Why Do the Wicked Prosper?

The voice of Jeremiah the prophet can be the representative of our own that perhaps, has been lingered in our mind all these times. In Jeremiah 12, he try to deal with the question "why do the wicked prosper?" As we know God is the God of justice and as Jeremiah 12:1 start with a glorious praise, "Righteous are you, Adonai. "How can be square this disconnection between the idea of God's nature that is just and righteous with the reality that the wicked prosper? In fact, it is easier for the believer to feel injustice everywhere because we are assuming that outside God, people will never be prosper at all. However, this is a false Theology. The wrong expectation. Prosper in material sense does not always in line with whether someone believe in God or not except when we talk about peace and joy. We can see today on how the country like North Korea and Russia can be said as more prosperous that religious country in the part of Asian and African. 

However, this reality of the wicked prosper seems to discouraged us daily. In addition, when we experienced or even our close one got trouble more than the wicked should, the question amplified. In one hand, we cannot deny that their prosperity is coming from God since God is the source of everything. It is the providence of God that he ordained according to His sovereignty and Wisdom. But we often forget that the law of nature that God established also come in part whenever someone work hard, they will gain something in return. In other words, God reward those who work hard. Psalms 128:2 mentioned, "You shall eat the fruit of the labor of your hands; you shall be blessed, and it shall be well with you." Nevertheless, when wicked can received good from their good works equally, they will get the equal potential of troubles because the wicked love to work hard, but at the same time they work hard with a wrong motive and wrong way, unethical we would say. Bill Muehlberg argue that it is important that believer always think that the prosperity of the wicked is only temporary. It will come to an end as history unfolds Bill says, "all the dictators and dictatorships of the past have eventually disappeared, and current ones will also do so one day."

Prosperity also has another dimension that we need to grasp, that the more prosper someone, the more temptation they will face. Also the more great dilemma and crossroads they will encounter. Hence, thus far, should we see prosperity as blessing or curse? It can be both according to the context. Aldous Huxley exposed this problem when he mentioned the idea of "the horror of modern pleasure." It can downgrade our mind but also, more seriously than what Huxley argue, it make us think that we are somehow is God who could determine our own prosperity through our own effort alone. Therefore I agree with Lauren Berlant when he says, "Pleasure is not always fun." He got it right, sometimes pleasure in term of prosperity can make us forget the person who grant us the prosperity in the first place, God the gracious giver. Consequently, we divorce God in our lives and by this we are actually live in a life of false prosperity. Why? Because the true treasure and prosperity is when we are living in the presence of God regardless our current social and economic status attached. 

 True prosperity is coming not by merely having prosperity but live without the sense of appreciation and gratefulness. Deuteronomy 8:10-11 wrote, "when you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day." Knowing this truth, believer should never wonder too much why do the wicked prosper? or even envy with them. We need to maintain our focus regularly as Jesus make this clear when he says, "For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"(Matthew 16:26). 

The more important question is not whether we or wicked are prosper or not but whether we know and believes that God is the source of prosperity and as we work and depend on Him, all things that we do will work well for good and He will provides the best for us. All material things will be vanish. Only God and his Truth that will remain forever. Let our heart cling to Jesus, He is our ultimate treasure for "where your treasure is, there will your heart also" (Matthew 6:21). In his sermon, Augustine best describes the idea of true prosperity in his sermon as he steers his congregations away the idea of accumulating treasure of this earth for own pleasure he preach, "Recognize and love the one who made you, and He will fills you, not with something of His, but with Himself. You will possess God. You will full of God. That is the great wealth of soul" (Taken from: Augustine, Sermon 107A).