My Complaint / God's Reply.

Part I - My Complaint

Job 21
1 Then Job replied:
2 "Listen carefully to my words;
let this be the consolation you give me.
3 Bear with me while I speak,
and after I have spoken, mock on.
4 "Is my complaint directed to man?
Why should I not be impatient?
5 Look at me and be astonished;
clap your hand over your mouth.
6 When I think about this, I am terrified;
trembling seizes my body.
7 Why do the wicked live on,
growing old and increasing in power?"

Part II - God's Reply
Psalm 37
1-2 Don't bother your head with braggarts or wish you could succeed like the wicked.
In no time they'll shrivel like grass clippings and wilt like cut flowers in the sun.

3-4 Get insurance with God and do a good deed, settle down and stick to your last.
Keep company with God, get in on the best.

5-6 Open up before God, keep nothing back; he'll do whatever needs to be done:
He'll validate your life in the clear light of day and stamp you with approval at high noon.

7 Quiet down before God, be prayerful before him.
Don't bother with those who climb the ladder, who elbow their way to the top.

8-9 Bridle your anger, trash your wrath, cool your pipes—it only makes things worse.
Before long the crooks will be bankrupt; God-investors will soon own the store.

10-11 Before you know it, the wicked will have had it; you'll stare at his once famous place and—nothing!
Down-to-earth people will move in and take over, relishing a huge bonanza.

12-13 Bad guys have it in for the good guys, obsessed with doing them in.
But God isn't losing any sleep; to him they're a joke with no punch line.

14-15 Bullies brandish their swords, pull back on their bows with a flourish.
They're out to beat up on the harmless, or mug that nice man out walking his dog.
A banana peel lands them flat on their faces— slapstick figures in a moral circus.

16-17 Less is more and more is less. One righteous will outclass fifty wicked,
For the wicked are moral weaklings but the righteous are God-strong.

18-19 God keeps track of the decent folk; what they do won't soon be forgotten.
In hard times, they'll hold their heads high; when the shelves are bare, they'll be full.

20 God-despisers have had it; God's enemies are finished—
Stripped bare like vineyards at harvest time, vanished like smoke in thin air.

21-22 Wicked borrows and never returns; Righteous gives and gives.
Generous gets it all in the end; Stingy is cut off at the pass.

23-24 Stalwart walks in step with God; his path blazed by God, he's happy.
If he stumbles, he's not down for long; God has a grip on his hand.

25-26 I once was young, now I'm a graybeard—
not once have I seen an abandoned believer, or his kids out roaming the streets.
Every day he's out giving and lending, his children making him proud.

27-28 Turn your back on evil, work for the good and don't quit.
God loves this kind of thing, never turns away from his friends.

28-29 Live this way and you've got it made, but bad eggs will be tossed out.
The good get planted on good land and put down healthy roots.

30-31 Righteous chews on wisdom like a dog on a bone, rolls virtue around on his tongue.
His heart pumps God's Word like blood through his veins; his feet are as sure as a cat's.

32-33 Wicked sets a watch for Righteous, he's out for the kill.
God, alert, is also on watch— Wicked won't hurt a hair of his head.

34 Wait passionately for God, don't leave the path.
He'll give you your place in the sun while you watch the wicked lose it.

35-36 I saw Wicked bloated like a toad, croaking pretentious nonsense.
The next time I looked there was nothing— a punctured bladder, vapid and limp.

37-38 Keep your eye on the healthy soul, scrutinize the straight life;
There's a future in strenuous wholeness.
But the willful will soon be discarded; insolent souls are on a dead-end street.

39-40 The spacious, free life is from God, it's also protected and safe.
God-strengthened, we're delivered from evil— when we run to him, he saves us.


I rest my case.