The wicked have no fear of the Lord. But they should. - Day 15

“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 laying 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 told them to bring Myrtle and lay across her lap; which they did. 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 on punished. 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. Additionally, by the way some of our political leaders who espouse abortion and all other kinds of heinous acts, speak, they believe that everything is alright between them and the Lord. 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.

“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

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 to continue doing the bad things they were doing. The Lord pointed me to the above scripture from Ecclesiastes. It’s so true. Because of the fact that the wicked are not immediately punished, or substantially punished, they continue doing what they do: evil. So what’s the problem here? In this case, there was a distorted view of the mercy of God, interpreting mercy, as license to do whatever they wanted. (God have mercy on us all! Our flesh is weak!) But, ultimately, the problem is having no fear of the Lord. We have seen—writ large—what happens in a society when criminals are given a pass. They don’t fear authority; they don’t respect authority; and they become a blight on society.

In this portion from Psalm 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 our opening portion of Psalms today 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. And, a lot of times it does seem that way. But, just because they don’t fear the Lord, doesn’t mean that He should not be feared. 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. B

For our purposes for today, I want you to understand that you are wasting your time when you try to figure out why evil people are doing 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 unescapable.

For today let us know and understand what David knew:

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

#100dayswithDavid