadi,
Like the torrents of wadis which vanish,
Which are turbid because of ice
And into which the snow melts.
"When they become waterless, they are silent,
When it is hot, they vanish from their place.
"The paths of their course wind along,
They go up into nothing and perish.
"The caravans of Tema looked,
The travelers of Sheba hoped for them.
"They were disappointed for they had trusted,
They came there and were confounded.
"Indeed, you have now become such,
You see a terror and are afraid.

Job 6:15-21 (NASB)

Job's hurting; spiritually, physcially hurting. Job's friend came out and sat in ashes with him for a week. A good start. He's probably been there for weeks or months himself. Only he's covered in worm-infested boils in places I wouldn't care to even come close to with shards of pottery.

His friend's words: Well, you've done well helping other people, Job. But only people that act in sin have all these bad things happen to them. Don't you see? What? No, well, yeah I see you're in mourning and lament, but let me just... Job's reply: You're like a wadi.

Apparently, a wadi is torrent of water that might freeze, and weary desert travelers would look for frozen waters like these as they melt in the desert sun for sustenance. Job says his friends badly timed, pious preaching is like these frozen wadis that melt and by the time the travelers reach their hope for a source of water, it has evaporated.

Let us not be a mirage of hope to our friends in a time of suffering. Don't be a wadi.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.

For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

2 Corinthians 1:3-7