When the wicked prosper

This is something that has puzzled godly people through all time. Asaph wrote Psalm 73 when he was troubled by this question of why a righteous and almighty God allowed wicked people to prosper. What he finally understood was that even though they appeared to prosper for a certain time, they were really in a slippery place and would perish in the end. This question comes to Christians when they see how some of them are being treated wrongly by others, and instead of God rescuing them, their enemies continue to prosper. This goes against their expectations which they have received from the Bible where they see how God has protected and prospered the people whom He had chosen and how their enemies were always put to shame. Fast and pray as they do, still it is the enemies who seem to triumph at the end! They wonder about why God is not keeping His promises for their protection as He has done earlier for others.

"Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (Mt.5:10). Isn't this a shocking statement for Jesus to make, because He seems to be contradicting God's promises of old for the protection of His people, such as, "Cast your burden upon the LORD and He will sustain you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken" (Ps.55:22)? God says, "The righteous will never be shaken, But the wicked will not dwell in the land" (Pr.10:30). Isn't it reasonable for Christians to expect that such is what God will do for them? But when they see increasingly that the wicked are becoming triumphant over them, and their prayers for deliverance are not being answered, they wonder what is going on, and what is it that we Christians should make of it?

Some people carelessly jump to the conclusion that the God of the New Testament is different from that of the Old. No. He is the same. He does not change. But what He is doing now is different from what He did earlier, because He is now trying to accomplish something else. In the Old Testament He demonstrated how almighty He is through the miracles He did for His people (Ex.14:31). Now, having established that, He is testing people, the righteous and the wicked, to see how they would react (Ps.11:4,5).

What can we do when our prayers are not answered, we are not delivered from calamity, we suffer injustice and wickedness? We wonder, "If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?" (Ps.11:3). Will we give up on God? Will we buckle under the pressure and compromise? Will we conclude that there is no point in seeking God, attending church, reading the Bible, praying, etc.?