Psalm 123

Righteous are you, O LORD, that I would plead my case with You.

Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with You:

Why has the way of the wicked prospered?

Why are all those who deal in treachery at ease?

 Jeremiah 12:1
 

Psalm 123

1   To You I lift up my eyes – O You who are enthroned in the heavens!

2   Behold, as the eyes of servants look to the hand of their master, as the eyes of a maid to the hand of her mistress,

    So our eyes look to the Lord our God, until He is gracious to us.  

3   Be gracious to us, O Lord, be gracious to us, for we are greatly filled with contempt.

4   Our soul is greatly filled with the scoffing of those who are at ease, and with the contempt of the proud.  

 “How can a good God allow the righteous to suffer?” The question is important to understand to preserve our faith in the midst of life’s trials. Many Christians today seem to think that faith in God comes with a guarantee of freedom from adversity. The suffering of God’s people and the prosperity of the wicked is an issue which is asked over and over.  

 

First we assume that suffering is always evil and doesn’t come from God.  Second, we fail to understand righteousness, as it relates to the true child of God. We can easily be deceived by becoming upset over the wrong things.  We are often grieved by sin, but for the wrong reasons—we envy rather than see purity.  So God instructs us “Do not fret because of evil men, or be envious of those who do wrong.”  - Psalm 37:1

We can be people with sinful attitudes and are not able to judge others objectively. As our Lord put it, those with a plank in their own eyes have trouble seeing a speck of sawdust in the eye of another—Matthew 7:3-5. 

The wicked, those who are do not fear God and who are not near to Him.  In the end they will perish. No matter how comfortable they now seem to be, destruction is their final destiny. Our God who is loving and good, to those who are pure in heart, is also the God who will destroy those who are unfaithful to Him.  Their momentary ease of life helps them to believe they do not need God to be happy and satisfied – but their final destiny is a sobering reality.

If the blessing of God were measured only in terms of material prosperity and ease of life, we could not understand or know what it means to be “near to the heart of God.”  We who do know the loving kindness of our Lord Jesus Christ can with confidence make Him our refuge and publicly praise God for His wondrous deeds, which may sometimes send us through adversity, in order that we might grow still closure to Himself.