When does God Ignore Righteousness? When it is Self-righteousness!
Job 35
 1 Then Elihu said:
 2 “Do you think this is just?
      You say, ‘I will be cleared by God. [a] ‘ 3 Yet you ask him, ‘What profit is it to me, [b]
      and what do I gain by not sinning?’ 4 “I would like to reply to you
      and to your friends with you. 5 Look up at the heavens and see;
      gaze at the clouds so high above you. 6 If you sin, how does that affect him?
      If your sins are many, what does that do to him? 7 If you are righteous, what do you give to him,
      or what does he receive from your hand? 8 Your wickedness affects only a man like yourself,
      and your righteousness only the sons of men. 9 “Men cry out under a load of oppression;
      they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. 10 But no one says, ‘Where is God my Maker,
      who gives songs in the night, 11 who teaches more to us than to [c] the beasts of the earth
      and makes us wiser than [d] the birds of the air?’ 12 He does not answer when men cry out
      because of the arrogance of the wicked. 13 Indeed, God does not listen to their empty plea;
      the Almighty pays no attention to it. 14 How much less, then, will he listen
      when you say that you do not see him,
      that your case is before him
      and you must wait for him, 15 and further, that his anger never punishes
      and he does not take the least notice of wickedness. [e] 16 So Job opens his mouth with empty talk;
      without knowledge he multiplies words.”
I don’t know what to think of this verse regarding righteousness. I could never discern whether Elihu was coming from a place of knowledge or not. He makes a lot of good points about where we stand relative to God, but then he misunderstands where Job himself is at.
Elihu is not calling Job righteous or wicked in verse 8. He is merely being philosophical, and here’s the extent in which I know I agree with him. I agree that God Himself is the same whether we’re sinful or righteous. But, where I disagree is in whether we effect God. Of course we affect Him. God is jealous, angry, happy, satisfied… all reactions to us. In other words, we may not affect God in that we change God or mold Him, but we do affect His mood, and He then makes choices that in turn account for our choices. It’s cyclical. So, when Elihu says that our wickedness or righteousness affect only men and not God, then He is wrong in every way that matters. At least, that’s how I see it.
I will agree with one element of his statement however. Because my righteousness is ultimately a credit from God, I have nothing to boast about. Therefore, I cannot boast in my righteousness, or put myself at a higher stature in God’s eyes than another man. So, the element of Elihu’s sermon that suggests that Job should not be too full of himself is true. But, Elihu’s characterization of God is off, and so, ultimately, is his point that God doesn’t listen to people like Job… because God did listen, and responded to Job… and He responded as if Elihu had never spoken at all. Well, look at that… his speech was right on the money… if you apply it to him! It seems to me now that Elihu was projecting, and in the end, was really talking to himself.