Justice When? (Job 24)

Does God deny or just delay justice for sin and reward for good? Is there a reason? Let’s look at Job 24.

Does Job ask why justice for real estate fraud like removing property markers, livestock theft, oppression of the poor, and bullying is absent?

Since times are not hidden from the Almighty, Why do those who know Him see not His days? Some remove landmarks; They seize flocks violently and feed on them; They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; They take the widow’s ox as a pledge. They push the needy off the road; All the poor of the land are forced to hide. (Job 24:1-4 NKJV)

Are the poor oppressed, hungry, naked, cold and homeless?

Like wild donkeys in the wilderness, the poor must spend all their time looking for food, searching even in the desert for food for their children. They harvest a field they do not own, and they glean in the vineyards of the wicked. All night they lie naked in the cold, without clothing or covering. They are soaked by mountain showers, and they huddle against the rocks for want of a home. (Job 24:5-8 NLT)

Have we ever asked why God allows so much suffering in the world?

There are those who pluck the fatherless from the breast, and take a pledge of the poor, so that they go around naked without clothing. Being hungry, they carry the sheaves. They make oil within the walls of these men. They tread wine presses, and suffer thirst. From out of the populous city, men groan. The soul of the wounded cries out, yet God doesn’t regard the folly. (Job 24:9-12 WEB)

Is letting the poor suffer without help akin to murder and theft? Is adultery like darkness?

They rebel against light, don’t acknowledge its direction, don’t dwell in its paths. The murderer rises at twilight, kills the poor and needy; at night, they are like a thief. The adulterer’s eye watches for twilight, thinking, No eye can see me, and puts a mask over his face. In the dark they break into houses; they shut themselves in by day; they don’t know the light. Deep darkness is morning to them because they recognize the horror of darkness. (Job 24:13-17 CEB)

Is the wealth of the wicked quickly gone like snow in summer?

Those sinners are filthy foam on the surface of the water. And so, their fields and vineyards will fall under a curse and won't produce. Just as the heat of summer swallows the snow, the world of the dead swallows those who sin. Forgotten here on earth, and with their power broken, they taste sweet to worms. (Job 24:18-20 CEV)

Are the wicked exalted a little while and then quickly gone?

They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say? (Job 24:21-25 ESV)

Will judgment eventually come in God’s time not ours?

But because of your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment is revealed. He will repay each one according to his works (Rom 2:5-6 HCSB)

Could it be that God delays because He is giving people space to repent?

The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some people understand slowness, but is being patient with you. He does not want anyone to perish, but everyone to find room for repentance. (2 Pet 3:9 ISV)

Does God deny or just delay justice for sin and reward for good? Is there a reason? You decide!