Elihu continues, and in Job 35 he takes up a complaint Job has come close to making: that being righteous has not paid off, that following God has gotten him nothing but suffering.
Elihu's answer turns on a humbling truth — God does not need our goodness, and is not diminished by our sin. We do not do God a favour by obeying Him. And that truth, rightly understood, frees us.
What Do You Give Him?
Job 35:7
"If thou be righteous, what givest thou him? or what receiveth he of thine hand?"
Elihu asks a question that resets everything.
"If thou be righteous, what givest thou him?" When you do good, do you add something to God? Does He become richer, greater, more complete because of your obedience? And if you sin, do you subtract from Him, diminish Him, wound His greatness?
The answer to both is no. God is complete in Himself. Our goodness does not fill a lack in Him, and our failure does not create one. He is not dependent on us.
This humbles a certain way of thinking — the idea that God owes us for our good behaviour, that righteousness is a transaction where He must pay out. He is not in our debt. We do not do God favours.
Why Some Cries Go Unanswered
Job 35:12
"There they cry, but none giveth answer, because of the pride of evil men."
Elihu offers a hard but searching insight into unanswered prayer.
Sometimes, he says, "they cry, but none giveth answer." Why? "Because of the pride of evil men." People cry out in their trouble — but not really to God. They cry only for relief, only to escape pain, with no real turning of the heart toward Him. It is the cry of pride, not the cry of faith.
We must be careful here, for Elihu presses this too hard against Job, whose cries were not mere pride. But the kernel of truth remains worth hearing: there is a difference between crying for relief and crying for God. One wants only the gift; the other wants the Giver.
God is not a vending machine for our comfort. The cry He most delights to answer is not "give me what I want," but "I want You."
God Will Not Hear Vanity
Job 35:13
"Surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it."
Elihu adds that God "will not hear vanity" — empty, self-centred cries that are not truly directed to Him.
Again, we hold this gently. It is not a rule that explains all of suffering, and Elihu over-applies it. But there is something true here for our own prayers. God invites us to come to Him with our whole hearts, not just to use Him as a means to an end.
The deepest prayer is not "fix my circumstances" but "draw me to Yourself in them." And that prayer, God always hears.
A Gentle Word for the Reader
Job 35 holds a freeing truth, even if Elihu wields it a little harshly.
You do not have to earn God's love by being useful to Him. You cannot add to Him by your goodness, and you cannot diminish Him by your failure. That means His love for you is never a payment for services rendered — it is pure gift. Grace is grace precisely because God gains nothing from it. He loves you for nothing, freely, fully.
So when you pray, come not as a creditor collecting a debt, but as a child running to a Father. Cry not only for the gift, but for the Giver. The God who needs nothing from you wants you — and that is the most freeing love there is.
Reflection Questions
- "If thou be righteous, what givest thou him?" How does it change your faith to know you cannot put God in your debt — that His love is gift, not payment?
- Elihu distinguished crying for relief from crying for God. In your own prayers, do you find yourself wanting mainly the gift, or the Giver?
- God gains nothing from loving you, yet loves you fully. How does that make His love more freeing rather than less?
Short Prayer
Lord, I cannot add to You by my goodness or diminish You by my failure. You need nothing from me — and yet You love me fully.
Free me from treating obedience as a transaction, as though You owed me for my good behaviour.
Teach me to cry not only for relief, but for You; not only for the gift, but for the Giver.
You love me for nothing, freely and completely. Thank You for a grace I could never earn.
Amen.
JMS