Word on the web

[ladylovesJesus]

21 May 2007

Psalm 68:1-3

Let God rise up and scatter his enemies;
Let those who hate him run away from him.
Blow them away as smoke is driven away by the wind.
As wax burns before a fire, let the wicked be destroyed before God.
But those who do right should be glad and should rejoice before God;
they should be happy and glad.

Do you ever feel this angry about evil doers? Do you ever hear on the news terrible things people have been doing and suddenly everything in you sees red and you want God to rise up and utterly annihilate his enemies? How dare they behave with such ungodly cruelty or deceit! Do you ever find yourself longing for all that evil to vanish away by God's power - like smoke before the wind or wax burning away?

It isn't just the evil that the psalmist wants God to sort out - it's the people as well! "Let the wicked be destroyed!" he cries out. Do we sometimes find ourselves longing for that as well?

But hang on a minute. How does this longing for God's vengeance match up with the teaching of Jesus?

The psalmist was writing long before Jesus' time but we can't just ignore what Jesus said. When two of his followers wanted fire from heaven to destroy some towns which weren't responding to them, Jesus gave a definite "no". "Love your enemies" Jesus taught. "Pray for those who persecute you."

When you find the anger rising in you about evil, what you need to do is pray. Pray with all your loathing of the evil and your love for the hurt or abused ones and your anger at the perpetrator's behaviour. Pray for God's medicine to heal the situation and all those involved.

And yes, be excited and thankful for every scrap of good that we vulnerable humans manage to do through God's love in us. Celebrate the good today and also the good that God can bring out of even the worst of evil.

Lord, I really hate this terrible evil. Can't imagine how any good can possibly come out of it. Can't get over how lacking in love we humans can be.

Lord I bring it all to you for your full and extraordinary healing, because I know I can trust you with the best way of dealing with it. Amen.

Written by Susan Sayers

 

[TheAJKMan]

Is that not due to mans sinful nature and being so seperated from God? That and the scriptures indicate that man seperated from God only gets more sinful. Come to think of it, where sin abounds, does grace not abound that much more?

TheAJKMan

 

[Faithful Son]

We were separated from God brother, but now we are children of God, we are new and totally in God's family. We should hold onto God as our only real Father and realize that we are his sons and daughters.

Ephesians 4:17-32
Living as Children of Light
17So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. 18They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. 19Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.

20You, however, did not come to know Christ that way. 21Surely you heard of him and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. 22You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; 23to be made new in the attitude of your minds; 24and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.