Charles Spurgeon Commentary Job 19

They struck at him with their hard words, as if they were breaking stones on the roadside. We ought to be very careful what we say to those who are suffering affliction and trial, for a word, though it seems to be a very little thing, will often cut far more deeply and wound far more terribly than a razor would. So Job says, How long will ye vex my soul, and break me in pieces with words?

He means that they had reproached him several times over, and hints that they ought to have been ashamed to act so strangely, so coldly, so unkindly, towards him.

"I have done you no harm. The error, if an error exists, is within my own self, for you cannot find anything in my life to charge me with." Happy is the man who can say as much as that.

Job seems to say, "I did not bring this trouble upon myself; it is God who has laid it upon me. Be careful that, in reproaching me for my trouble, you do not also reproach God." I suppose that not all of us can see into the inner meaning of these words, but if we are in very severe trouble, and those who ought to comfort us are bringing cruel accusations against us, we will read the language of Job with considerable sympathy and satisfaction.

Poor Job! When our prayer is not heard, or we think it is not, then the clouds above us are dark indeed. You who are passing through a season of unanswered prayer, do not imagine that you are the first to traverse that dreary way! You can see the footprints of others on that desolate sandy shore.

Job knew what that experience meant, so did David, and so did our blessed Lord. Read Psalm 22:2, and hear Jesus say, O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.