Job 35:9 - Meaning and Application

Elihu answers another thing Job had said, because he thought it reflected badly on God’s justice and goodness. So he does not let it pass without comment. Job had complained that God did not seem to notice the cries of the oppressed against their oppressors (Job 35:9). The poor suffer under the heavy hands of proud tyrants, they cry out again and again, but it seems to do no good. Job had said something like this before, when he spoke of the wounded crying out against those who hurt them, while God did not treat the evil as it deserved (Job 24:12). Job did not know how to fit that with the justice of God’s rule.

Elihu says the problem is not with God. God is ready to hear and help the oppressed. The trouble is with the sufferers themselves, because they ask but do not receive, and that is because they ask wrongly (James 4:3). Their cry is often only a cry of pain and frustration, not a humble prayer. It is the cry of wounded nature, not the cry of faith. As Hosea says, they do not cry to God with their hearts, even when they howl on their beds (Hosea 7:14).

Under affliction, people should search for God. Trouble is meant to wake us up and push us to seek him early (Psalm 78:34). Yet many who suffer under oppression never think of God or notice his hand in their trouble. If they did, they would bear their pain more patiently and gain more good from it. It is sad how little true religion is found among the poor and miserable. Many complain about their troubles, but few ask, Where is God my Maker? That is, few turn from sin, few return to the one who strikes them, and few seek his face and favor for comfort.

God is our Maker, the one who gave us life, and that should move us to remember him (Ecclesiastes 12:1). The phrase “my Makers” is in the plural, and some take it as a hint of the Trinity, the three persons in the one Godhead. Since God made us, we ought to seek him. We should ask where he is, so we can honor him, admit our dependence on him, and look to him for care and protection. We should also ask where he is, so we can receive his direction and find our happiness in his favor. It is a sorrow that people ask, Where is pleasure? Where is money? Where is a good deal? But they do not ask, Where is God my Maker?

Another reason people should be thankful under affliction is that God gives inward comfort even when outward troubles remain. He gives songs in the night, meaning joy and peace even in dark and sorrowful times. There is enough in God, in his providence and his promises, not only to hold us up, but to fill us with gratitude and even joy in suffering. If we stare only at our troubles and ignore God’s comforts, then it is just for him to reject our prayers.

God also keeps our reason and understanding alive (Job 35:11). He has made human beings wiser and more capable than the beasts of the earth. This is a reason for thanksgiving, even in heavy suffering. No matter what we lose, we still have our immortal souls, which are worth more than the whole world. Even if people can kill the body, they cannot harm the soul. And if our trouble does not destroy our reason or disturb our conscience, we have much to be thankful for.

This is also why we should seek God under affliction. Reason’s highest use is that it makes us capable of religion. In that respect, we are taught more than the beasts. Animals have remarkable instincts for finding food, healing, and shelter, but they cannot ask, Where is God my Maker? They may show something like skill or planning, but they do not know anything of worship or religion. Those things belong to humans alone. So if the oppressed only cry out because of the hand of the mighty, and never look up to God, they are acting no better than brute creatures. They forget the wisdom that lifts them far above the animals.

God gives help to the beasts because they cry to him according to their nature and capacity (Job 38:41; Psalm 104:21). But what reason do human beings have to expect relief if they can seek after God as their Maker and yet only cry like animals? Affliction is meant to humble people and pull pride out of them, but many remain proud and unbroken under it (Job 35:12). They keep crying out against those who hurt them, filling everyone’s ears with complaints, and even speaking against God and his providence. Yet no answer comes. God does not send deliverance, and people may not pay them much attention either.

Why is that? Elihu says it is because of the pride of evil people. They are wicked, and they cling to sin in their hearts. Because of that, God will not hear them (Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 1:15). God does not listen favorably to such sinners.

They may have brought trouble on themselves by their own wickedness. They are, as it were, the devil’s poor, so who will pity them? But that is not the whole matter. They still stay proud, and so they do not seek God (Psalms 10:4). Or, if they do cry out to him, he does not answer, because he listens to the desire of the humble (Psalms 10:17).

God delivers by his providence only those whom he has first prepared for deliverance by his grace. We are not ready for that deliverance if, under painful troubles, our hearts remain unbroken and our pride is still alive. So the matter is clear. If we pray to God for relief from oppression and suffering, and it is not taken away, the reason is not that the Lord’s hand is too short or his ear too dull. The reason is that the suffering has not yet done its work. We have not been humbled enough, and we must thank ourselves that it continues.

They are also not sincere, upright, and honest with God in their prayers. For that reason he does not hear and answer them (Job 35:13). God will not hear vanity, meaning a hypocritical prayer, which is an empty prayer that comes from false lips. It is foolish to think God should hear such prayer, since he searches the heart and wants truth in the inward parts.