Why Do the Wicked Prosper?
Daily Old Testament Reading: Job 22-24
Daily Focus Passage: Job 22
The American Dream encourages people to do whatever it takes to achieve success and their dreams. As a result, people cut corners and justify dishonesty as the means leading to grasping the dream. Often, the people who gain great success and are applauded by the world live separated from Christ. This reality leave believers asking why the wicked appear to prosper and those who live in righteousness seem to struggle. In Job 24, he asks for clarity on this dynamic.
THE METRICS OF HUMANITY
Success often becomes measured by the eyes of the beholder. In Job’s case, he sought to understand why it seemed that the wicked found themselves living in prosperity. They seem to have security by the world's metrics and live with power and authority. Job struggled to grasp how someone living in rebellion before the Lord could seem to be blessed. The reality comes that the thought process flowed from a worldly metric that evaluated success in understanding humanity.
We often ask the same question today. We cry out that the success of some individuals is unfair because they do not deserve their success because of their wickedness. We question their morality, ethics, and overall unrighteousness. We desire to understand how the Lord could allow their success. The use comes because we attempt to evaluate according to the ways and thoughts of the flesh.
LIVE WITH AN ETERNAL PERSPECTIVE
The genuine metric that exists is the eternal metric of the Lord. Therefore, we do not need to concern ourselves with the question of unfairness. The Lord is just and righteous and deals with each individual ultimately. Thus, we must not see the success or failure of one as a mark of their righteousness or unrighteousness before the Lord. The ability to take this perspective happens when we look with an eternal perspective, not a momentary one.
We must take an eternal perspective by trusting God’s justice. When we trust in God’s justice, we recognize that the balance of God’s judgment does not depend on the perspectives or ideas of humanity. Instead, the justice balance rests on true righteousness and truth because it is based on the character and person of the Lord. Thus, we must recognize that the ultimate justice of the Lord occurs in his time and his promise.
We must take an eternal perspective by trusting in God’s grace. When we place ourselves in the presence of the Lord, we enter a state of seeing our faults. As a result, we become aware of the death we deserve because of our unrighteousness and the holiness of the Lord. Thus, we must remember the grace of the Lord and how he withholds what we deserve and offers what we do not deserve. This perspective aids our ability to live through the moments we do not understand because the experience of grace is something we experience but believe in faith.
We must take an eternal perspective by trusting in God’s ways. The ability to look at life through an eternal perspective occurs as we trust in the ways of the Lord. When we trust in the ways of the Lord, we enter a state of following the Lord even when we struggle to understand. This perspective provides the ability to recall that the Lord is in control and that we may not understand what we experience in this world but that the Lord continues to work as he chooses.
We all live with the question of why the wicked prosper. To deal with this struggle, we must seek to look at life with eternity in view. We must desire to trust the Lord even when the occurrence does not make sense to us. As we continue to journey through Job, may each of use strive to improve at gazing through an eternal perspective.
