I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
I was not in safety ... yet trouble came - referring, not to his former state but to the beginning of his troubles. From that time I have had no rest there has been no intermission of sorrows. And, although I have been and am harassed with so many trials, yet a fresh trouble is coming-namely, my friends' suspicion of my being a hypocrite. This gives the starting point to the whole ensuing controversy.
Remarks:
(1) The truthfulness of the inspired volume appears in its so faithfully recording the blemishes, as well as the graces, of its heroes, Job, the man especially distinguished for pious patience under the overwhelming pressure of accumulated calamities, heightened by the want of real sympathy in his professed friends, gives way to the passionate promptings of a wounded spirit.
(2) Let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall. None can say what he may be tempted to when exposed to fiery trial: but the believer knows Him who saith, "As thy days, so shall thy strength be:" he therefore prays, "Lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil."
(3) Christ alone is the faultless model to copy, and He has promised to "keep the feet of His saints." Let us follow the example of His patience, who, when He was reviled, reviled not again, when He suffered, threatened not, but committed Himself to Him that judgeth righteously. (4) By impatient murmurings against the trying dispensations of God's Providence, we only aggravate the evil.
(5) A day is coming when the ungodly may well wish they had never been born. But so long as men are in this life, they are in the land of grace and hope; and they may so turn to good account all the contingencies of this life, even its sorest trials, as to have reason to bless God to all eternity for their creation well as redemption.