God’s punishment that is not quickly carried out

[Ecclesiastes 8:11]

                King Solomon says that people are bold in doing evil because punishment is not carried out quickly.  It is the Word of God that can not be disagreeable.  If God's punishment comes quickly when people do wicked things, then they will hesitate to do evil again because they are afraid.  But because the punishment does not come quickly, the people do evil.  There is no fear while doing evil.  They do evil without fear because they think that God doesn’t see what they do.  That’s why they commit “a hundred crimes” (v. 12).  The more they do evil, the bolder they become.  Because of repeated sin, their hearts becomes harder.  Because they do not fear God, they do evil with their harden hearts.

                Why then is the punishment of God slow?  Look at Romans 2:4 – “Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?”  The reason why God's punishment does not come fast when we sin is because God wants us to repent.  In other words, God does not punish us immediately when we commit our sins because he wants to give us time (opportunity) to repent.  But we do not think that we often appreciate God's mercy.  As a result, we are testing the patience of God by sinning before God.  Instead of repenting our sins, we are quickly turning to sin.  “Like a dog that returns to its vomits”, we do the foolish thing repeatedly (Prov. 26:11).

                Those who fear God is afraid to do evil.  That is because they have tasted the consequences of their own evil.  That is, those who are punished by God for their sins are afraid to do evil.  They never take the punishment of God lightly.  Therefore, those who fear God not only sin boldly but also they cannot.  The heart is softened by the punishment of God's love, so they can not boldly do evil.  Those who fear God have a clear conscience.  As a result, they fight against temptations and overcome sin as their conscience is stricken.  They will never do evil things that are against their conscience.  Since they love God and serve him with good conscience those who fear God have clear conscience before God and men.  They are bold before God and not before sinning.  Those who fear God hate evil.  The reason is because God hates evil.  And because God is holy, those who fear Him also seek God's holiness.