No sound in the world, not even the roar of a grizzly, is so dangerous the laughter of wicked men.”
–John Deacon (A Man Called Justice)
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
“Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.”
–James 1:21(NKJV)
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There’s one thing I haven’t quite figured out, well, really, there are many, but I have always wondered why people, especially those in high places cheat, steal, commit fraud just to get ahead and get more money. There are two places where man is equal: at the foot of the cross, and in the grave. It angers me, but I also think it sad how crooked politicians use their office to “get ahead”. It’s sad, because without the Lord all that awaits them is a hole in the ground where they’ll stay until the Judgment.
Solomon writes, in Ecclesiastes 8:
10 — Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.
11 — Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 — Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.
13 — But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God. (NKJV)
I don’t rightly understand two things here. The first is the grand ceremony of the funeral possession of a wicked person. The poor will stand and watch the cars goes by, maybe not knowing who the person is, and surely never meeting them. But not long after, except possibly on the anniversary of the birth or death, they will be forgotten. The second is the fact that God delays righteous judgment. We, in the United States, are to be given a “fair and speedy” trial, but sometimes it takes years because of the system. It would seem that when wickedness is done, God would strike them, but then, that’s why I’m not given the position of a Judge. God is righteous, but also full of mercy. He waits, waits for repentance.
Another thing I don’t understand is why bad things happen to good people. I know the rain falls on the just and the unjust, but it seems that troubles hound the way of the righteous. I will not take the time to try to answer that, but reading the words of Jesus helps. There is a “baptism of suffering,” that little is spoken about today. Instead, there are only showers of prosperity. It may appear that bad things happen to good people, and that good things happen to bad people, but that is looking at the surface. What is happening in the spiritual realm? Someone said that “God gives us the ability to cope with reality though we’re at a loss to explain it.” Pascal wrote, “If there were no obscurity, man would not feel his corruption; if there were no light, man could not hope for a cure. Thus it is not only right but useful for us that God should be partly concealed and partly revealed, since it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness as to know his wretchedness without knowing God.”
“I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
I’ve had questions for tomorrow;
There’ve been times I didn’t know right from wrong,
But in ev’ry situation, God gave me blessed consolation
That my trials come to only make me strong…
Through it all, through it all,
Oh, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.
Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.”
–Andrae Crouch
——————————-
There’s one thing I haven’t quite figured out, well, really, there are many, but I have always wondered why people, especially those in high places cheat, steal, commit fraud just to get ahead and get more money. There are two places where man is equal: at the foot of the cross, and in the grave. It angers me, but I also think it sad how crooked politicians use their office to “get ahead”. It’s sad, because without the Lord all that awaits them is a hole in the ground where they’ll stay until the Judgment.
Solomon writes, in Ecclesiastes 8:
10 — Then I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of holiness, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done. This also is vanity.
11 — Because the sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.
12 — Though a sinner does evil a hundred times, and his days are prolonged, yet I surely know that it will be well with those who fear God, who fear before Him.
13 — But it will not be well with the wicked; nor will he prolong his days, which are as a shadow, because he does not fear before God. (NKJV)
I don’t rightly understand two things here. The first is the grand ceremony of the funeral possession of a wicked person. The poor will stand and watch the cars goes by, maybe not knowing who the person is, and surely never meeting them. But not long after, except possibly on the anniversary of the birth or death, they will be forgotten. The second is the fact that God delays righteous judgment. We, in the United States, are to be given a “fair and speedy” trial, but sometimes it takes years because of the system. It would seem that when wickedness is done, God would strike them, but then, that’s why I’m not given the position of a Judge. God is righteous, but also full of mercy. He waits, waits for repentance.
Another thing I don’t understand is why bad things happen to good people. I know the rain falls on the just and the unjust, but it seems that troubles hound the way of the righteous. I will not take the time to try to answer that, but reading the words of Jesus helps. There is a “baptism of suffering,” that little is spoken about today. Instead, there are only showers of prosperity. It may appear that bad things happen to good people, and that good things happen to bad people, but that is looking at the surface. What is happening in the spiritual realm? Someone said that “God gives us the ability to cope with reality though we’re at a loss to explain it.” Pascal wrote, “If there were no obscurity, man would not feel his corruption; if there were no light, man could not hope for a cure. Thus it is not only right but useful for us that God should be partly concealed and partly revealed, since it is equally dangerous for man to know God without knowing his own wretchedness as to know his wretchedness without knowing God.”
“I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
I’ve had questions for tomorrow;
There’ve been times I didn’t know right from wrong,
But in ev’ry situation, God gave me blessed consolation
That my trials come to only make me strong…
Through it all, through it all,
Oh, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.
Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.”
–Andrae Crouch