Matthew Henry Commentary Job 9:25-35

"Now my days are swifter than a post: They flee away, they see no good, They are passed away as the swift ships; As the eagle that swoopeth on the prey. If I say, I will forget my complaint, I will put off my [sad] countenance, and be of good cheer; I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. I shall be condemned; Why then do I labor in vain? If I wash myself with snow water, And make my hands never so clean; Yet wilt thou plunge me in the ditch, And mine own clothes shall abhor me. For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, That we should come together in judgment. There is no umpire betwixt us, That might lay his hand upon us both. Let him take his rod away from me, And let not his terror make me afraid: Then would I speak, and not fear him; For I am not so in myself." — Job 9:25-35 (ASV)

How little need we have of pastimes, and how great our need is to redeem time, when it runs so quickly toward eternity! How vain are the enjoyments of time, which we may completely lose while time still continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterward; the remembrance of having acquired worldly wealth, however, will not be so when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint against God, as one who could not be appeased and would not relent, was the language of his corruption.

There is a Mediator, an Umpire for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, and who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him.

If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the depths of the sea; we will be washed from all our filthiness and made whiter than snow, so that no one can lay anything to our charge. We will be clothed with the robes of righteousness and salvation, adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit, and presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy.

May we learn the difference between justifying ourselves and being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossed soul consider Job and notice that others have passed this dreadful gulf; and though they found it hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the storm and brought them to the desired haven. Resist the devil; do not give place to hard thoughts of God or desperate conclusions about yourself.

Come to Him who invites the weary and heavy laden; who promises in nowise to cast them out.