Psalm 94:3

Psalm 94:3

How long will the wicked be jubilant?

Our prayers are often very polite and deferential. Liturgical prayer is very much like that, the words are beautiful, and the sentiments are heart-felt but they maintain a certain politeness that is portrayed as the correct manner with which to approach the Sovereign God. Not so in many of the Psalms. This verse begins with a demand, an impatient insistence that the Lord should take some action against the wicked. Why should they get away with it? Why should they continue to flourish when all they do is rebel and break God’s laws? Why are they allowed to prosper at the expense of the righteous and the poor? Why is God standing idly by when the wicked are carrying on with their evil deeds? How can God tolerate their arrogant jubilation that they can do as they want and there will no consequences? Don’t we have a right to know what is going on? Why is the Lord so slow to act and to avenge the deeds of these wicked men?

I don’t know if you have ever felt like that. If not, why not? Should we not be angry that the wicked prosper? Should it not annoy us that those who spit on the commands of the Lord seem to get away with it? Do we not fume over the fact that so many enjoy a prosperous lifestyle doing the very things that God detests? 

Sometimes we need to get things into perspective. There is not one evildoer who with “get away with it.” Justice will prevail. Life on earth is very short and eternity is … well, eternal! The wicked are to be pitied for they will receive the full penalty for their sins and God knows that their jubilation is short-lived. You cannot mock Him and not face the consequences.

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