Wait for the Day

Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes.  He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men's hearts.

(1 Corinthians 4:5)

We cannot know what secret decree of God's justice makes this good man poor and that bad man rich; why this man, whose immoral life should cause him to be torn with grief, is, in fact, quite happy; why that man, whose praiseworthy life should bring him joy, is instead sad of soul; why this innocent party leaves the courtroom not just unavenged but actually condemned, unfairly treated by a corrupt judge or overwhelmed by lying testimony, while his guilty opponent not merely gets off unpunished but goes gloating over his vindication.  Here we have an irreligious man in excellent health, there a holy man wasting away to a shadow with disease.

Even though we cannot understand what kind of divine judgment can positively or even permissively will such inequalities -- since God is omnipotent, all-wise, all-just, and in no way weak, rash, or unfair -- it is good for our souls to learn to attach no importance to the good or ill fortune which we see granted without distinction upon the good and the bad.  We learn, too, to seek the good things that are meant for the good, and to avoid at all costs the evil things that are fit for the bad.

When, however, we come to "judgment day" or "the day of the Lord," we shall see that all God's judgments are perfectly just:  those reserved for that occasion; all those that He had made from the beginning; and those, too, He is to make between now and then.  On that day it will be shown plainly how just is that divine decree which makes practically all of God's judgments lie beyond the present understanding of men, even though devout men may know by faith that God's hidden judgments are most surely just.

--St. Augustine of Hippo