• Job 35:3 “For thou saidst, What advantage will it be unto thee? and, What profit shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin?”
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• Job 34:9 “For he hath said, It profiteth a man nothing that he should delight himself with God.”
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This nobody evangelist had the privilege years ago of preaching in a Bible college. In preparation for the chapel service, I learned of an older preacher who preached at the college previously. It seemed the listeners thought the discouraged old preacher had nothing good to say about the ministry or the Christian life. Job, likewise, had become cynical in his trials. Elihu, in our text, reveals what he had gathered from Job’s complaints: that it isn’t worth doing right, staying pure, and delighting in God. Here are some of Job’s statements:

• Job 9:1 “Then Job answered and said,
• vs. 30 If I wash myself with snow water, and make my hands never so clean;
• vs. 31 Yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
• vs. 32 For he is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment.”
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The other person Job is referring to there in Job 9 is God. Job recognizes that you can’t just talk to God about His decisions we think are unjust. But Job goes too far in saying that even if Job made his hands “never so clean” (lived morally and pure), God would “plunge me in the ditch.” That is not our God.

• Job 21:1 “But Job answered and said,
• vs. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?”
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This is said by Job after talking about how good the wicked have it in this life despite their rejection of God. Job erroneously concludes that it is not worthy serving God nor praying to Him.

Many children raised in Christian homes have left God because of the depressing testimony their parents and their church gave in trials. Oh, Heavenly Father, may I never ever dirty Your precious Name with a negative attitude! Yes, my pain seems unbearable so much all of the time all over my body, but #1) this pain is only temporary on this earth; #2) I am not going to the eternal, fiery torments of hell when I die; and #3) God is so good to us.

Yes, it is true that Job did not curse God, but there is more to trials than simply not cursing God. A positive attitude, joyful countenance, and praising spirit are also crucial.