“Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace. But transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.”
Psalm 37:37-38
What are the righteous, the followers of Christ, to do when the wicked “prosper in the way” is what all of Psalm 37 is about. In verses 37 and 38 we are directed to the future. The word future is mentioned twice in these verses. The future of the upright is compared with the future of the wicked. The righteous can be patient, the righteous can still be long-suffering, and the righteous can still walk faithfully to the commands of God while the wicked prosper because his future is peace. The future of the wicked is destruction.
God would not have us simply consider the future. He would not have us place our hope in the future as some insecure possibility. But God would have us see our suffering, He would have us see the current injustices we face, in the light of His sovereign, sure promises that will absolutely come to pass. The judgment of the wicked, the fact that justice will come down like mighty river upon the wicked, is a fixed reality that just has not come to pass as yet.
In Exodus 17 the Amalekites attacked Israel in the wilderness. Amalek lost the battle against Israel, but they still existed as a nation who harassed Israel over the years. After the battle, the Lord declared to Moses, “Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” But Amalek continued to thrive as a nation until God gave Saul, Israel’s first king, the command to kill every single person of the Amalekites even women and children and all their livestock. All their possessions were to be burned so that there was nothing left. But this occurred around 500 years after the decree in Exodus! However, their destruction was never in doubt for God.
God gave the Amalekites 500 years to repent from their wickedness until their final judgment was carried out. The same is true for all the wicked, even in our day. Peter says in 2 Peter that the reason the final judgment has not happened yet is because God is giving the wicked time to repent. But the future of those who refuse to repent is still terrible judgment.
This is the light in which the righteous are to view their situation when the wicked prosper. Like the Amalekites, the wicked’s judgment has already been decreed. It is not in doubt. Their future is dark; there will be a day of reckoning. The patience of God that allows some of the wicked to repent also accomplishes the unrepentant wicked to continue to fill up the measure of the wrath that is coming upon them, not unlike Scrooge’s ever-growing chains in A Christmas Carol, adding to it everyday link by link though wicked deeds. on which chain he will labor to carry for all eternity.
But the future of those who obey the word of the Lord is perfect peace. The future for the upright is a great comfort in unjust and difficult times.
Glory to the Lord of hosts!
His mercy endures forever!
Pastor Flynn
