Lies We Believe #19: If They Can Get Away With It, Then Why Can’t I?

“Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”—Galatians 6:7

Any believer who has been around for a significant period of time knows how easy it is to give in to this lie. We all have seen the lives of unbelievers, or believers in sin, with apparently no consequences resulting from their sinful choices, carrying on in their rebellion with no seeming repercussions, no actions on behalf of God. There doesn’t seem to be any remorse or sorrow, nothing but joy, happiness and blessing, and all the while the believer is experiencing hardship after hardship, trial after trial, and never seems to be free of suffering. In Job 21, Job laments the apparent blessing of the wicked as he was undergoing terrible suffering. He said that the wicked grow old (v. 7), become powerful (v. 7), have big and successful families (v. 8), live in safety (v. 9), have successful businesses (v. 10), party a lot (v. 11-12), are wealthy (v. 13), and seem to die in peace (v. 13). They completely reject God (v. 14) and any claim He has upon their lives (v. 14), going so far as to deny His existence (v. 15) and any benefit to prayer (v. 15).

And Job was by no means alone in his lament. The Psalmist in Psalm 10 uttered the same frustration. He called upon God to act upon the one who takes advantage of the poor (v. 2), boasts of their wicked deeds (v. 3), curses God (v. 3), and then renounces Him (v. 3). He denies God’s existence (v. 4), prospers in his wickedness (v. 5), rails against his enemies (v. 6), curses, deceives and oppresses those around him (v. 7). He murders the innocent (v. 8), takes advantage of the helpless and poor (v. 8-9), and then boasts that God doesn’t see anything that he does (v. 11). The Psalmist then calls for God to act, to judge, to take vengeance on such a person for the evil that they do. We must remember that justice delayed in this life, is not justice denied.

While the wicked appear to go on their merry way, God’s Word stands firm with the proclamation and promise that God will judge. What we sow in this life, we will reap. We may not reap the fruit of our life in this life, but we certainly will in the next. We know that there is no peace for the wicked (Isaiah 48:22), and that even though people may die without any apparent reaping of what they have sown, they will still stand in judgment before God. As the book of Hebrews says, “And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment”—Hebrews 9:27. We will reap what we sow. The sins that we do will result in death (Romans 6:23), but through Christ we will have passed through death into His resurrection life.

God will not let anyone get away with anything, but will bring about justice for the person in this life or in eternity. God will not be mocked, and we cannot give in to the lie that someone has gotten away with it—they are promised to reap the consequences of their choices. We continue on in faith, knowing that God will vindicate us. He will “bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday”—Psalm 37:6. The wicked will vanish like smoke (Psalm 37:20), and we will be exalted in His presence forevermore (Psalm 37:18). Amen.