God upholds “righteous” people, who practice fairness and justice, because He likes them for it—because He likes justice and fairness. God wants justice and He won’t let someone who does rightly by others to easily slip between the cracks.
It’s hard at times to believe that God cares or works justice. But, watching how God upholds the people who uphold justice can be proof enough that God is real and God is near.
Everyone dies and hardship makes us stronger; God denies neither to the righteous. “Upholding” means that when times get too hard or the wind blows strong, God interrupts the natural order just enough to make sure that the righteous aren’t swept away. Being “upheld” may mean nothing more than surviving what is unsurvivable.
There are generally three main ways God upholds the righteous, but one could always count more than these three.
1. Because righteous people do what is right and fair, their lives are naturally stronger. Friends will help the righteous in need because people who are fair and honest and do good work naturally have more friends than greedy people who take shortcuts on quality. That was how Job’s fortune was restored. Friends gave him just enough money to start again; Job doubled his original wealth from that.
2. God also brings miracles and coincidence to the righteous. It could be that righteous people, being “godly” are “looking for God” in the small things, so they notice coincidences God already sends to everyone. But, miraculous things happen to people who are honest and fair.
3. Also, by praying, angels will always have the prayer they need to bring aid to the righteous. We each need a cloud of prayer around us for protection. Angels need prayer to wage war against evil. People who pray will supply angels with help everywhere they go, even to help the praying people.
Doing what is right and honest and fair to others is the best way to court favor in the High Court of Heaven. Prayerlessness is an injustice to the angels and to the world they want to help, including ourselves. Thus, prayerlessness is a form of self-mutilation while prayer is an act of justice.