Gregory the Great, on Job 21:4

“Is my debate against man, that I should not have just reason to be troubled?”

“Ver. 4. As for me, is my dispute against man, that I should not be justly sad? 42. Whosoever in pleasing God displeases man, has no grounds for sadness. But he, who in pleasing man displeases God, or thinks that he displeases both God and man together, if sadness does not come upon him, proves a stranger to the excellency of wisdom. Now blessed Job believed that he had displeased God in the midst of his strokes, and therefore he called back his mind to sadness, in that He was not to be disregarded, Whom he was afraid that he had displeased. Now, if he had been pleading against man concerning the merits of his life, he would have had no occasion to feel sadness, but seeing that by his present strokes he was made doubtful of his past life, he justly sought for sadness under the scourge.”

Imported from an open dataset — not yet checked against the printed edition.