Job 35:13

Then he gives the reasons why God does not answer the cry of the afflicted. It is not His indifference but man's sin and forgetfulness of Him. None says, "Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night?" The true reason is the evil-doer's pride. God will in no way hear vanity. Pride, vanity, self-will and all that goes with it makes it impossible for a righteous God to hear. And so Job's claim that it does not matter to God whether a man sins or is righteous is disproven.

Is it that God does not hear or feel? Not so, but that even human anguish fails to lead to God. Long after, the prophet complained of the pride and foolishness of stricken Israel: "They do not cry to me from the heart, but they wail upon their beds" (Hosea 7:14). So Elihu declares of people generally that none said, Where is God my Maker, who can change everything and deliver at the worst extremity? … His eyes and His ears are open to those who appeal. They are not open to empty cries, which have no more spiritual, or perhaps even moral, feeling than the animals that perish. The Almighty does not regard them, though all power is His to protect and deliver. But He will step in, even though people do not believe and saints are downcast, if not destroyed. Judgment is before Him. The believer's part is to wait on Him and for Him.

And this reason is that, occupied with their own misery, seeking relief only for their own sake, they have no thought of God's will or of His glory. They do not ask, Where is God my Maker? What can I learn of Him in these things? And is not this nearly universal? Where do we find people turning to God in their affliction? The hungry want bread, but they do not want God. Give them bread, and they are quite content to go on in complete ignorance of Him.

People cry out, but God does not answer because of the pride that moves them (v.12). The many demonstrations today demanding the people's rights are clearly the expression of man's pride. In demonstrating like this, they are telling the world they are wise and those who oppose them are not worth considering. They give even God Himself this inferior place. Can they expect God to listen to their empty talk? (v.13). They completely forget that He is "the Almighty."

In Job 35 Elihu touches on a new point: God is infinitely above man, and man's works can in no way affect Him… There ought to be a recognition of the goodness that comes from God… Job had dwelt on what he was to God, not on what God was to him. And then, "surely God will not hear vanity, neither will the Almighty regard it."

And why do people cry and yet receive no answer? The answer is, because of pride. In verse 13, Elihu diagnoses the root cause of it all as vanity. Vanity is detestable to God, a thing which He completely disregards. Is not this instruction for us? Do we not see here an explanation of many an unanswered cry and prayer?