Read Job 27:1–23
“The wicked go to bed rich but wake to find that all their wealth is gone.
Terror overwhelms them like a flood, and they are blown away in the storms of the night.
The east wind carries them away, and they are gone. It sweeps them away.
It whirls down on them without mercy. They struggle to flee from its power.
But everyone jeers at them and mocks them.” (Job 27:19–23)
Isn’t that closing comment a great line? The wicked man may have more clothes in his closet, but he’ll wind up leaving them to us. Remember the materialistic line that is framed around licence plates? “He who dies with the most toys wins.” The truth is, he who dies with the most toys passes them off to the righteous, and the righteous get to enjoy them! Job has come to realize this priority: wrong will occur, but it will not ultimately triumph. That brings a sense of justice.
There go those great riches! How often have we witnessed or heard about individuals who are loaded financially, but it isn’t too many years before it is gone. Those riches were like an eagle—they made themselves wings. Rest assured; God keeps accurate records. He knows what He’s about. Furthermore, He knows who is righteous and who is wicked.
It’s easy to become confused if you watch too much of the evening news on television. Be very discerning about what you watch and what you read. If the source is not reliable, the information will be skewed. Thankfully, there are still some in our day who think straight and aren’t afraid to say so. Their words remind us that evil is evil, that wrong actions will be judged, that even though the wicked may seem to be winning, they will ultimately lose! The nineteenth century American poet and essayist, James Russell Lowell, put it well:
Truth forever on the scaffold
Wrong forever on the throne—
Yet that scaffold sways the future
And, behind the dim unknown,
Standeth God within the shadow,
Keeping watch above His own.
Stay on the scaffold. Keep thinking straight. Refuse to tolerate wrong! Like Job, keep forming your priorities from the Word of God. Spend less time in the papers or watching TV and more time in the Scriptures. Let God dictate your agenda and help you interpret the events of our times. Become biblically correct rather than politically correct.
Taken from Great Days with the Great Lives by Charles R. Swindoll. Copyright © 2005 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. Used by permission of HarperCollins Christian Publishing.
