Then should I still have comfort; yea, I would exult myself in sorrow: let him not spare; for I have not concealed the words of the Holy One.
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Didymus the Blind
AD 398
He who asks to be wounded does not pray out of exhaustion that his prayer might be granted but in order to fulfill his task. This task was to fulfill the right deeds or to make visible to the friends for their benefit the reason for the hardships, [namely,] that they had been imposed as a test. Then they would not make mistakes against the righteous. Instead, with divine zeal they would be committed to emulate the endurance and steadfastness that the holy one exhibited and that led him to say, “O that I might have my request,” rather than … “that God would grant my desire.” Job prays for two reasons. On the one hand, he prays that he himself may win the crown in the competition. On the other hand, Job prays that his friends may not consider his endurance in hardship as meaningless. His steadfastness even in such great hardships can be seen and admired in the fact that Job did not deny his friend an answer, even though preoccupation with his hardships could have served as an excuse. But...
22. The Elect, when they know that they have done unlawful things, but find upon careful examination that they have met with no afflictions in return for those unlawful deeds, with the immense force of their fear, are in a ferment with alarm, and labour and travail with dark misgivings, lest grace should have forsaken them for ever, seeing that no recompensing of their ill-doing keeps them safe in the present life; they fear lest the vengeance which is suspended be stored to be dealt in heavier measure at the end; they are eager to be stricken with the correction of a Father's hand, and they reckon the pain of the wound to be the medicine of saving health. Therefore it is rightly said in this place, Let this be my consolation, that afflicting me with grief He spare not. As if it were in plain words, ‘May He, Who spares people here for this cause, that He may strike them for ever and ever, therefore strike me here, that, by not sparing me, He may spare me for ever. For I console mys...
“I do not care to oppose your words,” Job says. “It seems to me, in fact, that I have committed nothing resembling what you say. I don’t state this openly. I simply say that I am suffering punishments that go beyond what human nature can endure. The vastness of my temptations extends far beyond what human bodies can actually bear.” However, observe how, even in the midst of such grief, Job has not decided, in any case, to come and relate his good actions. He has hidden them so far. In addition, he who often with great honesty exposed his fault to public mockery before a brilliant audience is silent about his good actions, even while living in such misery. In fact, Job does not say, “I experienced these sufferings, even though I am righteous.” Rather, Job says he cannot bear them.… His language is not that of a man who asserts that he is unjustly punished but that of one who recognizes, on the contrary, the justness of his punishment. He simply cannot bear any more punishment and theref...
