A Reward For The Righteous

A Reward For The Righteous
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From the beginning of history, man has been troubled by the injustices of this age. We are reminded every day of the unpleasant fact that the wicked prosper greatly, while the good must work twice as hard to get half as much. In the 21st chapter, Job bitterly asked, “Wherefore do the wicked live, become old, yea, are mighty, in power?” In the 73rd. Psalm, Asaph says: I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked — They are not in trouble as other men; neither are they plagued like other men —- Their eyes standout with fatness: they have more than heart could wish.” In the 37th Psalm, David says: I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.”

Accustomed to see things only within the small framework of this little lifetime, men wonder why this can be. The reason, of course, is to teach us the bitter lesson that there cannot be any coexistence of good and evil: one must necessarily destroy the other. We hate to believe this: partly because we are too lazy to do the job of putting down evil, partly because we are by-nature too easy-going, too tolerant. We must learn the hard way that tolerance is no virtue unless it is mutual: you can’t tolerate a cancer.