DCLM Daily Manna 8 June 2022 Devotional By Pastor W. F. Kumuyi — Good Things Happen To Bad People
TOPIC: Good Things Happen To Bad People (DCLM Daily Manna 8 June 2022)
TEXT: Job 21:1-21 (KJV)
1 But Job answered and said,
2 Hear diligently my speech, and let this be your consolations.
3 Suffer me that I may speak; and after that I have spoken, mock on.
4 As for me, is my complaint to man? and if it were so, why should not my spirit be troubled?
5 Mark me, and be astonished, and lay your hand upon your mouth.
6 Even when I remember I am afraid, and trembling taketh hold on my flesh.
7 Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power?
8 Their seed is established in their sight with them, and their offspring before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them.
10 Their bull gendereth, and faileth not; their cow calveth, and casteth not her calf.
11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance.
12 They take the timbrel and harp, and rejoice at the sound of the organ.
13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave.
14 Therefore they say unto God, Depart from us; for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
16 Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
18 They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
19 God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
20 His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
KEY VERSE: “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty in power? They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave” (Job 21:7, 13).
MESSAGE:
Often in our haste to pass judgment on people who may be going through confounding situations, we jump to wrong conclusions about them. We argue that if they are suffering adversities, then their sins must be great. We believe that God punishes people according to the magnitude of their transgressions. But God is not man; He may in His sovereign will permit evil people to prosper more than believers.
This was the point Job sought to convey to his friend, Zophar, who had concluded that Job was in great distress because of his sins. But in his stout rebuttal, Job reminded him that the wicked do enjoy long life. Their businesses flourish and their days are spent in great wealth.
Spared of instant judgment for their sins, they push God aside and “desire not the knowledge of His ways”. While he stressed that “the counsel of the wicked is far from me”, he was not oblivious that eventually, the wicked will face destruction and experience the wrath of the Almighty.
We must not be quick to pass judgment on others, irrespective of how grievous a sinner they may be. The reason is because God does as He pleases with individuals. We must never fall into the temptation of using the circumstances surrounding people to measure how good or bad they are. Sinners who are enjoying God’s beneficence must see it as an opportunity to repent. If they fail, God will soon come hard on them with His fiery judgment.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
Those who neglect God’s mercy now will face His judgment in eternity.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
2 Chronicles 1-4
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor W. F. Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.