The Prosperity of the Wicked
Jonathan Pennington · August 30, 2026 · 12:15 PM service
Jonathan Pennington takes up a question people have asked in every generation, why those who lie, cheat, and hurt others seem to do well. Working through Jeremiah's complaint in Jeremiah 12, God's answer to Job out of the whirlwind, and Asaph's turnaround in Psalms 73, he shows that it is not a sin to ask God why, but it is a sin to accuse God of unrighteousness, and that envy often lies behind the question. He closes at 2 Peter 3, explaining that the same long-suffering that gives the wicked time to repent is the very mercy that gave each believer time to be saved.
“Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously? Thou hast planted them, yea, they have taken root: they grow, yea, they bring forth fruit: thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins. But thou, O LORD, knowest me: thou hast seen me, and tried mine heart toward thee: pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, and prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long shall the land mourn, and the herbs of every field wither, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein? the beasts are consumed, and the birds; because they said, He shall not see our last end. If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?”