What’s Going On
God what is going on?
This last Wednesday we looked at the minor prophet Nahum. Nahum writes a letter prophesying the destruction of the Assyrian Empire. To put that into perspective that would be like someone today saying that there will be a day in which China no longer exists. That’s a mind blowing thought. They are too big, to strong, to aggressive, to dominating. They are blessed with economic prosperity, security, and military might all while being opposed to allowing the church to proclaim God’s truth.
So what do we do when God seems to ignore the wicked?
What do we say when the wicked seem to prosper?
Did you know there is a Psalm about that?
The 73rd Psalm: take a second and give it a read. You will find some brutal honesty.
For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
and
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….
For the whole first half of the Psalm the focus stays upon the wicked. How God is letting them slide, how they are being blessed, how following the Words of the Lord seem to have no benefit.
It’s not until midway through that you the singer begin to remember that God is still in control. This same thought is echoed in the first verses of Nahum chapter one when the prophet says:
The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm
Avenging means a wrong must be done first (though remember that we are all born sinful)
Slow to anger means God’s first desire is not our destruction, but our redemption.
The one certainty is that God does indeed have a plan. Evil is not “getting away” with anything. There is not a battle that needs to be won. Don’t be envious of evil’s success. Don’t focus on the arrogant and their perceived prosperity. Don’t lament the sacrifices you make to live Christian life.
In fact Christ says in Matthew 5:44-45
But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
So how are we to respond as we watch evil flourish and the church diminish? With trust. With hope. With Joy knowing that we know how this will all end.
And, that is why the psalmist ends his work in chapter 73 this way:
My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength[b] 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.
May I be quick to proclaim His works in the midst of every storm
-Pastor Dan