“Don’t be like the three friends of Job!” God spoke to me one morning. I was sitting on the floor in my office, reading the Bible. “Huh?” I responded. It is not that I did not hear it clearly but it was unexpected. I was not even reading the book of Job.

I knew exactly what the words referred to. That morning on the way to work, my husband and I were talking about criticisms of pastors. I was saying, perhaps we could do this or that, or say this or that to the pastors.

I also knew it was God speaking to me and not my imagination because this had happened on three occasions before – when I was writing papers, and God gave the crucial idea that got the papers successfully accepted by journals (I am a lecturer). But this is the first time God spoke to me in my Christian church life.

Then the words came again, “Do you think you are more righteous than my servant, X?” I felt my face grow warm, and I felt so ashamed before God.

I told God, “You yourself will tell the pastors what needs telling. I will do none of this.”

That evening on the way home from work, I sent a text message to a sister-in-Christ to tell her that God had told me not to be like the three friends of Job. I did not tell her the second message because there was too much to type. But when she said that we are all sinners, it confirmed the second message I received. God had spoken to her in other ways, and we both agreed that we should not be channels to heap more criticisms on pastors. As human beings, we feed on the negative and ignore the positive.

I have never seriously prayed for the pastors or church ministries because to me, there is no real need. I had believed that God would take care of his church and his servants anyway, and my prayers are immaterial. But this incident makes me realise that I should not push the failings of my church onto the shoulders of my pastors. It is also my church, and I should take responsibility by praying.

By Ting Su Hie, Faith Methodist Church, Kuching