I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
The verse belongs to the second division of the book of Job, the long discussions between Job and his three friends in chapters 3 through 31 concerning the cause and purpose of human suffering. As part of that book it sets forth the enduring perplexities over overruling providence, sin, and suffering that have troubled humanity through all ages. It expresses Job's condition of having no safety and no rest and no quiet before trouble came upon him, while he knew his own integrity and yet could not understand God's dealings with him. It shows that even Job, though a model of patience, had his heart unsettled and disturbed by great trouble.
It voices Job under God's corrective discipline as He led him through the refining fire of affliction. Even so, Job did not foolishly charge God or accuse Him of wrong. At that time his three friends were determined to charge him with sin and to declare that his sufferings were because of sin, illustrating how prone people are to misjudge their fellows. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out through Job's affliction what would glorify Himself for all time afterward, give comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers, and prove a blessing to Job himself.
The verse belongs to the second division of the book of Job, the long discussions between Job and his three friends in chapters 3 through 31 concerning the cause and purpose of human suffering. As part of that book it sets forth the enduring perplexities over overruling providence, sin, and suffering that have troubled humanity through all ages. It expresses Job's condition of having no safety and no rest and no quiet before trouble came upon him, while he knew his own integrity and yet could not understand God's dealings with him. It shows that even Job, though a model of patience, had his heart unsettled and disturbed by great trouble.
It voices Job under God's corrective discipline as He led him through the refining fire of affliction. Even so, Job did not foolishly charge God or accuse Him of wrong. At that time his three friends were determined to charge him with sin and to declare that his sufferings were because of sin, illustrating how prone people are to misjudge their fellows. God saw the end from the beginning and was working out through Job's affliction what would glorify Himself for all time afterward, give comfort and hope to thousands of sufferers, and prove a blessing to Job himself.