100 Days with David 2025 Day 15: The wicked have no fear of the Lord. But they should.

“The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts. His ways are always prospering; Your judgments are far above, out of his sight; As for all his enemies, he sneers at them. He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved; I shall never be in adversity.””

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭10:4-6‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

My mother was about four years old. Her mother, having recently given birth to my mother‘s brother, was in bed, recuperating. My mother, being a very hyperactive child, was running amok. At one point, my grandmother (Addie Mae) said, “Myrtle, if you do that again, I’m gonna spank you!” To which my mother replied, “You’re always saying that, but you never do it!” Well, this was before Myrtle knew Addie Mae very well. Addie Mae called to someone in the house and had them bring Myrtle and lay her across her lap. At this point, Addie Mae did the “train up a child in the way he should go” beat on Myrtle’s little behind.

What’s the point here? In this life, it is true that evil often goes seemingly unpunished. As well, it might go unpunished for some great length of time, leading the wicked to believe they will never be punished.

I know of political leaders who—had they been anybody else—would, at the very least, be in jail. Yet, their money and influence buys them a pass.

Incredibly, some of our political leaders seem to believe that everything is right between them and the Lord, although they promote abortion and all other kinds of heinous acts. Though not appointed to be their judge, I will say that their lives, their beliefs, are totally inconsistent with any honest interpretation of the word of God. And yet, they apparently think even God is impressed with them.

I was once talking to the Lord about a religious leader who was living a very duplicitous life and had actually been “caught” several times. Yet, they always seemed to get out of it, only to continue doing the evil things they were doing. In response, the Lord pointed me to this scripture from Ecclesiastes:

“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.”

‭‭Ecclesiastes‬ ‭8:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

Indeed, because of the fact that the wicked are not immediately punished, or substantially punished, they continue doing evil things.

In some cases there is also a distorted view of the mercy of God. That is, mercy may be interpreted by some as license to do whatever they want. (God have mercy on us all! Our flesh is weak!)

Ultimately, the problem at the root of evil living, is the absence of the fear of the Lord. We have seen—writ large—what happens in a society when criminals are given a pass. Not fearing authority, they become a blight on society.

In this portion from Psalms 49 (attributed to the “Sons of Korah”), we see the arrogance of the wicked who have no fear of the Lord:

“Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever, Their dwelling places to all generations; They call their lands after their own names.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭49:11‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

In today’s portion of David’s psalms, we see that David is acutely aware of the dynamic of there being no fear of the Lord in the wicked. He notes that they apparently think they will never be called to give an account. Given, a lot of times it does seem that way. But the fact is, God is watching, and they will not escape answering to Him one day.

As we talked earlier in our time with David, the favor of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord, go hand-in-hand. Without fear of the Lord, you cannot, will not, please God.

For our purposes today, I want you to understand that you are wasting your time when you try to figure out why evil people do what they do. The answer is very simple: they have no fear of the Lord; they think they’ll always get by. They are wrong. Just as Addie Mae exacted punishment on disobedient Myrtle, so the judgment of the Lord is inescapable.

For today let us know and understand what David knew:

The wicked have no fear of the Lord. But they should.

Peace to you.

Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!