Job 19:11  He hath also kindled his wrath against me, and he counteth me unto him as one of his enemies.
12  His troops come together, and raise up their way against me, and encamp round about my tabernacle.
13  He hath put my brethren far from me, and mine acquaintance are verily estranged from me.
14  My kinsfolk have failed, and my familiar friends have forgotten me.
15  They that dwell in mine house, and my maids, count me for a stranger: I am an alien in their sight.
16  I called my servant, and he gave me no answer; I intreated him with my mouth.
17  My breath is strange to my wife, though I intreated for the children’s sake of mine own body.
18  Yea, young children despised me; I arose, and they spake against me.
19  All my inward friends abhorred me: and they whom I loved are turned against me.
20  My bone cleaveth to my skin and to my flesh, and I am escaped with the skin of my teeth.
21  Have pity upon me, have pity upon me, O ye my friends; for the hand of God hath touched me.
22  Why do ye persecute me as God, and are not satisfied with my flesh?

Job continued to speak of his perspective of God. Job did not have right thoughts about God at this time. Interestingly, God directed Job to write these things down. Man is not that complicated. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, but our thinking is not that different one from another. What makes the difference is who we listen to.
Job was a man of God who was not listening to what he knew to be true. He was willing to allow the devil to interfere with what he knew to be true. Job was accountable for his thoughts. He would repent and confess his sin to God later. Those who are saved can look into the mirror of God’s Word and see what our thoughts are. Are we believing lies or are we trusting in the Lord in our lives.
Those that are lost are very susceptible to believing lies. Lost people need to get saved in order to be able to think right thoughts.
In verse 11 Job believed that God had kindled His wrath against him and had counted him as His enemy. Job had no reason to believe this, but he assumed that his difficulties were from the hand of God.
In verses 12-16 Job stated that God had turned his remaining family against him. No one except these three friends wanted to be associated with Job at this point. We are not told if they thought associating with him might implicate them in his “sin”. Even those remaining in his house did not want anything to do with him. He was left alone and without comforters.
In II Timothy 4 Paul wrote about a time when he was left more or less alone. In verse 10 he spoke of Demas forsaking him. Luke was there with him but he could not always be there to help him. In the following verses he requested that Mark be brought to him. He also requested some warmer clothing and also the books and the parchments. Paul needed human contacts. He needed to be kept warm. He also needed to be able to continue to study the Word of God. That was the foundation upon which his life was built. We need friends, but we need the Word of God through which we can examine what others are saying.
We do not read that Job had access to any Scriptures. We do not know what was written down at the time that he was alive. He had the Lord, but he was not trusting in Him fully at this time. He saw Him as a major part of the problem.
In verse 17 Job again referred to his breath. Even his wife did not want to be too close to him. Job had interceded for his children while they were alive. He had sought to be a godly father to them. Now, according to verse 18, even young children did not want to be near him. People looked at his appearance and they looked at what had happened to him and they did not want to be near him. Job had lost the respect he once had.
In verse 19 he talked of friends, other than the three who were there to mock him. His close friends had turned their back on him. When people are not grounded in the truth, they do not know how to help others. We know that the disciples all forsook Jesus when He was arrested. A few hung around on the fringes, but that was it. We know that Jesus came to die on the cross. However, we see how those who were closest to Him for over three years seemed to disassociate with Him at that time.
If we know the truth, we can be a help to others. If we are trusting in the Lord, we can help those who need our help without them taking us down. Biblical separation is important. Biblical separation does not mean we cannot talk to others who need our help.
In verse 20 Job further described his physical realities. He had lost a lot of weight. He was not a handsome man with a good physique at this time. There was nothing attractive about his appearance. Sadly, he had nothing attractive in his soul at this time either. He was in fact driving people away from himself with his negative attitude toward God. It is important for us to consider our attitude in the midst of difficulties.
In verses 21-22 Job pleaded with his friends for pity. Job assumed that God had judged him harshly and he wanted the people he knew to treat him with greater favour. He did not want them treating him in the same way he assumed God was treating him. He assumed that God was not satisfied with afflicting his body and he assumed his friends were also after more than just his physical anguish. Job needed someone to help him get out of his slump, but there was no human being who was willing to help him. He would need to come to the place the Psalmist spoke of:

Psalm 121:1  I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.
2  My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth.

Job knew that God was the Creator, but for the time being, he pushed that aside and dwelt overwhelmingly on his troubles. God wants His children to be look beyond their troubles to the God Who loves and provides that which is most essential — eternal life. When our mental and spiritual state is intact, it will help us to deal with our physical state in a proper manner. It will also help us in our approach to others who might want to help us. If they see us as miserable and negative all the time, they will not want to be around us for long. If we can accept encouragement from them and can have a right attitude toward God and men, it will be a great help. We can have that if we know the Lord as our God and Saviour.
Pastor Bartel