Israel’s struggle to understand God’s slowness to execute justice on sinners was not unique to God’s people in Malachi’s time. This question appears frequently in the Psalms, wherein God’s children pray for God’s silence to end, and for God to vindicate them (Psalm 17:13; Psalm 35:22–23; Psalm 44:23). In Psalm 73:1–28, Asaph nearly lost his faith because he could not understand why the Lord allowed the wicked to prosper, while the righteous suffered.
In the New Testament, the questioning of God’s patient tolerance of evil lulled some to think that there would be no judgment (2 Peter 3:4). From the book of Revelation, even the redeemed in heaven wait impatiently for the day of judgment (Revelation 6:9–10). Those who suffer injustice long for vindication, which is good and right.
In our present society, we see increasing moral decay and mounting opposition to God and his law. It appears God does nothing to punish the ungodly. They sin with apparent impunity. We, like the Jews of old, could easily lose faith in the coming judgment. We must learn, as Peter teaches us, that God does not measure time as we do. What seems a long time to us transient creatures is only a moment to the eternal God. We must learn to wait patiently, with humility, but at the same time with firm assurance that the day appointed by God will come when Christ returns to judge the living and the dead. Until that day comes, we must strive to bring the gospel to the unbelievers, in the hope that they might come to faith and repentance, and not perish.
17 You have wearied the LORD with your words. But you say, “How have we wearied him?” By saying, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delights in them.” Or by asking, “Where is the God of justice?”