“THE WICKED PROSPER AND THE INNOCENT SUFFER, WHY DOES GOD LET THIS HAPPEN?”
For
as long as man has been around, the above question has been asked. As far back as the 7th century BC the prophet of God, Jeremiah,
asked that question: “Righteous, art thou,
O LORD,
when I plead with thee; yet let me talk with thee of thy judgements. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are all they happy that deal very
treacherously?”
Even
three centuries before, in the 10th century BC, the Tabernacle musician and psalmist
Asaph, admits: “I was envious when I saw
the prosperity of the wicked. They
aren’t troubled or plagued by other men, they wear violence like a garment,
they are corrupt, callous, arrogant, and their evil knows no limit. They scoff and say, ‘God? Who is he?’
This is what the wicked are like.
They prosper and their wealth increases.
It seems to me,” Asaph remarked, “that
I have been innocent and cleansed my heart in vain for I get plagued and
chastened every day. I find all this
very oppressive and I don’t understand.”
In
the 5th century BC,
the people of the prophet Malachi’s day asked a similar question and griped
about it as well. And the LORD through Malachi told them: “Your words have been very harsh against me
and yet you say, ‘What have we said against you?’ This is what you have said, says the LORD, ‘It is futile to serve God; what
profit is there? It is the proud who are
happy; yes, the wicked prosper and even those who challenge God get away with
it.’ But,”
the prophet Malachi told the people, “the
LORD
does hear those who fear Him, He listens and does take notice. A book of remembrance was written in His
presence for those who think about Him and Honour Him. ‘They shall be mine, says the LORD Almighty, in that day when I make up
my treasured possession; I will spare them, as a man spares his own son.’ When the LORD returns,” continued
Malachi, “You shall see the distinction
between the righteous and the wicked, between those that serve God and those
who do not.”
It
is apparent, the Psalmist too discovered the answer to the seeming prosperity
of the wicked. “It oppressed me,” he said, “until
I went into the sanctuary. I didn’t
understand until I went into the sanctuary and the presence of God: then I
understood. I understood their final
destiny. They are on very slippery
ground and will be cast down into destruction and desolation in a moment and
they will be utterly consumed with terror.
When I understood this, my soul was grieved and I was pricked in my
heart. So foolish was I, and
ignorant. I was a brute beast before
Thee. And yet I am continually with
Thee, you hold me with your right hand.
You shall guide me with your counsel, and my final destiny is in glory with you. Whom have I in heaven but Thee? There is nothing on earth I desire but
Thee. My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. It is good for me to draw near to God; I have
put my trust in the Lord God, that I may declare all your works.”
Going
back to Jeremiah’s query, the LORD
answered the prophet and told him that it would come to pass that He would deal
with evil, “For the sword will devour
from one end of the land to the other; no flesh shall have peace. They will sow wheat but reap thorns. They have put themselves to great pains but will
not profit.”
The whining continues today and God still gets the blame.
In
considering this age-old question that is still asked in our day, let’s take
note of a general principle, and that is that mankind throughout the ages has
either turned their backs and are contemptuous of God, or, they accept His Word
but then misconstrue and misapply it.
Whichever is the case the outcome is the same: society does not apply God’s given laws for a national entity; they do
not apply God’s laws for government, or His laws for crime, or for morality. Yet even though this is the case, the
interesting thing is that it is still God’s fault when things go wrong. God gets the blame for the fact that mankind
as a whole, does not carry out His divine laws. These laws are clearly defined in the Bible. All the laws are there for the protection of
the innocent. For example: God has put
the death penalty in place for rape. Now
we know that this law is not applied and yet somehow it is still God’s fault when
it happens and the usual complaint goes something like, “A poor defenceless,
innocent girl does not deserve to be raped. Why does God let this happen?” The answer is very simple. He doesn’t.
We do. We let it happen. And we are accountable for it.
“Shall not the judge of all the earth do right?”
Nobody gets away with anything. Every detail of every human life is noted,
every action, every thought, every motive, and with minute accuracy. All
human sin, past present future, was imputed to Christ while he was on the Cross
and he paid the penalty – “It is
finished”. All human good is
another matter, and records have been kept. Everyone will give an account of
himself before the judge of all the earth, and shall not He do right? Of course He will. And when your day of reckoning comes and you
stand before Almighty God creator of heaven and earth, to give an account of
yourself; when your life’s details are weighed in the balance, you are going to
be found wanting. You will be found wanting
because your evaluation won’t be compared to a rapist; the evaluation of your
life won’t be weighed against a child molester, your life’s good work will be
weighed in the balance against the Holy, Impeccable, Perfect life of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And I think like Apostle Paul,
you will have to admit, “O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?”
Will
you be like Paul who found his deliverer? Will you too choose a far better way
before it’s too late? You can opt out of facing that terrible Judgment Day. You
don’t have to face the Judge who sits on the Great White Throne. You can
instead come face to face right now with your Saviour, Jesus Christ, who offers
you His perfect life as a gift, and God will impute that perfect life to you
the moment you turn from trusting yourself to trusting Jesus. His perfect life
imputed to you makes you acceptable to perfect God. Why? Because Jesus Christ
is the Lamb of God – The Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world; who made
His soul a sin offering unto death; the Kinsman Redeemer who purchased a fallen
race so that all might walk free; who died, yea rather that is risen again, who
is even at the right hand of God and makes intercession for us.
But
of course, you may decide to leave it for now and take the chance that at that White
Throne Judgment your life and the scrutiny and evaluation of it will balance
the scales; that maybe you’ve somehow been good enough to tip the scales in
your favour and your righteousness will outweigh or at least equal that of the
perfect Son of God. Is there much chance
of that do you think?
There
are no other options. Mankind, made in
the image of God does not have the option or ability to choose oblivion upon
physical death. You will spend eternity
somewhere and the choice of ‘where’ is only made in this life on earth. It will be too late the very moment you pass
from this life to the next. Do you want
to wait and take your chance at the Great White Throne Judgment or will you
accept God’s gracious gift of deliverance from that Judgment?
I
had better point out here, warn you, that the only people who will stand before
God at the Great White Throne are those whose names are not found in the
Book of Life. Their names have been
‘blotted out’ of the Book of Life. When
God gave you life at birth your name was recorded there but if you die without
Christ your name is blotted out of the Book of Life, and it won’t be found in
the ‘Lamb’s Book of Life’ either, since you have rejected or ignored Jesus the
Lamb of God. You will be summoned before
the Great White Throne because you chose to stand on your own merit rather than
accept the gift of ‘the perfect life’ God offered you, and you will be judged from
the Books of Works, and as said previously, you will be found wanting.
Don’t
remain blinded by the god of this world.
For that is part of the problem.
Human beings are blinded by the god of this world. If you want a short answer to the question
‘Why do the wicked prosper’ it is because Satan is the god of this world. Adam was until The Fall, and then dominion was
rightfully claimed by Satan in The Garden.
Satan is doomed however and won’t be the god of this world for much
longer. His time is just about up and so
is yours and you will be doomed too if you are fool enough to follow the losing
side.
Don’t
listen to satanic deception which comes in various guises and will cater to
whatever is your desire: perhaps to die peacefully floating off into
oblivion. The Devil, Satan, is a liar
and has been from the beginning; he is full of hate and seeks only to destroy,
and yet human beings blindly follow him.
There is a way which seems right to a man, but the end thereof is the
way of death. That is, the second death, outer darkness, of which there is no
end. The fool has said in his heart, ‘There
is no God’.
Reader,
listen to the still, small voice within.
Deep down, everyone knows God is in heaven, no matter how hard one may
try to banish Him from existence.
Respond to that still small voice, it is your creator seeking the lost
sheep and entreating them to come home. “I
am the light of the world,” says Jesus; “he that follows me shall not walk in
darkness, but shall have the light of life.”
Jesus came into the world “to open eyes, and to turn them from darkness to
light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness
of sins.”
“This
is God demonstrating His love toward us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us.”
“Jesus
said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father,
but by me’.”
“Nor
is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given
among men, whereby we must be saved.”
“Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.”
Jeremiah
12:1,12,13; Psalm 73; Malachi 3:13-18; Genesis 18:25; Romans 14:11-12; Matthew
12:36; Daniel 5:27; Romans 7:24; Isaiah 53; Romans 8:34; Revelation 3:5,
20:11-15; Proverbs 14:12; Psalm 53:1; 1 Kings 19:12; John 8:12; Acts 26:18;
Romans 5:8; John 14:6; Acts 4:12, 16:31.
JM
HUGGETT July 2001
