Job 21:1-34
Job finds himself with a mystery beyond his understanding: why does God, who is righteous, strike the very one who was trying to please Him? (And this is the question of questions – the very one that Jesus asked on the cross – Psalms 22:1). Why, on the other hand, contrary to what Eliphaz, Bildad and Zophar have declared, do the wicked prosper to their hearts’ content on the earth? They insult God by saying to Him, "Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways" (v. 14), and in spite of saying that, they remain, for the present, unpunished (vv. 7-15; Malachi 3:18). God’s silence and His apparent indifference to men’s provocations are a puzzle to many believers (Psalms 50:21). This difficult problem, for example, worries the believing Asaph in Psalms 73:1-28. What use is it to cleanse my heart – he meditates with bitterness – if I am chastened every morning just the same? The wicked have a better life than I. But let us read v. 17 of this psalm. "Then understood I their end." Let us never be envious of the people of the world! God has the last word but on the other side of the grave. There is complete contrast between this terrible end which awaits the unconverted and the glorious future which the Lord has prepared for His dear redeemed people (John 14:3; John 17:24; Romans 8:17-18).