““What has preceded in verses 1–37 is designed not to mitigate the harsh circumstances of verses 38–45 but to be a foil to them. In other words, neither commentator allows that the inconsistency with what has preceded may be precisely the point. The hermeneutical move of downplaying verse 39 is akin to the move of downplaying the protestation of faithfulness in Psalm 44:17–22: it has the same effect of deflecting the real concern of the psalms—that the expectations of faith go one way, but experiences in life may go the opposite way.””
