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Job 35:2-3
2 Thinkest [chashab] thou this to be right [mishpat], that thou saidst ['amar], My righteousness [tsedeq] is more than God's ['el]?
3 For thou saidst ['amar], What advantage [cakan] will it be unto thee? and, What profit [ya`al] shall I have, if I be cleansed from my sin [chatta'ah]? KJV-Interlinear
2 'Do you think this is according to justice? Do you say, 'My righteousness is more than God's'? 3 'For you say, 'What advantage will it be to You? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?' NASB
Again, Elihu quotes Job in error, for nowhere does he say that his righteousness is more than Gods. And, Elihu has already misquoted Jobs comments with regard to 'What profit shall I have …'
But the importance here is not in Elihu's misquotes but in the principles being brought up.
The spiritual life is difficult to perceive, and far from providing instant gratification.
Even in Jobs day, when life moved very slowly. People lived into their several hundreds of years and most of that lifespan went slow. Not from day to day, but from decade to decade.
Imagine if we had to wait a decade to accomplish something that now normally takes us a matter of days or weeks. How quickly would boredom set in?
Life now moves extremely fast. By the time kids are out of grade school, they already know how to type, instant message, set up and take apart most toys, read, write, and so forth.
Now, when I post a study, it becomes instantly available to anyone throughout the entire world. Back in Jobs day, it would take weeks or months to send and receive a message.
Speed is the entire point in this lesson. The spiritual life takes seemingly all of ones life before anything is recognized in ones life. Look around and most folks don't want to wait forever in order to gain something from their efforts.
So the attitude of, 'Why wait on God, or why pursue Gods word, because it doesn’t seen to get one anywhere?' verses, 'It is better to sin and/or do life as you want, because things get done.'
And people pursue the latter, because they can see the results, while they don't see the results of the spiritual life.
Elihu misquoted Job, just as people misquote scripture. Elihu misinterpreted Job, just as people misinterpret the spiritual life. Elihu takes the shortest and most convenient explanation, just as people take the shortcuts of life rather than the long path of doctrine.
Elihu missed the whole point of this discussion because he did not listen and he did not understand it. People miss the whole point of Gods plan for their life because they do not listen, do not learn, do not understand, and don't want to take the time to accomplish those attributes.
