Wicked People
Proverbs 16:4 The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
To be perfectly frank, I’m pretty much at the point of giving up watching the news on the television each evening. Why? Because the vast majority of it is bad news. It’s about murders, assaults and robberies. Terrorism and mass killings. Wars and conflicts. Corporate fraud. Politicians constantly criticising one another and never agreeing on even the simples, most obvious things.
The news seems to be, principally, about bad people. So as much as we need to know what’s going on in the world, I wonder whether that half hour each evening is such a good investment anymore.
Have you ever wondered why it is that God lets wicked people dwell on this earth. And not just dwell, but apparently prosper, while they’re killing or stealing or lying or cheating or walking over the top of people.
God – why do you let this happen?
That’s not such an unreasonable question. So if you and I were to ask God that question, this is what His answer would be:
The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble. (Proverbs 16:4)
Everything in this tapestry called life, has its purpose in God’s plan. And as I look back, some of the greatest lessons I’ve learnt in life, have, in fact, been in my encounters with wicked people. With people who’ve betrayed me terribly. With people who’ve criticised me, rejected me, stolen from me.
And one of those lessons was this: I can sit there and grumble about it. I can even shake my fist at God, or, I can live through those days of trouble, and learn from the experiences I have at the hands of the wicked. Never, not once, have I enjoyed the experience. But as I look back on them, I wouldn’t swap them for anything.
How about you? Who are the wicked people in your life. The people who left you bleeding on the side of the road to fend for yourself, when they should have lifted you up, held you and loved you?
Are you perhaps carrying some bitterness around in your heart, still today, over the way that they treated you? Bitterness is not such a good thing, but at the same time it can be hard to let go of.
And yet, when we come to the realisation that God had a plan, even for those wicked people in our lives, to teach us, to grow us, to mature us, to draw us closer to Him and us more reliant on Him, then perhaps, in that realisation, we can come to the point of letting go of the bitterness and the unforgiveness in our hearts. Listen!
The LORD has made everything for its purpose, even the wicked for the day of trouble.
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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