Don’t worry about the wicked or envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like spring flowers, they soon wither.
Psalm 37: 1-2
If you have ever heard your mother calling you by your full name; usually by all three names in measured tone, then you know that you have crossed the line. Sometimes it seems that this is the same with God. Quite often wickedness may seem to prosper in our world, until…God steps in and calls us out by name.
In the book of Exodus, everything seemed to be going Pharoah’s way. The Israelites just could not get a break for 400 years. The Israelites were abused and misused, by the Egyptians until, … God stepped in and called out Pharoah by name.
Then there is King Ahab the Israelite King, who married Jezebel the Sidonian woman. Ahab built a house to Baal and encouraged pagan worship. His wife Jezebel pursued and killed the Lord’s servants. Only Elijah escaped. Ahab repented of his sin and died in battle, but Jezebel appeared to be winning, until …God stepped in. Her death is captured in 2 Kings 9:30-37. It was a violent death.
How about the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Everything seemed to be holding steady despite their outrageous sinful ways. Luke states: “… People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. (Luke 17: 28-30)”. They sinned unhindered, until…God stepped in.
There are times when God uses wicked people and wicked situations to accomplish his divine purposes, yet the writer of Proverbs reminds us: “The LORD works out everything to its proper end— even the wicked for a day of disaster (Proverbs 16:4). And Ecclesiastes, 3: 15-17 reminds us that every action will be judged by God at the right time. God’s justice may seem delayed, and we might grow impatient in the waiting, but hold on, at the perfect time, a time appointed by God himself, he will mete out justice, surely and fairly. So, matter what is going on with you or around you today, don’t envy those who do wrong. Just pray and wait, until…God steps in.