Same verse. — And His soul, whatsoever it willed, this it did. 47. — Not even those things withstand God which seem to be done contrary to His will. — Since God is exterior to all bodies and interior to all minds, that very power of His, by which He penetrates all things and disposes all, is called His soul. To whose will not even those things are opposed which seem to be done contrary to His will, because to this end He sometimes permits even that to be done which He does not command, so that thereby that may the more surely be fulfilled which He does enjoin. The will of the apostate angel is indeed perverse, yet is wondrously ordered by God, so that even his very snares serve the profit of the good, whom he purges while he tempts.
Thus therefore His soul, whatsoever it willed, this it did, so that thence too He fulfills His will, whence it seemed that His will was resisted. Let the righteous man therefore be affrighted, and, considering the weight of so great a Majesty, let him discover that he is weak. 48. But amid these words it pleases us to inquire and to say: O blessed Job, placed amid so many scourges, why dost thou still dread adversities? Already thou art girded with tribulations, already thou art straitened with countless afflictions. That evil ought to be feared which has not yet been received; thou, placed in such great sorrow, what dost thou fear? But behold, the righteous man, satisfying our inquiries, adds: