Why do the wicked prosper? Has that thought ever crossed your mind? If you have been asking the same question, just know that you are not the only one or the first one to ask such a question. This very question has crossed the minds of many throughout the generations. There are so many things about life that just do not seem to make sense. We watch the news of the events that are transpiring in the world and in our community, or the events in our own personal lives and we wonder, why do the wicked prosper?
Just like us, many people in the Bible wrestled with that question as well. Asaph, the chief musician under King David was one of them. He wrestled with the conflict between the love of God and the many seeming injustices of life. He, like us, was having a tough time understanding why the wicked seemed to prosper while many of the godly often suffered. Asaph could not make any sense of it. But God eventually helped him to get a grip on this conflict. God helped him to realise the fate of the wicked.
Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, the man that God used in a great way, also grappled with the issue when he asked the Lord: “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?” Job struggled similarly when he said, “Why do the wicked live on, growing old and increasing in power?” And the psalmist expressed envy when he saw the prosperity of the wicked, wondering if living righteously was worth the trouble. How does a Holy God of love allow His people to suffer while the wicked thrive?
That was the question the prophet Habakkuk asked God also. He said to the LORD, ”Why do you look with favour on those who deal treacherously?” The prophet, Habakkuk, lived in a time near the end of ancient Israel’s history when he saw God’s people suffer while the wicked prospered. It caused him to wonder and to doubt. God answered Habakkuk’s question. In His response to Habakkuk, He reminds us that we are called to live by faith and not by sight. God reminds us that we can trust Him even when we do not understand.
Why do terrible things happen to good people? That is a question we will continue to wrestle with. Many people continue to wrestle with it every day.
A story was told by a man named J. Vernon McGee of how he wrestled with the question. He gave the following account of when he and his wife lost their first child in the hospital.
“I only heard the cry of that little one. All she ever did in her life was cry. I shall never forget the day she died. Across the hall from where my wife was, there was a very wealthy couple who had a baby boy, and their rich friends came to celebrate with them. As I drove into the parking lot in my old beat-up Chevrolet, they all drove up in Cadillacs. They went into the hospital with their champagne and celebrated the birth of the little boy.
“He was a precious looking little baby – all they desired, I guess. I shall never forget that night. It was summertime, and I went out on a balcony that was there and cried out to God. To be honest with you, I do not know to this good day why God took our baby and left the baby across the hall. They had money, and, boy, they did they live it up! I have seen write-ups about them, and they have been in trouble several times. Their little boy is now probably thirty years old. That is how old my daughter would have been.
“After all these years, I still do not have the answer. Although I do not have the answer, I know the One who does, and He has told me to walk with Him by faith. He tests me by putting me in the dark. Then I will reach out my hand and take His. In His Word He tells me that I can trust Him. Someday He will explain the whys of life to me.” What a beautiful story.
Stories like that told by Mr. McGee could be duplicated a thousandfold by many. Good people do suffer some bad things. Though we know that people from all walks of life are susceptible to suffering, sometimes it still seems like the ungodly are reaping the best from life. Sometimes, it is enough to make you want to turn your head heavenward and scream – God why? Why God!
What my friends we need to realise is that nothing just happens, even the wicked have a purpose in fulfilling God’s divine plans. God raised up the Babylonians, a “ruthless and impetuous people” for a reason. Read Habakkuk 1:6 and Jeremiah 27:6. In Isaiah 44:28, God raised up the Persian king Cyrus to accomplish all that pleased God. In Isaiah 7:18 God also raised up the Egyptians and Assyrians in His righteous judgment of disobedient Judah.
No one can fathom God’s plans my friends. Psalm 37:1, tells us, “Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.” “Do not fret because of those who are evil or be envious of those who do wrong; for like the grass they will soon wither, like green plants they will soon die away.”
Dwight L. Moody once told the fable of an eagle who was envious of another that could fly better than he could. One day the bird saw a hunter with a bow and arrow and said to him, I wish you would bring down that eagle up there. The man said he would if he had some feathers for his arrow. So, the jealous eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it did not quite reach the rival bird because he was flying too high. The first eagle pulled out another feather, then another until he had lost so many feathers that he himself could not fly. The archer took advantage of the situation, turned around, and killed the helpless bird. Moody made this application: if you are envious of others, the one you will hurt the most by your actions will be yourself.
So, my friends, let us take heart and leave everything and everyone in the hands of God because He knows best, and He sees and knows everyone. God’s judgment is not immediate. Wicked people will only operate for a season. God administers judgment and justice in His way and in His time. Wicked people do not think that God sees, and they are blind to the reality that God is paying attention. They make the fatal mistake of equating the delay of consequences with the absence of them.
Remember: God gets His best soldiers out of the highlands of affliction.
About the Author: Mrs. Marilyn Hodge owns and operates the Wellness Centre in the Farrington, Anguilla. The Centre offers Counselling Services by Appointment Only and has now published Positive Living Volume 3. Contact information: 476-3517 or email: marilynb@anguillanet.com. www.facebook.com/axawellnesscentre
