Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

I am going to be honest (as if I haven’t been honest enough in my other articles). I have struggled this week.

There are mysteries about God that I just don’t understand, and I’m beginning to think I won’t fully understand them until eternity.

One of those struggles is simple: Why do the wicked prosper?

This isn’t a new question. It’s been asked many times in the Bible and probably by most Christians at some point in their walks with God.

But the inverse of the question is also what is perplexing to me. If the wicked prosper, then does that mean the righteous do not?

Some big, heavy news hit our home this week. The first thought that came to my mind was “This is the thanks we get?”

I am not particularly proud of that response, but it is what it is.

As I was digesting the news we got I was feeling the weight of it. And seriously annoyed by it. After all that we’ve done these last 8 months, this is how we are repaid? More heartache? More pain? More anxiety?

I want a freaking Lamborghini. Or to sue someone for $10M for emotional damages. The last 8-9 months have been the most exhausting and traumatizing of my life.

I don’t want more pain. There are only so many times I can eat my feelings before I can’t fit in my sweats anymore.

But back to the issue at hand…

Why is it that the wicked, the corrupt, and the evil seem to get off without a scratch while the good, honest, righteous people of the world get squashed?

This isn’t the first time I’ve felt these emotions, and probably not the last. A few years back I was in a tough season. I thought it couldn’t get worse, little did I know what was coming down the road. I was in a lot of pain, my whole family was.

We were being mistreated, betrayed, and lied about while the perpetrators were getting off without so much as a slap on the wrist.

I do want to make an important caveat here though. When I read passages like Psalm 55 and the one I am about to quote where it talks about “wicked people” and “enemies”, I want to picture real people that I feel are worth my wrath and God’s. But I need to remember that the real wicked enemy is the actual enemy, Satan. Not the people I encounter in my life, they are loved by God and are in need of Him as much as I am. God is the judge, not me. It does usually take me a minute to get there though when I am in the thick of my emotions…

Anyways…

I stumbled upon a Psalm that I had never paid much attention to. The last few verses of the Psalm are quite famous, but the first 3/4 of it is what made it jump out to me. It also makes the ending that much more powerful.

“Truly God is good to Israel,

To such as are pure in heart.

But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;

My steps had nearly slipped.

For I was envious of the boastful,

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”

I love that Asaph starts with “truly God is good to Israel”. He states that he recognizes the goodness of God in the history of his nation. Yet he goes on to share his pain.

He had almost stumbled, and given up. He looked and saw the prosperity of the wicked. I’ve seen that too, and so have you. And I’m not just talking about your neighbor who annoys you. I’m talking about real wicked and corrupt people that literally get away with murder, thanks to old slue-foot Satan

“For there are no pangs in their death,

But their strength is firm.

They are not in trouble as other men,

Nor are they plagued like other men.

Therefore pride serves as their necklace;

Violence covers them like a garment.

Their eyes bulge with abundance;

They have more than heart could wish.

They scoff and speak wickedly concerning oppression;

They speak loftily.

They set their mouth against the heavens,

And their tongue walks through the earth.”

They grew in pride and arrogance because they think they have gotten away with everything. They think they have no one to fear because they are prosperous.

It can be really hard to think that God doesn’t approve of you if you prosper, it can also be hard to think God does approve of you if you aren’t prospering.

Prosperity doesn’t necessarily demonstrate God’s approval.

The Psalm goes on.

“And they say, “How does God know?

And is there knowledge in the Most High?”

Behold, these are the ungodly,

Who are always at ease;

They increase in riches.”

Does God not see? Does He not know what they do? The wicked grow and increase in riches?

Does God not do anything?

“Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain,

And washed my hands in innocence.

For all day long I have been plagued,

And chastened every morning.”

Translation, have I wasted my life doing the right thing? The right thing has not profited me anything. On the contrary, the wicked still increase.

But then something changes in the way he writes.

“If I had said, “I will speak thus,”

Behold, I would have been untrue to the generation of Your children.

When I thought how to understand this,

It was too painful for me—

Until I went into the sanctuary of God;

Then I understood their end.”

This verse changed everything for me when I was in that rough season a few years ago. And this week the Lord reminded me of it. It’s easy to feel like the good that we try to do in the world amounts to nothing, and that the wicked and evil people will always prosper. But we know better.

“Surely You set them in slippery places;

You cast them down to destruction.

Oh, how they are brought to desolation, as in a moment!

They are utterly consumed with terrors.

As a dream when one awakes,

So, Lord, when You awake,

You shall despise their image.”

When I go into the presence of the Lord I remember how He works. He does set the wicked in slippery places. If a wicked person prospers all the days of his life on earth, what does it profit him if he spends eternity in hell?

And if a righteous person’s life is hell on earth for their entire life, what is it compared to an eternity with Jesus?

This was my much-needed reminder that God actually is good. There is true justice. The only reason you and I won’t get what we deserve is because of what Jesus did on the cross. He gave us his righteousness. But those who deny that free gift will suffer forever.

Asaph goes on to describe the pain he felt at how foolish he had been. I felt this way this week. I was angry. I was angry at the world, at God, at myself. I took it out on my car’s steering wheel.

“Thus my heart was grieved,

And I was vexed in my mind.

I was so foolish and ignorant;

I was like a beast before You.

Nevertheless I am continually with You;

You hold me by my right hand.

You will guide me with Your counsel,

And afterward receive me to glory.”

This is one of the most comforting verses in the Bible to me. I was like a brute beast before Him. I was losing my mind, angry, upset, disillusioned.

BUT He holds me by my right hand.

I have asked a lot of hard questions in the last year. I have cried a lot of tears. Disillusionment and disappointment have set in deep.

But when I read this verse I feel hope. He holds me by my right hand and guides me with His counsel. This is the safest place to be. Losing my crap, in the palm of His hand.

You will probably recognize these last few verses.

“Whom have I in heaven but You?

And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You.

My flesh and my heart fail;

But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

For indeed, those who are far from You shall perish;

You have destroyed all those who desert You for harlotry.

But 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.”

Psalm 73

This is the climax, the ultimate ending to his song.

He realizes that God is in control and He is enough.

He is enough for me. He strengthens me. He can handle my questions, my complaints, my wrestles. I don’t scare Him. My screaming in my car and banging the steering wheel doesn’t phase Him.

I have a lot of questions to ask God when I get to heaven or He comes back down here (whichever happens first). But in the meantime, it is good for me to come near to Him, I can trust Him.

Photo by Cherish Smith