Lent Meditation: Day 17 - March 6, 2026

📖 Scripture Verse

I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

For they have no pain;

their bodies are sound and sleek.

They are not troubled as others are;

they are not plagued like other people.

Therefore pride is their necklace;

violence covers them like a garment….

They scoff and speak malice;

loftily they threaten oppression.

They set their mouths against heaven,

and their tongues range over the earth.

Psalm 73:3b-6,8-9

🕯️Meditation

Psalm 73 is attributed to a poet named “Asaph”, to whom is attributed psalms 73 through 83.  This psalm reflects on the experience of seeing wicked people flourish on life, and seemingly without consequence oppress others and speak arrogantly of God.  Over the course of the psalm, Asaph considers what this means until settling into a declaration of trust in God to establish justice in his own way and time.  “Indeed, those who are far from you will perish;….But for me it is good to be near God; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, to tell of all your works.” (73: 27a, 28).

It can be a bewildering and painful experience to look around the world and our own lives and see those who do wrong to others seemingly thrive and have no worries.  We may question to justice of God. We may wonder if he is paying attention, or even if he exists at all.  These are not new experiences, and humankind has been wrestling with the incongruity of a good and faithful God and the damage done by wealthy, wicked people in power.  The life of Jesus himself is a story of a righteous man undergoing suffering and death at the hands of unjust powers, both religious and political.

There is nothing impious about looking at the world and its suffering and the success of evil people and crying out to God for justice, and wondering how can such things be.  The authors of Holy Scripture included these feelings in the psalms and prayers and stories handed on to us for our spiritual nourishment.

If sometimes you are confused, concerned, or even angry that such things unfold in our world where the wicked flourish and the righteous suffer, and God’s beloved poor and lowly ones seemingly get no relief from evil days, you are in the company of the great pray-ers of all time, Asaph, Job, Jesus, and Paul among many others.

🙏 Prayer

Righteous Lord, I do not understand why so much evil and hurt happens in this world.  I don’t understand why sometimes those who do right suffer, while those who do wrong flourish.  Help me to place my trust and confidence in you, and help me to seek consolation in the truth of your loving-faithfulness, even when I do not see it at work.  In your time, bring justice and healing to all people.  Amen.

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