Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment?
Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
(Job 24:1 NIV)
Today I was talking with someone about the presidential race and all the “bad guys” in the political sphere. We agreed that God will judge those who have put in place evil plots and plans. I, personally, am glad God is the judge; I simply do not have enough information to make judgments. But God does. He knows the plans of the wicked. He is slow to anger, but he is also just. And the wickedness and injustices of this world are not unnoticed by the God of the Universe. I have been praying for years that “The power of the wicked will be broken,”(Psalm 37:17 NIV), but I’m also praying that evil and wickedness will be fully exposed with indisputable evidence. I do not want innocent people to be caught up in mud slinging, but the time has come for guilty people to be judged, prosecuted, and convicted.
God will bring into judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time to judge every deed. (Ecclesiastes 3:17 NIV)
Do you remember the story of Esther in the Bible? She was this very brave Jewish girl, living in a pagan culture, who used her faith and influence to save her people from violence and annihilation. Do you remember the bad guy in the story, Haman? He was an advisor in the king’s inner circle, but had a deep, deep hatred for the Jews and plotted to destroy them. Do you remember that his evil included building gallows in his front yard to hang Esther’s guardian Mordecai? But in the end Haman was hanged on his own gallows.
They hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. (Esther 7:10 CSB)
If we are in Christ, working out our salvation, seeking to live in righteousness, then we have nothing to fear from God’s judgement. God sees us through the grace and blood of Jesus. But if you are bent on wickedness, have rejected God’s ways, and are seeking to do evil….that’s another matter. God will judge.
To my eyes, it’s time. It’s time for God to move in and judge all the wickedness in this world. It’s time for the Hamans of this day to be (metaphorically) “hanged on their own gallows” – to succumb to their own wickedness. Is that harsh? Yes. But if their hard-heartedness has not eased after having years of opportunities to repent, what else should we expect God to do?
Not so the wicked!
They are like chaff
that the wind blows away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous.
For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous,
but the way of the wicked leads to destruction. (Psalm 1:4-6 NIV)
Why does the breaking of the wicked matter? Since the Garden of Eden the world has always had wickedness and evil, sometimes more, sometimes less. I believe it’s time for “less.” It’s time for the way of the wicked to end in its own destruction. It’s time for righteousness – or at least people who are not evil – to take the lead. It’s time for the upright in heart to be at the forefront of life.
God of Justice,
Thank you that we cannot fully grasp things from your perspective, and your understanding that is vastly more complete than ours. Thank you for seeing your children through the grace and blood of Jesus Christ. Thank you that you are perfectly just in all your ways. We pray that the wicked would repent of their sins and turn to you for salvation. But if they will not, we pray that you will break their power and remove them from positions of influence. Where there has been lawbreaking, we pray for truth to be brought into the Light with irrefutable evidence, and we pray for complete earthly justice. We do pray you will protect the innocent from unjust prosecution, even as you judge the wicked. We ask these things in the powerful name of Jesus Christ, AMEN.
Judgment will again be founded on righteousness, and all the upright in heart will follow it. (Psalm 94:15 NIV)