Seeds of Hope

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If God is good, why do the godly have grief? If God is fair, why do the faithful fail? If God cares, why does He allow Christians to have cancer? If God is powerful, why are innocent people murdered?

And why are the ungodly prosperous? Why are the ungodly happy? Why are the ungodly recipients of any good thing? After all, they are ungodly!

The writer of Psalm 73 had a problem with bad people living godless lives and receiving earthly rewards. He was a bit angry when he saw their lavish lives. They appeared to have everything their hearts desired, lived lives of ease and were healthy. Their riches multiplied even though they scoffed God and threatened His children. What's up?

So the writer of the Psalm became vain. He avoided evil, and when he sinned he immediately confessed and asked God to forgive him. He read God's Word, engaged in prayer and tried to live a godly life. But all he got from God was trouble: all day, every day! Finally he asked God, "Am I wasting my time? Why should I bother to be godly?"

Fortunately, he went to the right place for an answer. "Finally," he concluded when he went to the sanctuary to worship, "I understood their end!" Wrongs in this life will be corrected in the next! Remember: Dives lived in pleasure and Lazarus in pain. But there came a day when things were reversed: Dives was tormented by flames and Lazarus went to live lavishly in his Father's Home.

The ungodly leave their treasures at death, but the godly only begin to enjoy heirs with their Father.

“The Christian does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us.”

― C.S. Lewis