William Vaughn

Job 21:7; Job 22:17; Job 23:12-14

Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?

ESV Job 21:7

This is Job speaking in his reply to the bad advice his friends have been giving him. Basically, they say Job suffers because he sinned and isn’t right with God.

17 They said to God, ‘Depart from us,’
    and ‘What can the Almighty do to us?’
18 Yet he filled their houses with good things—
    but the counsel of the wicked is far from me.

ESV Job 22:17

Job knows God is just. He doesn’t fully understand why things are going so bad for him, but he knows and trusts that God is just. Ultimately, no one gets away with anything, but sometimes we want God to be immediate in carrying out justice, or to relent in our sufferings. We wonder, “Why haven’t you punished those that hate you, deny you, and work against you Lord? Why do people get away with being evil? Not only are they getting away with it, they’re thriving!” Job’s friends seem to think the world works like this: the wicked suffer, and the godly prosper. We see whole sects of religion subscribing to that theology, and preying on folks who want to believe it. The reality is that God allows us to be lost in our own evil, to depart from Him, and to have what we want; our world without Him. That can even go so well that we convince ourselves we don’t need God, and we’re in some sense our own God, in control of our own fate, our own standard for morality. It’s not what He wants for us, but He gives us the freedom.

Do we really want God to be immediate in His justice? I don’t know about you, but that wouldn’t end well for me. No, we rejoice that God doesn’t do what is “fair”, instead he gives us unimaginable mercy by saving us from what we deserve. He gives us his amazing grace, far more than we deserve, if we will turn to Him.

12 I have not departed from the commandment of his lips;
     I have treasured the words of his mouth more than my portion of food.
13 But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back?
     What he desires, that he does.
14 For he will complete what he appoints for me,
     and many such things are in his mind.

ESV Job 23:12–14.

God does as he desires, he completes what he appoints. All manner of bad stuff is happening to Job, but the state of his heart is aligned directly toward God. God is always after our heart, and circumstances don’t always reflect the state of our heart.