CAUGHT BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE
By Pastor Lem Niere
The Bible declares that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. What happens when this “theory” is challenged by practice?
Many times we see the wicked prospering. Dictators strut across the stage of history raping and pillaging like barbarians. Financial empires are built on the backs of the poor and hungry. Villains seem to win in the end, leaving honest and upright people in the dust. Where then is the goodness of God when Job is covered with boils?
What are we to do with the suffering of the saints and the success of the sinners? How are we to understand God’s goodness when violent, oppressive people run their agendas undisturbed? How can we believe that God is good to the pure in heart when they suffer and the wicked live in peace and prosperity? If we haven’t asked these questions, our hearts must be closed or we are living in denial.
What kind of God allows, for example, syndicated crime to control a vast empire of pornography and gambling? What kind of God allows drug pushers to live in riches? What kind of God keeps the word in fear of terrorism? What kind of God lets an atheistic ideology enslave masses of people? In the light of this canvas of human evil and it benefits, why be righteous? Why be faithful? These are hard questions but not novel or recent.
Asaph who wrote Psalm 73 asked these kinds of questions. He complains about it before God. Take time to read and meditate on this psalm because there is so much to learn in the face of God’s suffering people and the apparent prosperity and peace of those who jettison God in their every day living.
In answer, God shows the psalmist the horrible end of the wicked (Psalm 73:18-20). He revealed to Asaph that the wicked are really on “slippery places,” since they will be “cast down” to “destruction.” But it was not until Asaph in verse 17 says, “until I came into the sanctuary of God; then I perceived their end.” It was when he visited the sanctuary that Asaph saw the big picture of God’s dealings with human beings. In a great sense, when we study the sanctuary doctrine—there we have a clear picture of how God will ultimately deal with sin and evil.
Theologically speaking, the sanctuary doctrine is Adventism’s great contribution to Christianity. Because here we see the great controversy being played out in full spectrum. It’s the “nuts and bolts” of perceiving God’s justice in the midst of so much injustice in the world and the ultimate redemption and justification of those who put their trust in God.
Truth will ultimately triumph—is the message of the sanctuary doctrine. God will be declared righteous and true, and His people will be vindicated in the end. For now, let the wicked enjoy their time because what they’ll reap in the end will be destructive and worse than anyone could imagine.
God is true to His word. He rewards the righteous because of their humble commitment and submission to Him. The unrighteous are called to repent but if they don’t heed God’s invitation, their final visitation will be sweeping and devastating.