But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.
Job's last long speech looks back at the honour he once had, then at the ruin he now sits in. Verse 26 is the sting in that contrast, and it raises two questions: why did a life of kindness end like this, and has Job read God rightly?
The Summing Up of His Misery
This is not a stray complaint. It is Job's summing up of everything he has just described.
Samuel RidoutHe sums up his misery in verses 26 and 27. In his prosperity he had looked forward to good all his days. Instead, misery had overtaken him, and darkness came where he had hoped for light. Instead of a heart at rest, his inner man was a seething cauldron of anguish — "Days of affliction come to meet me."
The Claim Behind the Complaint
Job feels wronged, and he says why. He had wept for others in trouble, so he expected the same care in return.
Leslie M. GrantWhy should his trouble go on? Did he deserve such treatment as this? Why, he had wept for the one whose day was hard, and his soul had been grieved for the needy. It is sad that Job was in effect claiming to have been more considerate than God! Why did he allow such words to fall from his lips?
Why the Light Did Not Come
Job expected good because he thought he had been good. That is the one ground on which light never comes.
Leslie M. GrantHe looked for good as a result of his apparent goodness, but evil came to him, and darkness came rather than light. But we can never enjoy the light of God's presence when we maintain our own self-righteousness. No wonder then his heart was in turmoil, unable to rest.
Self in the Place of God
There is a deeper reason for the gloom. What Job misses most is not God, but the good days God once gave him.
William KellyIt is an expression of the deepest gloom. The cause is the bright past he had enjoyed by God's favour, which had too much taken the place of God Himself before his soul… All this is only self, not God. We must humble ourselves under His mighty hand if we want to be lifted up in due time. Self-defence never wins the blessing, however true it may be. Neither does complaining or wounded feeling. The blessing comes by justifying God and learning his own vileness in His presence.
Wrong About the Silence, Wrong About the End
Job draws two conclusions in the dark. God is not listening, he says, and death is all that remains. He is wrong on both counts.
William Kelly"I cry to you for help and you do not answer me." But God did hear him. There was a reason why He did not answer; but God did hear… "For I know that you will bring me to death" — there he was wrong again. God had good things in store for Job.
The Good He Looked For Did Arrive
The good Job waited for was not cancelled. It came late, and the suffering in between was doing its own work.
The Christian's FriendJob did not feel happy when the testing pushed him almost beyond what he could endure. He was happy in another sense. He was in the Lord's care, and the Lord was leading him to a sure and certain goal of blessing. For now his affliction was not joyful but painful. Yet it was about to yield him the peaceable fruit of righteousness, because it was training him… We find "the end of the Lord" in the last chapters of Job's history, where we get to see him restored to blessing and to the favour of the Lord.
Summary
- Expectation. Job looked forward to good all his days. He got misery instead, and his inner man became a cauldron of anguish.
- Ground. He expected good because he thought he had been good. He had wept for others in trouble, so he was in effect claiming to be kinder than God.
- Blockage. No one enjoys the light of God's presence while holding on to his own righteousness. Self-defence never wins the blessing, however true it is.
- Misreading. God did hear the cry He did not answer, and Job was wrong to think death was the end — God had good things in store for him.
- Outcome. The last chapters show the end of the Lord. Job is restored to blessing and favour. The good was not cancelled, only delayed while the affliction bore its peaceable fruit.