ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 FALAITE ME 29, 2026

SIOPE 11-13; SAAME 73:1-28

What do you do when it seems as though the bad guys are prospering and the good guys are suffering?

Ko e ha ho’o me’a ‘e fai ‘i he taimi ‘oku ke vakai ai ‘oku tu’umalie ‘a e kau fai kovi, kae mo’ui faingata’a’ia ‘a e kau fai lelei?

We look around, and it doesn't seem that justice and righteousness are prevailing. Often it looks as though the bad guys are winning and the good guys are losing. Evil seems to be on the rise and good seems to be waning. Those who stand for biblical morality are characterized as hateful and unloving, while those who pridefully blow through all of God's boundaries are looked upon with respect and esteem. In our discouragement, we can wonder what God is doing or whether he is in control. Why do the righteous suffer? Why do the unrighteous prosper? Why do bad things happen to good people? Why do bad people seem to be blessed? You can't live between the "already" and the "not yet" of this broken world without being haunted by these questions at some point. Job, a righteous man, feels the weight of these questions deeply:

I am a laughingstock to my friends;

I, who called to God and he answered me,

a just and blameless man, am a laughingstock.

In the thought of one who is at ease there is contempt for misfortune;

it is ready for those whose feet slip.

The tents of robbers are at peace,

and those who provoke God are secure,

who bring their god in their hand. (Job 12:4-6)

Job is saying, "I have trusted God, yet look at my life. I have lived a blameless life, but my suffering has turned me into a laughingstock. Robbers are better off than I am. Those who provoke God seem to be more secure than I am. Idolaters have more peace than I have." It is the age-old dilemma: Why does the world seem upside down? Why do the bad guys seem to have it so easy? 

Now, if there were no God and the world were on a mechanical moral scale, where right living would balance you toward a good life and bad living would balance you toward a bad life, these questions would make sense. But we do not live in a mechanical world. We live in a world ruled by one who is holy in every way, wise beyond our knowing, and faithful to every covenant promise he has ever made. He is ruling not for our comfort and ease, but for his glory and our eternal good. The one who rules over our suffering gave us his Son who, in his life, death, and resurrection, eternally connected us to God and assured an end to all suffering and to the questions that haunt us. God has not lost control. In those moments when it looks as though evil is winning, God is working his wise redemptive plan. Even in your confusion, you can still trust him, for he is worthy of your trust. And he gives you the grace to do so.