Why Do Wicked People Prosper?

12 
Psalm 10:12-15

Arise, Lord! Lift up your hand, O God.
    Do not forget the helpless.
13 Why does the wicked man revile God?
    Why does he say to himself,
    “He won’t call me to account”?
14 But you, God, see the trouble of the afflicted;
    you consider their grief and take it in hand.
The victims commit themselves to you;
    you are the helper of the fatherless.
15 Break the arm of the wicked man;
    call the evildoer to account for his wickedness
    that would not otherwise be found out.

In this psalm, the psalmist is wondering why the wicked seems to be so prosperous. The starts the Psalm by saying, "Why, Lord, do you stand far off?
Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?"

And don't we all wonder that at times.  When something happens to a good person we think, "It always happens to the good ones!"  Even Billy Joel sang, "Only the good die young!"  And on the contrary, those who do evil seem to get away with it.  And this leads to wondering why God hasn't done anything about it.  Why is he withholding his judgment to those who deserve it? 

On top of it, the evil person seems to be putting it in God's face.  He scoffs, "God won't call me into account."  He says, "Nothing will ever shake me. No one will ever do anything wrong to me."   

The psalm ends by saying, "The Lord is King for ever and ever; the nations will perish from his land." 

While God is slow to anger and he wants all people to repent and come to the truth, there will be a time of judgment and justice.  The poor and oppressed will rise up, and the wicked oppressors will be brought down once and for all.  Those who lived for the king will live forever and ever, and those who committed atrocities will perish forever.  Justice will reign in the end. But for now God hears the cries of the afflicted.  

17ou, Lord, hear the desire of the afflicted; you encourage them, and you listen to their cry,