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At last, Job began to speak, and
to complain bitterly of all his sufferings. He was tempted even to
wish he had never been born; and to murmur, and be impatient, and to find
fault with God himself who had so afflicted him. And
did not Job's friends encourage him to trust in God, and submit to His
will? No; instead of doing this, they only added to his grief, by
unkindly and unjustly accusing him. They told him God never would have
afflicted him so much, if he had not been a very wicked man; for they
thought, that righteous people were always prosperous, and that only the
wicked were afflicted; so, when they saw Job in trouble, they said his
sufferings were sent as a punishment for his sins, and they advised him to
humble himself before God, and ask for pardon. Job
knew that he was a sinner; he knew that he could not trust to his own
goodness and righteousness: he said, "How should man be just
before God. If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn
me." But Job could not believe that all his troubles were sent
to punish him for some particular sin; or, because he had been only
pretending to serve God, when he did not really love Him. No; Job
felt that he had been sincere; not a hypocrite, as his friends
unkindly said he was; and so when they accused him, he answered, "My
righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go; my heart shall not
reproach me as long as I live." Now
Job and his friends were quite right in some things that they said, but in
others they were very much mistaken. Job's friends were right in
advising him to humble himself before God, and ask for pardon; for
afflictions are sent by God, to lead His people to do this. But they
were quite wrong in accusing Job of being a wicked man, and a hypocrite,
because he was afflicted; for God often afflicts most, those who love and
serve him best,—in love, not in anger; "Whom the Lord loveth he
correcteth." Proverbs 3:12. And though Job was right in
saying, that he had not brought his sufferings on himself, by his own
wickedness and hypocrisy, yet he spoke what was wrong, too; for he almost
accused God of unkindness and injustice, in afflicting him after he had so
sincerely tried to serve God.
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