The Prosperity of the Wicked

Be not thou envioQs against evil men, neither desire to be with them. Fret not thyse»f because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked: for there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.” — xxiv. 1, 19, 20.

ST is like sound, and it finds the moral nature of fallen man, like the atmosphere, a good conducting medium. The word or deed of evil does not terminate where it is produced: it radiates all round; and besides the direct propagation from a centre by diverging lines, it further reduplicates itself by rebounding like an echo from every object on which it falls. Human beings may well stand in awe when they consider the self-propagating power of sin, and the facilities which their own corruption affords it. Different persons are affected in different ways. One is shaken by the example of wickedness in its first outgo; another by its rebounding blow. One is carried away in the stream; another hurts himself by his violent efforts to resist it. Some imitate the sin; others fret against the sinner. Both classes de evil and suffer injury. Whether you be impatiently “envious against evil men,” or weakly “desire to be with them,” you have sustained damage by the contact.

Here, it is not the first and direct, but the secondary and circuitous effect of bad example, that is prominently brought into view. The reproof in this word is intended not so much for the facile who glide with the current, as for the proud who betray a sullen and discontented spirit in their struggle to oppose it.

To turn aside in company with the wicked is not the only direction in which danger lies. Those who resist the example of evil most vigorously may fall into a deep pit on the other side. Some who are in no danger of falling in love with their neighbour’s sin, may be chafed by it into a hatred of their neighbour. You do not weakly imitate the deed, but do you proudly despise

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&2 THE PROSPERITY OF THE WICKED.

the doer? Tins is the snare which lies on a disciple’s path, tins is the warning which the Master gives them. The example of Jet- us is peculiarly applicable here; it exhibits complete separation from sin in conjunction with the tenderest compassion for sinners. Those who hope in his mercy should be conformed to his image. When you detect in your own heart an impatient fretting against an evil-doer, consider where you would have been if the Holy One had so regarded you. The gentleness of Christ is the comeliest ornament that a Christian can wear.

But besides an impatient fretting against another because he is wicked, there is a discontented envying of his condition because, though morally evil, he is materially prosperous. This is the more presumptuous form of the sin. The other was a fretting against man; this is a fretting against God. It is directly to impugn the justice of the divine government. The seventy-third psalm contains a detailed record of Asaph’s experience when he was in conflict with this temptation. He frankly confesses how far he fell: “My feet were almost gone; my steps had well-nigh slipped. For T was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.” He saw great wickedness and great prosperity meeting in the same persons: forthwith the presumptuous thought sprung up that nothing is to be gained by goodness: “I have cleansed my heart in vain.” Knowing that this thought must be an error, he was, notwithstanding, unable to solve the difficulty until he went into the sanctuary of God. Then and there the mystery was solved: “Then understood I their end.” The solution was obtained by getting a higher stand-point and a more extended view. The prosperity was but for a moment, and the fan of the prosperous was preparing for them tribulation without measure and without end. Successful ungodliness did not trouble this tempted disciple after he got, in the house of God, a glimpse of its awful issue. From that time forward he counted “affliction with the people of God” a better portion than” :£e pleasures of sin for a season.”

At the present day those who desire “to live godly in Christ Jesus” are often exposed to this fiery trial. A neighbour who neither fears God nor regards man has been successful in business. You are struggling ineffectually against difficulties in trade, endeavouring in the meantime to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God. You have kept a good conscience and lost your money; he has kept his money and let a good conscience go. You are trudging along the road care-worn and wearied; he is whirled past in his carriage. Beware, brother, as your eye follows the brilliant equipage quickly diminishing in the distance before you, — beware of the feelings that glow at that moment in your weary heart. Envy of that rich man is rank rebellion against an overruling God. Your position is too low and too near; the range of vision is limited, and the little that may be seen is dim with dust. To elevate the observer gives him at once a wider compass and a purer medium: from a height he both sees more and sees it better than from the level ground. When Asaph met the prosperous scoffers in the crowded market-place, he saw only their condition for the time; but when he ascended the hill of God, and entered there the sanctuary, his eye from that elevation could run along their glittering life and descry its gloomy end. The same experience, described in figurative language, happened to John in Patmos: “After this I looked, and behold a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter” (Rev. iv. 1 ). In order to drive envy of the prosperous out of a disciple’s heart, nothing more is needed than a window open in heaven, and an invitation from the angel, “Come up hither.” A higher viewpoint and a clearer sky will enable you more intelligently to compare your own condition with his. When in the spirit of adoption, and from the place of a son, you look along the career of those who fear not God, you will learn to acknowledge that your lines have fallen in a more pleasant place, and that you have obtained a more goodly heritage.

Some heirs of the kingdom now in the body thank God fervently for causing the riches of their parents to take wings and fly away. They see some who have inherited wealth caught and carried away by the temptations which it brings, and tremble to think where and what themselves would now have been, had the world courted them at a time when they would have been most easily won by its fascinations. The world’s cold shoulder in their youth was not pleasant to nature at the time, but they now know that it was the safer side. Instead of envying, they pity the people who are getting riches and forgetting God. By experience they have learned that their own hearts are not trustworthy; they think it likely that if they had been equally prosperous they would have been equally godless. They rejoice with trembling; they tremble with rejoicing, as they think how wisely their lot has been appointed by a Father in heaven, and how unwisely it would have been chosen if their own wishes had been granted.

If a Christian, whether rich or poor, envy any man’s possessions, he is forgetting his place and his prospects. The heirs of a kingdom are inexcusable if they cast a longing eye upon a few acres of earth which a neighbour calls his own. A “lively hope” would effectually still these tumults in a believer’s breast. They who walk by faith are not easily disturbed by the things which appeal to sight. The rest that remaineth, when kept full in view, makes the passing toils feel light. “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

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