Job 35:3
“That you ask, ‘What advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have, more than if I had sinned?’”
What does Job 35:3 mean?
Elihu is capturing a frustration that Job has expressed, though perhaps uncharitably. Job has been suffering terribly and questioning whether his faithfulness to God has made any real difference, wondering if he might as well have sinned since his pain feels the same either way. Elihu uses this moment to challenge Job's thinking, suggesting that Job is measuring obedience by immediate earthly rewards rather than by what's actually right. It's a real tension many people feel in hard times, when doing the right thing doesn't seem to spare us from difficulty. The deeper question underneath is whether we follow God because it benefits us, or because we believe in God's character even when benefits don't appear.