Prosperity of the Wicked?

Why Do The Wicked/Unrighteous Proper?

…. and they glory in their wealth ….

…. yep, they have all the stuff ….

…. They don’t suffer any problems ….

…. Everything seems to be rosy for them ….

They enjoy the best of the land. They have the best of food, clothing and warmth and live in the best of houses. They have the best of rides – private jets, fabulous cars, lavish lifestyles and everything the heart can desire.

Are you amazed at the prosperity of the Unrighteous? Does the blessing of the sinner make your ask questions? Does their abundance and excess leave you green with envy? Does it not shock you that everything they touch prospers hence, they are getting richer and the bank managers kowtow before them?

David was as envious as many and exclaimed:

Why Do The Wicked Proper?

“For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no bands in their death: but their strength is firm. They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men. Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily. They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh through the earth. Therefore his people return hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, How doth God know? and is there knowledge in the most High? Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world; they increase in riches.” [Psalm 73:1-12]

God Set Them Up
But, do you know that God deliberately set them up as such? Amazing, isn’t it? God did it on purpose. Many would conclude, “That makes God unjust, why should He do that?”

God is not unjust. He did it in His goodness and benevolence. His kindness set them up as such.

Remember Pharoah Thutmoses III (king of Egypt during Exodus 1485/1464 – 1431 BC)? God did set him up.

“And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.” [Exodus 9:16]

Ordinarily, the man who became Pharaoh was born like any other child and could have perished at birth (still born) or died as a teenager. But, God preserved his life and he became Pharaoh. And God said, “I made you become what you are for a time like this.”

We will come back to Pharaoh in a moment.

Most Expensive Road Car in The World

What about Nebuchadnezzar?

“You, O king, are a king of kings: for the God of heaven has given you a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.” [Daniel 2:37]

God preserved him from birth, just like He did with Pharaoh, made him ascend to royalty with even greater blessing than Pharaoh – he was a king of kings! Nebuchadnezzar was great and renowned all over the world – the super-power of the world in his time.

God exalted Pharaoh, but God even exalted Nebuchadnezzar much more.

Would you know that these two men were as sick as their wealth? They were sore sick and needed help, which was why God promoted them to these wealthy environments. Are you beginning to see why the wicked prosper?

Man’s nature is very sick. God wants to expose the sickly nature of man for what it truly is, so that man can get help and be healed. Sadly, Man doesn’t want to admit to his sickness.

(the nature exhibited by this boy is in us ALL)

Do you know that God deliberately set them up as such? His aim is to get them to the place where they can acknowledge their sickness – the evil in their hearts, and humble themselves in repentance, learn justice and be truly and genuinely good.

That is what every one of us should be consumed with – getting well from the sickness of man. In truth, anyone submitting to the will of God is getting healthier daily. Paul the apostle calls this getting healed from the sickness of man, “dying” (I Corinthians 15:31).

It is the abandonment of pride, the lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes, in essence the love of this world. The sooner you begin to do something about your situation, the better for you. The longer you leave it, the worse you will become and farther you will get from God.

Sadly, instead of being passionate about walking humbly before God, man is desperate for money, power and fame! Have you noticed that our churches are filled with the messages on how to make more money, become powerful or get famous than becoming like Christ?

Someone comments, “I understand what you are saying but I really don’t see the connection in why God gave them the wealth.”

God gives them the wealth to help them. He wants to expose them to the fact that they are sick and in need of a Savior. Look at Psalm 12:8

“…. the vilest men are exalted.”

God puts the vilest of men in Presidency, or royalty, head of corporations and institutions, we see them as noble, but God sees most of them as VILE or vain. Anyone without Christ is vile, no matter how nice they may appear to be; there is an inherent evil in them that only God can remove.

Only the Blood of Jesus Christ can flush that evil out of Man’s system. That Blood is like a safe disinfectant against the most dangerous virus. The sickness of sin is the worst of sicknesses! It seeks to oppress, control and humiliate others.

Don’t just think of Adolf Hitler of Germany, Emperor Hirohito of Japan, Josef Stalin of Russia, Idi Amin Dada of Uganda or the sexual exploitation of men like Fidel Castro, Wilt Chamberlain (Harlem Globetrotters), King Solomon, Warren Beatty, Jack Nicholson, Jezebel, Cleopatra, Catherine the Great or Elizabeth Báthory (who bathed in blood of virgin girls to maintain her youthfulness). Look at a mirror and the person you see there could easily have been any of these people – powerful, rich or famous but vile or vain.

Man is Sinful – We are All Sinners!

The richest, most royal, most powerful, most famous, most decorated, most intelligent are supposed to be the most humble among us. Not just being rich, even poverty is expected to drive a man to seek God’s help, too. That poverty – money-wise, health-wise, power-wise – is also a set up to expose the sickness of man! Job will tell you, he experienced both.

Man is sick – very sick!
What am I saying? Natural man is filled with all forms of evil mixed with some good. Do you say you are exempt? I guess everyone would claim to be unaffected by the malaise found in Man. Like they say, “Every prisoner is innocent,” (The Shawshank Redemption, Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, Narrator). Man always claims to be innocent and guiltless. Adam, Eve, Cain, Saul, etc have all claimed to be innocent of the charge, too.

What do these have to do with God giving the unrighteous so much wealth? Being king of Egypt, a world super power, is a huge position of power, fame and wealth. But, he was equally oppressive. He terrorized, dominated, oppressed and humiliated a whole nation by his racism.

“Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, who knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there come upon us any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so escape out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses.” [Exo 1:8-11]

God did not make him take that decision, he did by himself; it was not even mentioned that anyone suggested it to him, he made it by himself!

Then after so many years of enslavement and affliction, God sent a message, to let his slaves go free. Pharaoh refused. Pharaoh manifested pride of life and refused to repent. All the sickly evil in man’s nature began to manifest itself.

Do you know that this man, who was given such prestige and power; fame and glory could have used his power and authority as Pharaoh to set the slaves free at once? If he had done so, imagine the story in the headlines:

“Pharaoh Sets The Israelis Free!”
“Pharaoh Sends The Egyptian Slaves Back To Their Land!”

Being king, he had access to the wealth of the land; he had the fame and all the trappings. His word is full of power and authority.

Yet he refused.

Perhaps he thought, “Where will I get someone to scrub my toilet for free?” “Who will clean my shoes for less than half the national wage?” “Who will satisfy my irresponsible sexual lusts at the snap of the finger?”

I reiterate that Man is sick – sick with sin. God expects man to humble himself to get help because man of his sickness! But man doesn’t want to admit to his sickness. The longer the refusal to admit to being sick and in need of the Physician, the worse the sickness gets – every passing minute counts.

Can you imagine a near vegetable man – dying of cancer or HIV, who is a few yards to the grave, demanding respect or complaining about issues in another man’s life? Or do you see him demanding or cunningly seeking to sleep with another man’s wife?

Remember what happened to Nebuchadnezzar?

God made him king over all the earth; he was a king of kings, more powerful than Pharaoh, but he was also very proud, much more proud than Pharaoh.

Until Nebuchadnezzar ate grass like an animal so he could admit his sickness, he thought he was good and untouchable. Does that not like sound like the pompous atheist who has a thousand reasons not to believe there is a God? Does that not sound like the rich woman who lives in pleasure? Does that not sound like the married but powerful CEO who would not relent until he has slept with his married secretary?

Before you justify yourself, let me remind you that the source of this sickness is sin. The potential to do what either Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar did is in everyone. It’s in all of us, my brothers and sisters, ALL! No exception! That was the effect of the sin injected into Humanity through Adam and Eve!

“Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all whose works are truth, and his ways judgment: and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.” [Daniel 4:37]

This was the greatest accomplishment Nebuchadnezzar made in his entire life and he couldn’t keep the joy of it to himself, so he wrote to everyone in the world! (Daniel 4:1) Please read that whole chapter to appreciate and understand.

The Blessing of the Righteous
If He has blessed you, with whatever – money, fame, successful achievement, etc; don’t ever think you’re higher or better than anyone.

Bag of Gold Coins

Everything – EVERYTHING – in our lives is meant to expose what is in us – lust of the flesh (love of self – seeking after unjust gratification), lust of the eyes (seeking after things we don’t need) and the pride of life (claiming to be who/what we are not as if we are gods).

When these “WEALTH” exposes us for what we are, we are meant to repent. What do I mean? When you are exposed as being lustful for illicitly thinking about or desiring another man’s husband or wife or doing things to your body to impress people for the sake of it, you’re meant to turn to God and ask for mercy!

But what do we see with some people who are caught in adultery, unforgiveness, revelry, stealing, drunkenness, lewdness, drug-pushing, or other illicit activity? They wiggle their way to justify themselves, they shed some crocodile tears of sorrow – for being caught. Then the next moment, you hear them denying those things or justifying their actions. No genuine repentance!

Pharaoh did the same after he saw the Hand of God, he even asked for prayers, then that unrepentant evil in him manifested again and he pursued the people of God to attack them. It was at this junction that he met his own destruction and those of his armies.

You see, that nature can never obey the laws of God. In fact, it hates God, “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.” [Romans 8:7 ]

When I say wealth, it includes things like, having a child, good health, access to the good things of life, having great knowledge or special ability to do things such as being an orator or administrator. There is nothing – NOTHING – you have that was not given to you.

These things expose us to at least one (or all) of the three main vices of humanity – lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. When they are exposed, they bring with them pain. This pain demands you to respond in one of TWO ways:

React and demand respect – showing PRIDE of life or lust of the flesh or lust of the eyes.

Or repent and plead for mercy – to receive the grace for humility.

Either way, you will suffer pain. There is positive pain that leads to healing and ultimately good health and there is negative pain that leads to death!

When you see someone in whom these three vices are constantly being exposed and he’s often in repentance and crying out to God for help, he will be someone full of sobriety! He will always be the first to admit his imperfections and acknowledge God as his sole helper.

Perhaps, you are that person, because you have chosen to repent of all these evil, people term you to be poor, stupid, inept and mock at your lack, take heart, you’re rich towards God, wise before Him, astute and respected in His Presence. He calls you “Beloved” and “Friend” (See Daniel 9:23, 10:11,19 and James 2:23).

“Hearken, my beloved brethren, Hath not God chosen the poor of this world rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he hath promised to them that love him?” [James 2:5]

When Pharaoh’s pride was exposed, he got worse; he wanted to justify his actions.

When Nebuchadnezzar’s pride was exposed, he got better; he fell on his face and repented!

“But he gives more grace. Therefore he says, God resists the proud, but gives grace unto the humble.” [James 4:6]

What are you going to become – worse or better? The choice is with you!”

Why Do The Wicked/Unrighteous Proper?

Also read: Why Do The Righteous Suffer