Why do the unrighteous prosper

When you ask the question, why do the wicked prosper and the righteous suffer, in a social gathering, it raises a lot of dust. The religious sects believe that the prosperity of the wicked is only for a short while and that the end will be destruction.

Others are of the view that we live in an unfair world, and that bad things happen to good people. However, the fact remains that the wicked prosper because of the price they have paid. Over the years, the word prosperity seems to refer to only money. It is not a lie; however, it is also not the complete truth, as prosperity cuts across various areas of life. It ranges from good health to even having a good family. However, economists will strongly disagree with this fact, as they solely believe that money is the only indicator of prosperity.

As we continue, you will find out that it is a wrong belief. The fact is that a lot of things have to be in place before you can say a man is genuinely prosperous. Good health is another essential factor in prosperity , apart from money. A billionaire with stage three cancer of the brain cannot survive it, even with the money. As a result, you can say that he is a failure in health, yet he has so much money.

A man or a woman with a broken home tends to suffer a lot of emotional trauma, even if they manage to hide it, but deep within it will be consuming them.

Even the religious sect will agree that a man that cannot keep his family is a failure, and he is not fit to be a voice in society. As much as the money is essential for you to be a prosperous person, keeping a healthy family is vital, too, because once you lack in this area, it tends to ruin you publicly. In the world today, there is an increasing number of suicides by even prosperous people, now the question is why a wealthy man would kill himself.

It could be a result of loneliness, emptiness, and sadness, which leads to depression. There are a couple of rich people going into drugs and suicide because of depression, so you can see if money could fill people up; these people should not act in such acts.

One can set that a man with money is prosperous if all things are in place in his life, from family life to good health. There are laws to acquire wealth. Whether you are good, bad, or ugly, this law will work if you apply them to your daily life. In everyday life, some rules or regulations guide our actions. Thus, once we do anything, we get a reward based on our activities.

For Instance, it is a rule that when you pay the electric bill, you get something in return, which is light.

Once you pay, it becomes the responsibility of the company to give you light by all means because you have done your part. The same rule applies when you are paying water bills and every other bill, once you follow that simple rule; you get the required result. Consistently, doing something pays off. He openly confessed that he was strongly tempted to slip back from following The Lord.

He had stood firm in his confidence in God and His goodness, but the prosperity of the wicked trouble him so much that he almost slipped from the right path. As Asaph observed their easy lives, it seemed that the ungodly were exempt from the struggles of life and any pains of death.

The wicked somehow appeared to avoid pain of affliction that the righteous suffer,even in their deaths their bodies were well -fed, and healthy and strong. From his perspective, they were immune to hardship. Even more unjust to Asaph was this fact: the easy lives of the wicked spawned more pride in their sinful hearts. Showing little restraint, they clothed themselves with violence, with cruel, criminal acts against others.

In spite of this, they seemed to have everything their hearts could desire. Asaph continued to describe the despicable behavior of the corrupt. They used their tongues for evil. They spoke maliciously, and threatened others. They even cursed and spoke against God Himself. Asaph painted a graphic picture of their boastful speaking, depicting their arrogant tongues fearlessly strutting across the face of the earth.

As they proudly paraded their wickedness, they openly intimidated everybody they encountered as they were untouchable. As the wicked spread their verbal poison throughout the land, many people foolishly believed their false promises.

With minds totally corrupted, these rebellious people mock God, going so far as to question His existence and power. These evil people had the audacity to ask these questions. How does God know? Does the Most High even have the knowledge He claims to Have? We are not up to v. Apparently, since they suffered no penalty for their misbehavior and injustice, they assumed that one of the three things must be true.

God did not see or know what they did. God was not powerful enough to stop them or punish them. God does not exist at all. These are the wicked Asaph conclude. This is what the wicked are like. They lead carefree live, and all the while their prosperity continues to increase. Asaph was brutally honest with God: The prosperity of the wicked had thrust him into intense turmoil. He had begun to question the very foundation of his faith, wondering if living for God , was useless.

Day by day, he made ever effort to walk righteously. He had turned away from the bright lights, the pleasures, and perversion of the world. Was it all in vain? Had he kept his heart pure for nothing? Did he wash his hands in innocence carefully guarding his behavior to be innocent of wrongdoing, to no avail? In Spite of his best efforts to live a godly life, Asaph was plagued with trial and troubles. All day long and every morning suggest that he had been touched by a physical affliction, perhaps an ongoing, incurable decease.

For some time, Asaph had kept his feeling bottled up within, causing severe mental and emotional stress. As a chief worship leader in Israel, he carefully considered his influence on other. He felt that he would betray the faith that he betray the faith that bound Israel throughout the generations, even the current generation of children. At the same time, he watched the wicked go about their vile business untouched by trouble.

I want you to notice that Scripture does not condemn Asaph for having these feelings. God is not weak or overly sensitive. Rather, He is powerful and understanding.

He can handle our burdens, and He can deal with our questions, even when they are about Him. As a leader, he did not speak of his struggles to other people, least he betrays their faith.

Pastors and other leader know what it is like to be unable to talk to others when their own faith is challenged. If the individuals they lead learn of their questions and doubts, then they might lose confidence in their pastor or leader, or they too might be tempted to slip in their faith. This is not bad money in anyone's book.

We hardly know what to think of numbers that large, yet we see them in the news every day. Salaries of professional ballplayers have begun to reach these levels. Lottery winners, especially winners of the PowerBall jackpots, take home multiple millions of dollars.

Government agencies and programs work with sometimes billions of dollars. We may think, "These people aren't even called!

Why are they being blessed? Money has not bought the Kennedy or Hemingway families anything truly good, but when we read of someone's financial gain, we tend to be envious. Why do the wicked prosper , while God's chosen people barely scrape by? Yet now, God does not seem to be using a large bank account as a form of blessing—judging from my bank account.

We are not alone in this complaint. Several Old Testament figures were just as perplexed as we are. Notice Jeremiah's prayer:. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? Jeremiah Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, become mighty in power?

Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. Their bull breeds without failure; their cow calves without miscarriage.

They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment [ in peace , Moffatt] go down to the grave. Job This question pops up in the Psalms as well: "Lord, how long will the wicked, how long will the wicked triumph?

It seems to offend the human sense of justice and order when the unrighteous are not crushed immediately and to our satisfaction.

We want evil cursed and destroyed and good blessed and promoted uniformly no matter what. Sometimes we make things more complicated than they have to be.

God's plan is really very simple: Obedience and faith lead to salvation Matthew If we are truly seeking His Kingdom, we will be faithful and obedient to God. This simple blueprint guides our Christian lives. Yet we have trials, and we search for the "why" of it all.

We look for deep, earth-shattering answers. The answers, however, may be so simple that we have glossed over them in our pursuit of the deep things. After puzzling over the reasons why blessings seem to accrue to the wicked, David hit upon a simple answer and wrote it as Psalm His solution is concise and easy to remember: Do good, trust God and don't worry.

What could be more clear? It makes a terrific motto to live by. The Psalms and Proverbs are full of verses bemoaning the success of the corrupt and calling upon God for understanding.

Sometimes it seems that David and Solomon exploded in frustration, and their writings served as means to vent their concerns. But God heard them and gave them answers, which we can usually find somewhere in the context of their questions.

We can explore this issue of the wicked prospering within the context of Psalm This psalm is more like a sermon than a prayer because it primarily contains instructions rather than praise or petitions. David's purpose in it is to explain the apparent contradiction between God's promise to judge men according to their works and real life, where the wicked often prosper and the obedient suffer.

Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. Do not fret because of him who prospers in his way. Do not fret—it only causes harm. Jesus includes this point in the Sermon on the Mount , telling us not to worry about our life, our food and clothing and the troubles of tomorrow Matthew