Why do good things happen to bad people?

Romans 3:11-18

“...(11) there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. (12) All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (13)Their throats are open graves; their tongues practice deceit. The poison of vipers is on their lips. (14) Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness. (15) Their feet are swift to shed blood; (16) ruin and misery mark their ways, (17) and the way of peace they do not know. (18) There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Ephesians 2:1-3

“(1) As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, (2) in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. (3) All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.”

Deuteronomy 7:6-9

“(6) For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. (7) The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. (8) But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. (9) Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.”

Jeremiah 32:40-41

“(40) I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. (41) I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.”

Romans 8:28

“(28) And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

Matthew 5:45

“...(45) that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”

Habakkuk 1:5-11

“(5) Look at the nations and watch--and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. (6) I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling places not their own. (7) They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. (8) Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like a vulture swooping to devour; (9) they all come bent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. (10) They deride kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; they build earthen ramps and capture them. (11) Then they sweep past like the wind and go on--guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

• I’m going to blow your mind. Let me tell you clearly what I will do, otherwise you would not believe it. I am going to bless the Babylonians. I am going to make them prosper, even though they are a wicked people.

Habakkuk 1:12-17

“(12) O LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, we will not die. O LORD, you have appointed them to execute judgment; O Rock, you have ordained them to punish. (13) Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? (14) You have made men like fish in the sea, like sea creatures that have no ruler. (15) The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad. (16) Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. (17) Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?”

Habakkuk 2:1

“(1) I will stand at my watch and station myself on the ramparts; I will look to see what he will say to me, and what answer I am to give to this complaint.”

• Okay! You’re going to use them to execute your judgment. But how can you do that? You know what they are like. Given what you’re like, don’t you think that’s a little inconsistent? Is our life just arbitrary? Tell me!
• The prophet can hardly believe it, but he has to acknowledge that God is using the Babylonians to test the character and shape the lives of those who love Him. This is certainly not unique in the history of God’s affairs.
• If I were God, I would use more discretion in who I used. That’s the prophet’s argument. But then, if God used more discretion in who He uses he might never use me.

• Evil is not as powerful as it seems.

  Habakkuk 2:6-8

  “(6) Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, ‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ (7) Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. (8) Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.”

  - “Your day is coming”
  - They count their conquests in piles. They are not satisfied.

  Habakkuk 2:5

  “...(5) indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples.”

  Adding conquest to conquest, victory to victory. They become extravagantly wealthy in land and influence. But the ones that Babylon has overrun will eventually overrun them. The debtors will rise up and exact justice from the false lender.
  
  - Am reminded of the fall of Soviet Union. Not as powerful as it seemed.

• Evil is not as protected as it seems.

  Habakkuk 2:9-11

  “(9) Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! (10) You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. (11) The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it.”

  - Build up high walls. But those very walls will testify against them.
  - Nazi war criminals
  - Howard Hughes became a prisoner of his own extravagance.

• Evil is not as permanent as it seems.

  Habakkuk 2:12-14

  “(12) Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by crime! (13) Has not the LORD Almighty determined that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire, that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing? (14) For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.”

  - Knowledge of God is eternal. All else is passing. It is fuel for the fire.
  - David P. (childhood bully). Thought he was so cool, terrorized my school. Grew up to be kind of dumpy.

• Evil is not as productive as it seems.

  Habakkuk 2:15-17

  “(15) Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. (16) You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed! The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. (17) The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.”

  - Lavishing wine on their guests for the frivolous pleasure of seeing them naked. No expense is too great to satisfy their whims. And are able to do so seemingly.
  
  - But they will themselves be disgraced.

• You can know it.

  1 John 5:13

  “(13) I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.”

• Seek and you’ll find it.
• All who call on Him will find relationship with Him.