What to Do When Evil Prevails

By R.E. Olsen

Lord, when evil prevails nothing miraculous happens. Bad people continuously prosper. Innocent people are crushed. No one helps. Professors in the universities constantly write that there is no need for You. They say “the evidence of our eyes and the reasoning of our minds leads to one inescapable conclusion: humans made You up.”

People such as magazine writers and news reporters take the academic papers and elaborate on them, stating that their meaning contradicts Your Word. These magazines further portray those that break Your laws as if they are role models of virtue. When evil prevails, Your Word is treated as if it were ignorance itself.

My own wrong doings from the past rise and accuse me. Every day there is a weary, tedious fight against an ever present wish to do things that You do not want me to do. Then there is Your command to tell people about the Good News. But the people are steeped in the culture described above and refuse to listen.

Let’s begin again…

The universe is held together by the Living God. Its continuing existence relies on His active participation. If He ever let go, it would cease in a moment to exist.

Any scientist who says, “There is no reason to investigate with our reason what happened prior to the universe springing into existence,” has abandoned thinking (as it causes headaches), and left behind his childlike curiosity (the only curiosity worth having).

Bad people have a reward waiting for them as do the innocent. Those who mock God and break His laws, who want nothing to do with Him, will get what’s coming to them. (So be careful what you wish for.) Those who seek God, and try to purify themselves, despite being mocked by others, are noticed by Him – even when evil prevails. He will have a special place waiting for them.

Isaiah the prophet said, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). Many people in Malachi’s day were struggling with this problem. They were living under the thumb of the Medo-Persian Empire, which was a godless and yet prosperous society.

The good people were complaining, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them… Where is the God of justice?” (Malachi 2:17). Their disappointment with God as they saw the trials of His people and the success of the wicked led many Jews to think that morals do not matter, because God didn’t come down and immediately zap the wicked – in fact, they seemed to prosper.

When Evil Prevails…

We live in a day when even the church is joining the culture in abandoning God’s moral absolutes. But our holy God does not change (see Malachi 3:6). His moral standards do not shift with the winds of the times. If His Word calls something sin, then it is still a sin! When someone breaks God’s moral standards and seems to be doing just fine, don’t be deceived. God is not mocked.

“God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Galatians 6:7-8).

Jesus Christ is God. He has taken on a human body with mind and soul. When He was on the earth at the same time as the Caesars, He took upon Himself all the punishment that you deserve. He was beaten nearly to death, then nailed up as a public exhibition. He died. His dead body lay in the earth for several days. Then He came back to life, never to die again.

If you struggle against sin and feel there is no hope, then you are ready to call out to Him for help. Call Him, do it now. He is waiting. He wants to help you. Turn away from the things you know are wrong. Read the Bible daily and obey it (see John 14:21). Find a teacher, and check everything the teacher says against what is written in the Bible (God’s Word).

We can only get to Heaven on the basis of God’s righteousness given to us in Christ, and as a free gift of God’s grace (see Ephesians 2:8-9). So please, repent (turn from sin) today and trust alone in Jesus. You will never regret it.

When evil prevails, we must not challenge God, but we must trust in and obey Him who sends His Messiah to judge the earth. Once you invite Him into your heart, He will not leave you. He will forgive you, you will be His, and He will take you into His kingdom.

 

About the Author: A scientist and homeschool dad of three young men, R.E. Olsen takes his role of spiritual head of the household seriously. He also seeks to impart God’s truth to anyone who will listen.

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