They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man.
They grope in the dark without light. "Thou shalt grope at, noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness" (Deuteronomy 28:29). Psalms 107:27. again quotes Job, but in a different connection.
Remarks:
(1) How many are the self-sufficient people who seem to think all the wisdom in the world is centered in themselves (Job 12:2). A more just view of ourselves and of others will lead us "not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Romans 12:3).
(2) The worldly trample heartlessly on the fallen. Even an upright man is "despised" if adversity happen him. So long as one stands firm in prosperity he is spoken well of, but when his feet are ready to slip (Job 12:5), he is treated like the torch almost burnt out, which the traveler, when he has reached his journey's end, casts away, now that he no longer needs its light. The believer ought to show a very different spirit from this to the falling and fallen. For "charity suffereth long, and is kind-doth not behave itself unseemly."
(3) It is a great difficulty to those of weak faith to account for the anomaly that daring and dishonest oppressors "prosper" here. But the truth is, if worldly prosperity were such a real blessing as it is supposed, the ungodly would not be allowed to have so much of it. God values it at a low rate: He makes the very prosperity of fools their destruction (Proverbs 1:32).
(4) He has better things in store for His children: so that the believer can say, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, (4) He has better things in store for His children: so that the believer can say, "Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their grain and their wine increased" (Psalms 4:7). How apt men are to make onesided quotations, only choosing such passages, especially of Scripture, as suit their own purpose (Job 12:11) and "taste!" In dealing spiritually with others we should not seek out merely texts to condemn, but also texts to edify, heal, and comfort them.
(5) Job in his description of the irresistible might of God dwells more on God's acts of terrible might, in sending sudden reverses on kings, counselors, and nations, than on His marvelous loving-kindness in healing the broken-hearted, loosening the prisoner, and restoring the fallen. We ought never to let the severity of our trials blind us to the tender mercies of our God. The more honourably we think and speak of God, the more cause will He give us to honour and glorify Him.