The Wicked Sometimes Prosper Because There's More To Life than Things

The one hole in Job's friend's argument is presented by Job in chapter 21. 

Job 21:7–9 (ESV) Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power? 8 Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.

All this time the friends have been accusing Job of wickedness because his suffering must be (in their opinion) due to his terrible behavior. But Job finally puts that idea down here. And it's something I'm sure we all wonder about at some point:

Why does God let "them" get away with it and even bless them?

Let me ask you: Have you seen the wicked prosper? Have you seen the ungodly get blessed? Have you wondered what was up? 

Perhaps this above all might be the most incomprehensible aspect of suffering. You suffer as you see the wicked prosper. Now I cannot claim much suffering in my life. God has been tremendously good to me, but when I'm down even in the minor issues of life, I begin to question why so many who are unconcerned with the Lord seem to get the best things in life. 

Job continues:
Job 21:10–13 (ESV) Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry. 11 They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe. 13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.

And Job acknowledges that they are in no way oblivious to God, they just reject Him outright:
Job 21:14–15 (ESV) They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways. 15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’

Notice the heart of the wicked expounded from Job here. The wicked only ever look for self-profit and self-promotion. "What profit do we get if we pray to him?" And the earlier question Job lists in verse 15 betrays the wicked's ignorance of God: "What is the Almighty, that we should serve him?" Note the word, "What" instead of "Who." A person detached from the Lord has no knowledge of His personhood, that when we come to God we come to One who loves us in enormous ways. 

So the wicked have two problems. First, they do not KNOW the LORD personally, and second, they cannot fathom a benefit better than profit from the LORD. Greed and indulgence are blinding vices. And Job's answer here to his friends subtly accuses them of the same issues. Why? Because their comfort only seeks to get back Job's earthly possessions and that is not what life is ultimately about. Job has learned this the hard way. We get to observe and learn from reading it. 

The wicked sometimes SEEM TO prosper because there's more to life than things. Job is drawing us to that conclusion ever so slightly, and when the Lord shows up, Job's mouth will be shut in silent reverence that nothing is better than KNOWING HIM.


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