“In the night I search for you; in the morning I earnestly seek you. For only when you come to judge the earth will people learn what is right. Your kindness to the wicked does not make them do good. Although others do right, the wicked keep doing wrong and take no notice of the Lord’s majesty. O Lord, they pay no attention to your upraised fist. Show them your eagerness to defend your people. Then they will be ashamed. Let your fire consume your enemies. Lord, you will grant us peace; all we have accomplished is really from you.”
Isaiah 26:9-12 NLT
Isaiah introduces something that has constantly baffled the righteous followers of God for millennia. Why do the wicked get away with their wickedness? Why doesn’t God just zap them when they do wrong, those people who “take no notice of the Lord’s majesty”? But it’s worse than that because the same wicked people do harm to God’s people. Isaiah called out to God to “show them [His] eagerness to defend [His] people”. We can all think of people in the public eye who are overtly wicked and who, in their pride and arrogance, think that they are immortal and unstoppable in their wickedness. They may even redefine the word wickedness to mean good, and many gullible people will swallow the lies. Isaiah wrote about them once before in Isaiah 5:20, “What sorrow for those who say that evil is good and good is evil, that dark is light and light is dark, that bitter is sweet and sweet is bitter”. One current example of this can be found in the war between Russia and Ukraine, in which the leader of the attacking side declared his goal was to “demilitarise and denazify” Ukraine. Wasn’t that just an excuse to reoccupy a nation with the false justification that it had a moral duty to do this? We pray that God will bring justice to the poor people in Ukraine and Russia who are suffering so much.
The Psalmist, Asaph, had a similar problem, as we read in Psalm 73:3, “For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness”. He goes on to describe the ways in which the “wicked” prospered, through good health, lack of troubles, and with everything they need. But in their pride, Asaph could see their arrogance, the way they boasted and crushed those less fortunate. They spoke only evil and scoffed at God. Psalm 73:11, “”What does God know?” they ask. “Does the Most High even know what’s happening?”” Asaph concludes in the next verses, “Look at these wicked people— enjoying a life of ease while their riches multiply. Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? Did I keep myself innocent for no reason?” He then continues with “I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain”. This is a very human Psalm, because Asaph’s feelings are bang up to date. Was there a hint of self-pity infecting his soul? As we read, he next tried to rationalise in his own mind why such evil people got away with their evil. “So I tried to understand why the wicked prosper. But what a difficult task it is!” (Psalm 73:16). Don’t we do the same? A burglar steals and is never caught. A mobile phone is snatched, and the owner never sees it again. At the other end of the scale, a despotic leader sends a million young men to their deaths but is still in power at home. Why does God allow such people to get away with their wickedness?
Asaph finally went into God’s presence, and there he found the answer to his dilemma. “Then I went into your sanctuary, O God, and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked”. There is no use fretting about God’s apparent lack of action because God will act. Asaph wrote, “Truly, you put them on a slippery path and send them sliding over the cliff to destruction. In an instant they are destroyed, completely swept away by terrors. When you arise, O Lord, you will laugh at their silly ideas as a person laughs at dreams in the morning” (Psalm 73:18-20). Asaph then turns his thoughts away from the wicked, as God’s light illuminated his soul. He realised how bitter he had become, and he turned his gaze to God Himself. Asaph completes the Psalm with, “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. … But as for me, how good it is to be near God! I have made the Sovereign Lord my shelter, and I will tell everyone about the wonderful things you do” (Psalm 73:25-26, 28). When we lift our gaze into Heavenly places, we find a different perspective, because we find that God is still on His throne and He has everything under control. He wants no one to perish, and He is gracious and patient, just in case the wicked people finally realise the error of their ways and turn to Him in repentance.
But just one more thing that we need to bear in mind, even pilgrims such as us. Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). If God had zapped all the wicked people, would I be writing this? Would any of us be still alive on this planet? We pilgrims need to fall on our knees before God with grateful hearts, thanking Him for His patience and grace.
Dear Heavenly Father. We are so grateful that You sent Your Son “to seek and save the lost”. Unless Jesus had walked on this world, we pilgrims would have had no hope for the future other than a miserable existence in a place where we wouldn’t want to be. All other religions are about man seeking a god, but there is only one God who came to seek sinners like us. So on our knees before You today we offer our worship to the One who has done so much for us. Amen.
