Why does God wait to bring Justice?

Great players, bad people

I loved playing baseball growing up. Even through college I still loved the game and desired to play as long as I was able. At times I loved and hated the game. Baseball works this way. You fail the majority of the time but are considered successful. Baseball requires an amazing confidence, especially when you are going through a slump.

I noticed something interesting in baseball growing up that also applies to life. Sometimes the biggest jerks are the best ball players. This is sad to admit, but some of the worst people I played with and against were incredible baseball players. While I was playing the game competitively I struggled with anger toward these type of guys. I don't anymore.

Seeking an Answer

Why does God allow bad people to succeed? Why does he not humble them when they are arrogant? This question stirred in my mind for years. It appeared while I was young that God never brought justice to great players who treated other people badly. This injustice appeared to be a perpetual and lifelong problem.

Age and Wisdom

It was only after I finished playing competitive baseball that I realized another important principle in baseball and in life. Bad people take their bad with them when they go.

A baseball career is very limited. You can only compete on a high level for so many years. The human body ages. Eyes blur, hands slow down, and ligaments break down. Age humbles the greatest of athletes. There comes a time when the greatest of older ball players cannot compete with young men.

It was only after watching the aging process over a couple of decades that I was able to appreciate the temporal nature of all athletic careers. Those bad guys who were great ball players eventually stopped playing because they could not compete.

Life is Temporary

In life, like baseball, everyone will be humbled by age and death. The wicked may succeed in life for many years and even decades, however they will eventually meet the grave and face God's judgment. 

After seeing this truth develop I realized that God's judgment, in this life or the next, will level the playing field for every person throughout history. No one is exempt. 

This brings peace. This bring security. God will make all things right in eternity. Sometimes in this life God works things out justly. Sometimes God brings justice only in the next life.

My sin and God's Judgment

When I look at my own life I see another vitally important lesson. If God always brought justice in this life I would suffer the same fate as those bad guys who were great ball players. I am just as guilty as any other person of sin and injustice. 

This perspective brings joy because I know that God's patience in judgment is a form of mercy.

What about you? Do you live in frustration toward God for the injustice he allows to occur in this life? Do you fall to the temptation of bitterness and resentment because wicked people often prosper?

I pray you would see life from an eternal perspective. My hope is you would see the empty nature of wicked success and release the temptation of bitterness. And may you find peace in God's patience.

Job 20:4-5 (Zophar) 4  Do you not know this from of old, 

since man was placed on earth, 

 5  that the exulting of the wicked is short, 

and the joy of the godless but for a moment? 

Job 21:7-8 7 (Job)  Why do the wicked live, 

reach old age, and grow mighty in power? 

 8  Their offspring are established in their presence, 

and their descendants before their eyes. 

Job 22:9-11 9  (Eliphaz) You have sent widows away empty, 

and the arms of the fatherless were crushed. 

 10  Therefore snares are all around you, 

and sudden terror overwhelms you, 

 11  or darkness, so that you cannot see, 

and a flood of water covers you. 

Job 22:21-22 21 (Eliphaz) “Agree with God, and be at peace; 

thereby good will come to you. 

 22  Receive instruction from his mouth, 

and lay up his words in your heart. 

Job 23:3-5 (Job) 3  Oh, that I knew where I might find him, 

that I might come even to his seat! 

 4  I would lay my case before him 

and fill my mouth with arguments. 

 5  I would know what he would answer me 

and understand what he would say to me. 

Job 24:1 (Job) Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, 

and why do those who know him never see his days? 

Job 24:21-23 21  (Job) “They wrong the barren, childless woman, 

and do no good to the widow. 

 22  Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; 

they rise up when they despair of life. 

 23  He gives them security, and they are supported, 

and his eyes are upon their ways.