Are the bad guys winning?

“He destroys both the blameless and the wicked.” “He mocks the despair of the innocent.” Job 9: 21-24

“Does it please you to oppress me … while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?” Job 10: 3

“Why do the wicked live on?” Job 21: 1-15 Children, safety, wealthy, singing, merry, peaceful

we are getting what we deserve – “But this man has done nothing wrong.” Luke 23: 39-41

“Yet I would speak to you about your justice:” Jeremiah 12: 1-4

Righteous men who get what the wicked deserve & wicked men who get what the righteous deserve Ecclesiastes 8: 14

“O Lord, how long will you look on?” “How long will the enemy mock you, O God?” “How long will you defend the unjust?” Psalm 35: Psalm 74: 10, 22 Psalm 82: 2-4, 8

“How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?” Revelation 6: 9-10

“Rise up, O Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve.” Psalm 94: 1-7

“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God...” Psalm 73

“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood…” Psalm 73

“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.” Psalm 73

Grieved heart Embittered spirit = senseless ignorant brute beast Psalm 73: 21-22

“Does it please you to oppress me … while you smile on the schemes of the wicked?” Job 10: 3

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” Job 38: 1-4

“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him?” Job 40: 1-2

“I am unworthy” “I will say no more” Job 40: 3-5

“Would you discredit My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself ?” Job 40: 6-8

“I spoke of things I did not understand” “I despise myself” “I repent” Job 42: 1-6 senseless ignorant brute beast

“Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.” Psalm 73: 21-26

“Those who are far from you will perish.” “But as for me, it is good to be near God.” Psalm 73: 27-28

“For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” Psalm 73: 3 “Do not fret because of evil men or be envious of those who do wrong.” Psalm 37: 1

Trust, delight in the L ORD commit to the L ORD be still before the L ORD wait for the L ORD Psalm 37 “But as for me, it is good to be near God.”

Wicked will perish wicked will be no more Lord will not forsake His faithful ones Wait for the L ORD – He will exalt you Psalm 37 “…and afterward You will take me into glory.”

“What is that to you. You follow Me.” John 21: 22

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time...” Galatians 6: 9-10 “…never tire of doing what is right.” II Thessalonians 3: 13

In all humility… “Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins?” Lamentations 3: 39

In all humility… “Because of the L ORD ’s great love we are not consumed…” Lamentations 3: 22-26

In all humility… “God does not treat us as our sins deserve.” Psalms 103: 8-12

“He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” Matthew 5: 45

The rain & the sun come upon all & God’s scandalous grace has especially come upon me Matthew 20: 1-16 Luke 15: 11-32

God works toward eternity so should we II Peter 3: 8-9

God will pay back II Peter 2: 1-9 Isaiah 3: 10-11

God is just; He will pay back… …in a little while II Thessalonians 1

1) We are all sinners – we are all wicked. Yet, we do not get what we deserve 2) Good things & bad things happen to good people & bad people. God’s scandalous grace works over all. 3) God is working toward eternity – wishing that none should perish. This should be our perspective and our wish also.

The greatest injustice of all Romans 5:8 While I was still a sinner…

From the earthly, temporary question, “Why?” To the eternal question, “To what end?” “Where is God When It Hurts?” Philip Yancey

“For whatever reason God chose to make man as he is—limited and suffering and subject to sorrows and death—He had the honesty and the courage to take His own medicine. Whatever game He is playing with His creation, He has kept His own rules and played fair.”

“He can exact nothing from man that He has not exacted from Himself. He has Himself gone through the whole of human experience, from the trivial irritations of family life and the cramping restrictions of hard work and lack of money to the worst horrors of pain and humiliation, defeat, despair, and death.”

“When He was a man, He played the man. He was born in poverty and died in disgrace and thought it well worthwhile.” Dorothy Sayers