“Why do bad things happen to good people?” This question is commonly asked, especially by those who doubt the existence of God. Well, in chapter 21, Job asks a different, but related question, “Why don’t bad things happen to bad people?” Both questions are actually getting at the same issue: Does God really do justice in this world?

And at first glance, Job seems to have a point. As those who complain about “income inequality” are constantly pointing out, all too often those who are wicked, those who have made their money by putting other people down or limiting other people’s opportunities for success, do quite well for themselves (21:13). They pay bribes to get their otherwise unqualified kids into the best schools (see 21:8, 11). They love to party all night long (21:12), while the less fortunate have to work the night shift.

Yes, Job seems to be right. It is true that many wicked people die after a life of ease and security (21:23). And it is equally true that many people die “in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity” (21:25). It doesn’t seem fair that the wealthy wicked often fail to get what’s coming to them in this life.

But on the other hand, the fact that everyone eventually dies is the ultimate equalizer (21:33). That means that the rich man doesn’t really come out on top after all – I mean, you can’t take it with you, so what eternal difference does money make? Sure, the rich may have guards around their tombs (21:32), but they’re still dead.

But Job’s impassioned prayers, which are found throughout this book, prove that he is no mere materialist. Instead, he believes that God judges everyone (21:22), and he keeps on pleading with God to do justice, to vindicate him, to declare him righteous.

So, where’s our focus today? Are we only concerned with the material things of this world? If so, we’ll likely end up either as a callous oppressor or an embittered victim. And we’ll certainly doubt the justice of God, which is all too often withheld from people in this life.

But we have another choice. We can turn our attention to permanent things. We can trust in God and in the certainty of His justice, even if we can’t see it right now, even when those who obviously deserve either punishment or vindication don’t receive it in this life. For on the great Day of Judgment, when God’s justice is made perfect, will either the greed of the wealthy or the envy of the poor do them any good?

Job 21:7-34 (ESV)

7 Why do the wicked live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power?
8 Their offspring are established in their presence, and their descendants before their eyes.
9 Their houses are safe from fear, and no rod of God is upon them.
10 Their bull breeds without fail; their cow calves and does not miscarry.
11 They send out their little boys like a flock, and their children dance.
12 They sing to the tambourine and the lyre and rejoice to the sound of the pipe.
13 They spend their days in prosperity, and in peace they go down to Sheol.
14 They say to God, ‘Depart from us! We do not desire the knowledge of your ways.
15 What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?’
16 Behold, is not their prosperity in their hand? The counsel of the wicked is far from me.
17 “How often is it that the lamp of the wicked is put out? That their calamity comes upon them? That God distributes pains in his anger?
18 That they are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that the storm carries away?
19 You say, ‘God stores up their iniquity for their children.’ Let him pay it out to them, that they may know it.
20 Let their own eyes see their destruction, and let them drink of the wrath of the Almighty.
21 For what do they care for their houses after them, when the number of their months is cut off?
22 Will any teach God knowledge, seeing that he judges those who are on high?
23 One dies in his full vigor, being wholly at ease and secure,
24 his pails full of milk and the marrow of his bones moist.
25 Another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity.
26 They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them.
27 “Behold, I know your thoughts and your schemes to wrong me.
28 For you say, ‘Where is the house of the prince? Where is the tent in which the wicked lived?’
29 Have you not asked those who travel the roads, and do you not accept their testimony
30 that the evil man is spared in the day of calamity, that he is rescued in the day of wrath?
31 Who declares his way to his face, and who repays him for what he has done?
32 When he is carried to the grave, watch is kept over his tomb.
33 The clods of the valley are sweet to him; all mankind follows after him, and those who go before him are innumerable.
34 How then will you comfort me with empty nothings? There is nothing left of your answers but falsehood.”