“Yet, goodness will not be with the wicked nor will his days be prolonged like a shadow; for he does not fear before the face of God.”

(Ecclesiastes 8:13)

While a shadow is insubstantial, it spreads out across the land and casts its darkness upon more and more as the day grows longer. Though, from our perspective, the lives of the wicked sometimes seem full and long, they are not absolute. God will not permit the wicked’s shadow to consume the land forever. While God is often long-suffering, he will not exalt those who do not fear him. 

How often, though, during those times and seasons where the wicked are casting their shadow about, it seems that they are all-encompassing. At times it can seem like God is honoring their every wish and desire. While at times like this, we often encourage our hearts with the knowledge that one day the wicked will stand before God’s throne of judgment and he will avenge his name, we should also remember that often God raises up the wicked like this in life only for the purpose of bringing them crashing to the ground. And in doing so, God reveals to us that the shadow of these men is just that — a shadow — insubstantial and without lasting consequence. Such are the ways of the wicked.