If you deal out evil to people, it will come back
to you.
Many times it seems that the unrighteous live a
stress-free, problem-free life of luxury, while the
good and righteous suffer unfairly. But as Pat explains,
there will come a time when the wicked will be help
responsible for their sinful lifestyle. For a time
they will run free, but unless they come to Christ,
the wicked will eventually suffer for their misdeeds.
In one of his psalms, David wrote, "I have seen
the wicked in great power and spreading himself like
a native green tree" (Psalm 37:35).
He also observed: "For I was envious of the boastful,
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there
are no pangs in their death, but their strength is
firm. They are not in trouble as other men, nor are
they plagued like other men.... When I thought how
to understand this, it was too painful for me--until
I went into the sanctuary of God; then I understood
their end. Surely You set them in slippery places;
You cast them down to destruction" (Psalm 73:3-5,
16-18).
The only thing I can add to what David said is that
God permits a period when the wicked have the chance
to repent. God's patience is meant to lead them to
repentance (see Romans 2:5-7). But instead, they often
presume on God and say, "He does not know what
we are doing. We are getting away with it." And
this seems to be true, for a time. But they will spend
eternity in hell. Eternity is so long, and life is
so short!
It is often true, too, that their own evil catches
up with them. There is a statement in the common parlance,
"What goes around comes around." If you
deal out evil to people, it will come back to you.
Can you imagine anything more horrible than the latter
years of a Mafia don, waiting for someone to do to
him what he has done to someone else: always in fear
for his life, always in torment that someone will
hurt him, just as he has hurt other people? Not having
anyone to trust or count on; not knowing when the
assassin's bullet is going to come?
This is true of so many of the wicked. They will usually
be punished on earth while they live, even if it is
not obvious to the rest of us. It may be nervous problems,
or disease, or a child who disgraces them, or a wife
who torments them. Rest assured; no one gets away
with evil. Judgment always comes. Only the timing
is uncertain.