The Evil Man’s Guide To Success Series

Job 21: 1 – 34

The Evil Man’s Guide to Success

1 Then Job answered and said: 2 “Listen carefully to my speech, and let this be your consolation. 3 Bear with me that I may speak, and after I have spoken, keep mocking. 4 “As for me, is my complaint against man? And if it were, why should I not be impatient? 5 Look at me and be astonished; Put your hand over your mouth. 6 Even when I remember I am terrified, and trembling takes hold of my flesh. 7 Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, become mighty in power? 8 Their descendants are established with them in their sight, and their offspring before their eyes. 9 Their houses are safe from fear, neither is the rod of God upon them. 10 Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. 11 They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their children dance. 12 They sing to the tambourine and harp, and rejoice to the sound of the flute. 13 They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. 14 Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. 15 Who is the Almighty, that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’ 16 Indeed their prosperity is not in their hand; The counsel of the wicked is far from me. 17 “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, the sorrows God distributes in His anger? 18 They are like straw before the wind, and like chaff that a storm carries away. 19 They say, ‘God lays up one’s iniquity for his children’; Let Him recompense him, that he may know it. 20 Let his eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty. 21 For what does he care about his household after him, when the number of his months is cut in half? 22 “Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges those on high? 23 One dies in his full strength, being wholly at ease and secure; 24 His pails are full of milk, and the marrow of his bones is moist. 25 Another man dies in the bitterness of his soul, never having eaten with pleasure. 26 They lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them. 27 “Look, I know your thoughts, and the schemes with which you would wrong me. 28 For you say, ‘where is the house of the prince? And where is the tent, the dwelling place of the wicked?’ 29 Have you not asked those who travel the road? And do you not know their signs? 30 For the wicked are reserved for the day of doom; they shall be brought out on the day of wrath. 31 Who condemns his way to his face? And who repays him for what he has done? 32 Yet he shall be brought to the grave, and a vigil kept over the tomb. 33 The clods of the valley shall be sweet to him; everyone shall follow him, as countless have gone before him. 34 How then can you comfort me with empty words, since falsehood remains in your answers?”

Let me ask you this, ‘when we were reading today’ scripture what thought came into your mind? I believe that you might be thinking about the same concern that I have had along with thousands of other believers. ‘Why does it seem like evil people are successful in life?’ They get everything they want, they keep getting blessed and they live longer.

Why does it seem like people who try to live a good and Godly life can’t catch a break.- its paycheck-to-paycheck, stress etc.”

This is a painful question pondered by many. The answer is rooted in free will. Many of the behaviors of evil people lead directly to success; the biggest liar and manipulator on the sales team will usually be the top salesperson, for example. The evil person develops skill in seeing how to get the optimal outcome in every situation, and is willing to take whatever the actions are to get that most desirable outcome which is why they so often get there.

In the Gospel of Luke chapter 16 we see such and example when our Lord Jesus speaks on such issues. Here we find a crocked steward. Listen to how our Lord describes this situation,”

1 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods. 2 So he called him and said to him, ‘What is this I hear about you? Give an account of your stewardship, for you can no longer be steward.’ “Then the steward said within himself, ‘What shall I do? For my master is taking the stewardship away from me. I cannot dig; I am ashamed to beg. 4 I have resolved what to do, that when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses.’ 5 “So he called every one of his master’s debtors to him, and said to the first, ‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 And he said, ‘A hundred measures of oil.’ So he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and sit down quickly and write fifty.’ 7 Then he said to another, ‘And how much do you owe?’ So he said, ‘A hundred measures of wheat.’ And he said to him, ‘Take your bill, and write eighty.’ 8 So the master commended the unjust steward because he had dealt shrewdly. For the sons of this world are more shrewd in their generation than the sons of light. 9 “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home. 10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much. 11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man’s, who will give you what is your own? 13 “No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”