I'm thinking today of Job 21-7. This is the question that was asked.
Why do the wicked still live? Continue on. Also become very powerful. Job 21-7.
The logical conclusion here is that there is a judgment coming.
It's not really a rhetorical question. It's like we're asking God, why does it seem like the wicked are still getting away with what they're doing?
The truth is we live in a world with a lot of not very nice people in it doing things, pulling schemes,
getting ahead usually at others' expense. So why does God allow that?
And the answer is there is a judgment coming.
The truth is that some of those people who are getting away with really bad things right now,
before they die on this earth, they may come to Christ.
I know several drug dealers who no longer deal drugs because they've come to Jesus.
I know people who spent 20 plus years in jail who no longer served the enemy but now serve God.
I, for 25 years of my life, was a pretty bad guy, manipulating people around me, lying, a little bit of stealing, playing around with addictive substances.
The bottom line is Job was starting to get an understanding of heaven in the midst of the worst trials he had ever been through,
as horrible as his life had become, with guys coming to him and saying,
you must have sinned against God, and him saying, no, I haven't. I really haven't. I'm living for the Lord the best in Ohio.
He was beginning to understand that there is life after this life.
If you judge God's mercy and justice only by this life, it seems hard to understand.
But we have an eternity with God in heaven after this life, and so we can endure what we're going through now.
Be encouraged. This is not the end. This is just the beginning.