The Lodestar

The godly people question God’s justice when they see the wicked prospering despite their ungodly acts, but the righteous suffer. Their simple formula for life, that good people must prosper and the evil must be destroyed, does not always seem to work.

People in the days of Malachi complained that the Lord was not fair, as the wicked prospered, and those who feared the Lord suffered. They had come to believe that “It is vain to serve God” (Mal 3:14).

However, the Lord reminds the pious people who questioned his justice that though the righteous do not prosper as much as the wicked, that is not the end of the game. The final verdict is yet to come.

The Lord has not forgotten the pious, but he has kept “a book of remembrance” for them (Mal 3:16). In due time, the Lord will honour his people. However, the Lord does not use material success as a yardstick. He has distinguished between “the righteous and the wicked, between one who serves God and one who does not serve him” (Mal 3:18). The Lord will be there for his people at the right time.

This reminds us of Mordecai and Esther. When Haman plotted to destroy the Jews because of his hatred for Mordecai, one night, the king went through the Book of Remembrance. He discovered from the records that Mordecai had saved the king’s life and was not rewarded for that brave act (Esther 6:1—11). The Book of Esther tells us that Mordecai was saved, his arch-enemy Haman was executed, and the order to kill Jews all over the empire of Persia was revoked.

If the Book of Remembrance of the Persian king averted a mass massacre and promoted Mordecai in the Persian empire, how much more would the Book of Remembrance that the Lord kept be in favour of his people?

When the good things we do go unnoticed and we are not rewarded immediately, we should know that our lives are recorded in the metaphorical “Book of Remembrance.” This reminds us not to be discouraged but to anticipate the Lord’s vindication in time.

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