When it seems the bad guys are winning

Psalm 37.

David is reflecting on "when the bad guys are winning."

No, we aren't talking about when your favorite soccer team fools the referee and wins because the official didn't see them cheat . . . 

We're talking about when it seems like the wicked are prospering and we are not. In fact, we seem to be penalized for trying to do the right things!

Perhaps a woman we know brags about how she and her husband cheat on their taxes - not once but annually. Their home looks like something out of a magazine spread, and they both drive luxurious new cars. They talk incessantly about their travels to lovely places that we'd love to see . . . in contrast, we are honest and pay our taxes, and we give faithfully to the Lord's work. Our home is clean, but the furniture and appliances would be rejected by the thrift store in town. Our cars are well-maintained, but twenty years old, and the last time we took a vacation it was called a honeymoon. Kinda upsetting, no?

We may know others who are single and trying to follow the Lord. They have committed to only date Christians and they sit home most nights, while the peeps with no moral standards have dates lined up at their doors.

We may know (or it may be us) people who are concerned about their golden years, their retirement. They have worked diligently and been good stewards, supporting ministries that do the work of God. Their "nest egg" is still small and they wonder if they will be able to live on what they have saved . . . while those who could care less about God's ways have huge retirement funds waiting.

There are times when it seems it doesn't pay to be good, to do the right things. When the evil prosper and the good guys don't, we can be tempted to doubt God. Here we are in our white hats, the good guys, and we may be tempted to fall into the habits of the evildoers.

Our old friend, David, has been there. Let's face it, it hasn't all been sunshine and roses for him. In spite of the fact that the prophet of God had anointed David as a teen, he spent the largest part of his twenty-something years on the run! He was being chased by ungodly King Saul. There were several times that David did the right thing - he spared the life of the sinful king - while Saul returned to his comfy palace, David went back "home" to a dark, damp cave. He and his men did right by a man named Nabal; they protected Nabal's employees and his flocks from bandits. However, when David asked a small favor in return, Nabal told him to "buzz off." 

Personal injustice? Things that don't seem fair? David saw a lot of that.

As an old man, David wrote Psalm 37 to share his wisdom on this issue. He wrote it as an acrostic - the fact that each verse (or every other verse) began with a successive letter of the alphabet helped students memorizing the psalm in the temple or synagogue. In years of walking with God, David had much to share about personal injustice.

Since the psalm is lengthy, I won't post it here in its entirety, but I'll ask each reader to turn in your Bible to Psalm 37 and read it carefully. We will begin considering it next time.