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Psalm 50:16-21

(16) But to the wicked God says:
“What right have you to declare My statutes,
Or take My covenant in your mouth,
(17) Seeing you hate instruction
And cast My words behind you?
(18) When you saw a thief, you consented with him,
And have been a partaker with adulterers.
(19) You give your mouth to evil,
And your tongue frames deceit.
(20) You sit and speak against your brother;
You slander your own mother’s son.
(21) These things you have done, and I kept silent;
You thought that I was altogether like you;
But I will rebuke you,
And set them in order before your eyes.
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The Message, a paraphrase, renders verse 21 as: “I kept a quiet patience while you did these things; you thought I went along with your game. I'm calling you on the carpet, now, laying your wickedness out in plain sight.” In other words, because the hammer had not yet fallen, the Israelites of old assumed that God did not care about what they were doing—but, as God declares, “. . . your sin will find you out” (Numbers 32:23).

Solomon speaks of this same tendency in Ecclesiastes 8:11. He observes that, because a delay in justice occurs, people conclude that crime and sin are not so terrible. This pause between cause and effect encourages them to continue in their evil.

God's longsuffering is thus double-edged. For those who are serious about following God, His longsuffering gives them time to repent and change. But for those who are ambivalent about what God thinks, His delay of justice reinforces their wrong beliefs and behavior. In this vein, the Israelites mistook God's silence for His approval, and as a result, the Day they thought would bring them glory instead delivered shame and defeat.

This pattern is evident in Israel's history, and we can also see it happening in the Israelitish nations of today.

— David C. Grabbe

To learn more, see:
Do You Desire the Day of the Lord?