John Calvin Commentary Psalms 94:3

"Jehovah, how long shall the wicked, How long shall the wicked triumph?" — Psalms 94:3 (ASV)

O Jehovah! how long shall the wicked? The Psalmist justifies himself in this verse for the fervent persistence he showed in prayer. Immediate help was needed, as the wicked had reached such a level of insolence. The urgency of our situation can rightly make us bold in our requests, which are all the more likely to be heard because they are reasonable. Here, the Psalmist insists that his complaints were not without cause, nor did they arise from insignificant reasons, but were forced from him by injuries of the most blatant kind.

The length of time their persecutions had lasted is noted as an aggravating circumstance. They had become hardened under God's long-continued patience and, as a result, had developed a shamelessness and stubbornness of spirit, imagining that He looked upon their wickedness favorably. The phrase how long, repeated twice, implies the extent of impunity they had been allowed. This shows it was not as if they had just begun their wicked course, but that they had been tolerated for a long time and had become outrageously wicked.

In this way, wicked men in former times tyrannized over the Church to such a degree, while God did not yet intervene to provide a remedy. Therefore, we should not be surprised if He subjects the Church now to prolonged persecutions, nor should we conclude that He has utterly forsaken her just because He does not immediately act to remedy existing evils.

The term triumph denotes that full, bold, and boasting exultation which the wicked feel when they are carried away by continued prosperity, and imagine they can indulge in every excess without restraint.