Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

IIT UBF - University Bible Fellowship at IIT

Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

Date: Feb. 18, 2016

Passage

Psalm 73:1-28 (ESV)

A Psalm of Asaph.

1   Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those who are pure in heart.
2   But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,
    my steps had nearly slipped.
3   For I was envious of the arrogant
    when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4   For they have no pangs until death;
    their bodies are fat and sleek.
5   They are not in trouble as others are;
    they are not stricken like the rest of mankind.
6   Therefore pride is their necklace;
    violence covers them as a garment.
7   Their eyes swell out through fatness;
    their hearts overflow with follies.
8   They scoff and speak with malice;
    loftily they threaten oppression.
9   They set their mouths against the heavens,
    and their tongue struts through the earth.
10   Therefore his people turn back to them,
    and find no fault in them.
11   And they say, “How can God know?
    Is there knowledge in the Most High?”
12   Behold, these are the wicked;
    always at ease, they increase in riches.
13   All in vain have I kept my heart clean
    and washed my hands in innocence.
14   For all the day long I have been stricken
    and rebuked every morning.
15   If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
    I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
16   But when I thought how to understand this,
    it seemed to me a wearisome task,
17   until I went into the sanctuary of God;
    then I discerned their end.
18   Truly you set them in slippery places;
    you make them fall to ruin.
19   How they are destroyed in a moment,
    swept away utterly by terrors!
20   Like a dream when one awakes,
    O Lord, when you rouse yourself, you despise them as phantoms.
21   When my soul was embittered,
    when I was pricked in heart,
22   I was brutish and ignorant;
    I was like a beast toward you.
23   Nevertheless, I am continually with you;
    you hold my right hand.
24   You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25   Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26   My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27   For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
    you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28   But for me it is good to be near God;
    I have made the Lord GOD my refuge,
    that I may tell of all your works.

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Daily Bread

Key Verse: 73:17

until I went into the sanctuary of God;
then I discerned their end.

First, my feet had almost slipped (1-16). The psalmist believed that God is good to the pure in heart, but when he looked at the world, it seemed that evil people prospered, while good men suffered. His godless neighbor was a man of violence who oppressed the weak. He was unbearably arrogant and deliberately defiant toward God. Yet he was healthy, carefree, wealthy, and popular. On the other hand, the psalmist had struggled to keep his heart and hands pure, but he was weighed down with burdens and problems. He envied the godless man, and he began to doubt God's love. What was worse, he didn't want to be a bad influence, so he couldn't talk to anyone.

Second, God is my portion forever (17-28). Then he went into the sanctuary; he prayed and met God. He saw himself and the world from God's point of view. He repented (21,22). He realized that a just God would deal with the wicked. He rejoiced in God and found peace and true hope in him.

Prayer: Prayer: Lord, you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

One Word: Enter God's sanctuary

Plagues of Frogs and Gnats

Exodus 8:1-19

Key Verse: 8:19

Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Today's Question

What are we specifically taught in the first commandment by the words before me?

See answer and references