Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

You are always righteous, Lord,
    when I bring a case before you.
Yet I would speak with you about your justice:
    Why does the way of the wicked prosper?
    Why do all the faithless live at ease?
You have planted them, and they have taken root;
    they grow and bear fruit.
You are always on their lips
    but far from their hearts.
Yet you know me, Lord;
    you see me and test my thoughts about you.
Drag them off like sheep to be butchered!
    Set them apart for the day of slaughter!
How long will the land lie parched
    and the grass in every field be withered?
Because those who live in it are wicked,
    the animals and birds have perished.
Moreover, the people are saying,
    “He will not see what happens to us.”

• Jeremiah 12:1-4

“I have become a laughingstock to my friends,
    though I called on God and he answered—
    a mere laughingstock, though righteous and blameless!
Those who are at ease have contempt for misfortune
    as the fate of those whose feet are slipping.
The tents of marauders are undisturbed,
    and those who provoke God are secure—
    those God has in his hand.

• Job 12:4-6

Look at me and be appalled;
    clap your hand over your mouth.
When I think about this, I am terrified;
    trembling seizes my body.
Why do the wicked live on,
    growing old and increasing in power?
They see their children established around them,
    their offspring before their eyes.
Their homes are safe and free from fear;
    the rod of God is not on them.’

• Job 21:5-9

The wicked draw the sword
    and bend the bow
to bring down the poor and needy,
    to slay those whose ways are upright.
But their swords will pierce their own hearts,
    and their bows will be broken.

• Psalm 37:14-15

For I envied the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
They have no struggles;
    their bodies are healthy and strong.
They are free from common human burdens;
    they are not plagued by human ills.
Therefore pride is their necklace;
    they clothe themselves with violence.

• Psalm 73:3-6

How long, Lord, must I call for help,
    but you do not listen?
Or cry out to you, “Violence!”
    but you do not save?
Why do you make me look at injustice?
    Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?
Destruction and violence are before me;
    there is strife, and conflict abounds.
Therefore the law is paralyzed,
    and justice never prevails.
The wicked hem in the righteous,
    so that justice is perverted.

• Habakkuk 1:2-4

You have wearied the Lord with your words.
“How have we wearied him?” you ask.
By saying, “All who do evil are good in the eyes of the Lord, and he is pleased with them” or “Where is the God of justice?”

• Malachi 2:17

But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

• Malachi 3:15

”No sooner did God take care of the two conspiracies than Jeremiah found himself struggling with a theological crisis (Jer. 12:1-6). ‘In the commencement of the spiritual life,’ wrote the French mystic Madame Guyon, ‘our hardest task is to bear with our neighbor; in its progress, with ourselves; and in its end, with God.’  Jeremiah couldn’t understand why a holy God would permit the false prophets and the unfaithful priests to prosper in their ministries while he, a faithful servant of God, was treated like a sacrificial lamb.
“ ‘Why does the way of the wicked prosper?’ (Jer. 12:1 NIV) is a question that was asked frequently in Scripture, and it’s being asked today. Job wrestled with it (Job 12; 21); the psalmists tried to understand it (Ps. 37; 49; 73); and other prophets besides Jeremiah grappled with the problem (Hab. 1; Mal. 2:17; 3:15). Jewish theologians, pointing to the covenants, taught that God blesses those who obey and judges those who disobey, but the situation in real life seemed just the opposite! How could a holy God of love allow such a thing to happen?”

• Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Decisive

In some of these Scriptures that Rev. Wiersbe mentions, the author talks of the wicked’s gains being fleeting.  Zophar speaks to Job in Job 20, telling him that they only get away with it for a short while, but Job still laments about how the wicked prosper in the reply to Zophar, as seen in the Job 21 quote above.

Yet, time to God seems a relative variable.  We do not know God’s ultimate plan or will.  He uses some evildoers to do His will so that other circumstances are set.  Obviously, the Assyrians were not nice people, but God used them.  The same could be said for the Babylonians.  The Medes and Persians may have been used to put the Jews back in the Promised Land to set up the birth of Jesus there, but they were not “good” either.  Then the Greeks and the Romans were not good either, yet, the Romans, who established the cross as a means of punishment, were in power just at the right time to have Jesus born and later die on a cross.  The cross was later abolished as being too cruel, but it was the method at the time that matched the prophecies that were written before that form of punishment was invented.

And what does God often reply when these people complain?  Even the prophets that love God and put God first are sinners.  None of us are perfect.  Jeremiah is answered immediately with how the people of Judah worship other gods and ignore the Law of Moses, and virtually none of them have the love of God in their hearts.  So, when they do celebrate something like the Passover, it is an empty celebration with no feeling of connection with God in their hearts.

As for today, how many people celebrate “Christmas” compared to how many celebrate Jesus Christ, fully human and fully God, coming to earth to die for our sins?

So, the lament that the wicked prosper while the righteous are downtrodden is only true by comparison.  A few small sins compared to a multitude of big sins make a difference to the average person, but God sees their hearts.  Are any of them that much different?

Then, if you look at all of us being “bad” then the wicked are simply better at it.  They can turn wickedness into profit.  With money and power, you can buy or influence anything that you need simply with deeper pockets.  And have you noticed that it takes a lot of money to be a politician these days?

Yet, Zophar and a bit from the psalmists are right.  The wicked cannot take it with them, and the offspring of the wicked inherit the wealth and power.  So, when the prophet says to repent, they simply laugh.

My wife had an atheist tell her one time that God was simply a crutch for the weak and the poor.

God is the same God for everyone, but unless we repent, we will not be saved.

I heard a discussion recently among a few pastors about repentance being an act of works, and salvation was by faith and not of works.  The pastors basically said that salvation is by faith, but true faith leads to repentance, for with God within us, we will not be satisfied until we have corrected our lives, but even then repentance requires God’s power within us.  Thus, we may not have cleaned up our lives completely, but we have the desire to repent, and we do not rest until we have repented.

And then that reminds me of some people that have tried the Zacchaeus idea of giving away their wealth late in life, but they are still making it so rapidly that they never can give it all away.  But Zacchaeus gave to those he had wronged.  He did not build libraries and concert halls.  And giving away one’s wealth in a public manner does not mean the heart has changed, it just makes the rich person seem nice, being a philanthropist.

Again, God knows the heart of each person.  And regardless of how long we suffer on this earth, our time in Heaven will be forever.  This lifetime on earth will be like the blink of an eye.

It just seems to take forever at times.  And now looking back, it seems I was just a boy yesterday.

The wicked may prosper, but their fun is fleeting.  And I would rather have an eternity with Jesus than to have a nice steak dinner tonight.

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.