“The Lord knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish; and the enemies of the LORD, like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. Into smoke they shall vanish away. The wicked borrows and does not repay, but the righteous shows mercy and gives. For those blessed by Him shall inherit the earth, but those cursed by Him shall be cut off.”
Psalm 37:18-22
Psalm 37 encourages and teaches the faithful of the Lord how to react, what to do, and what to think when the wicked are thriving, prospering, and seemingly getting away with their wickedness. In verses 18-22 we are told to consider that God knows exactly what is going on. He knows the days of the upright. God knows your suffering and God knows the wicked are thriving. He knows the situation better than we do. This might be disturbing news for someone with no faith. There may be all kinds of unbiblical reasons we can come up with that try to explain why the wicked continue to prosper if God knows about it. We might think that God doesn’t care, or that God can’t do anything about, or He just doesn’t want to.
But the Psalm tells us that there will be vindication. While we may not know exactly why God has not stopped the wicked at this moment, we are assured that God will cause them to perish. They will vanish like a meadow in the years of famine and drought. Like smoke they will disappear. A day is coming for the judgment of the wicked and the vindication of those who place their trust in the LORD. The LORD is present; He knows what is happening and will act righteously when the time is right.
The God who knows us, who chose us before the foundation of the world to be His special possession, who died for us on the cross so we could be reconciled to Him, who forgives us our sins so we can be holy as He is holy, who cares for us, loves us, and who will never leave us nor forsake us, this God knows the wicked are prospering and knows our days too. He promises to vindicate the righteous who continue to do good and to cut off the wicked who continue to steal and oppress people.
These verses show us that when the wicked prosper, God would have us think of our inheritance. There will come a time when the earth will be inherited by those who trust in the Lord and the wicked will be no more. As Proverbs 10:30 says, “The righteous will never be removed, But the wicked will not inhabit the earth.”
The faithful can take comfort in the fact that, indeed, God knows what is going on. God, who is all good, all powerful, all loving, He sees the wickedness of the wicked and the faithfulness of those who trust in Him. The wicked are merely storing up wrath and the righteous are storing up blessings. Nobody will get away with anything, and no faithfulness will go unrewarded.
Glory to the Lord of hosts!
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn
