Tale of Two Peoples

Posted on by korgrocker

“Will those who do evil never learn? They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord. Terror will grip them, for God is with those who obey him. The wicked frustrate the plans of the oppressed, but the Lord will protect his people.”
Psalm 14:4-6 NLT

Graphic language from David. He sets out the difference between those who acknowledge God and have a relationship with Him, and those who are evil and don’t. A very clear distinction emerges between two groups of people, one group, probably the larger, oppressing the smaller group of people who are relatively and apparently disadvantaged and oppressed, a scenario that has been repeated time and time again throughout history, but with one difference – the smaller group are God’s people. And for that reason the evil people should beware. Their actions are unacceptable to God and when He acts, “terror will grip them” because the Lord will protect His people. 

But David wrote, “They eat up my people like bread and wouldn’t think of praying to the Lord”. What was he getting at here? The Message translation reads, “Don’t they know anything, all these impostors? Don’t they know they can’t get away with this— Treating people like a fast-food meal over which they’re too busy to pray?” (Psalm 14:4). The picture emerges of evil people who contemptuously dismiss others who don’t follow their ways, quickly terminating the social occasion and moving on to spend time instead with their evil peers. A fast food meal is a sad and sorry way to fill an empty stomach, with processed foods often pre-cooked, heated up and served in a box and eaten with fingers. They provide little proper nutrition and too many of them can even be harmful. They are eaten quickly, with little enjoyment or consideration for the God who provided food for life. And so it is with the way unbelievers tend to regard God’s people. A meeting which they terminate quickly, rudely and overbearingly, not considering that the people before them have touched God and are His people. And worse than that, they will perhaps also take steps to introduce difficulties in the plans of God’s people, just out of spite.

A sad tale of two peoples, but for those who have rejected God, the evildoers, their lives will not end well. David wrote that “terror will grip them”, something that will happen either in their current lives or when they stand before God to give an account of their lives. David returned to this theme in another Psalm, where we read, “For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land” (Psalm 39:9). Paul adds a few more details in Romans 2:6-8, “He will judge everyone according to what they have done. He will give eternal life to those who keep on doing good, seeking after the glory and honour and immortality that God offers. But he will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and instead live lives of wickedness”. 

So why do people reject God and carry on in their evil ways? It’s all about the pleasures of sin, and the human tendencies and traits that underpinned an old song, “I’ll do it my way”. People don’t want to live a life during which they perceive they will lose their freedom of choice and independence. An evil person wants to behave in any way he chooses and although bounded by the laws of the society in which he lives, when that society is godless as well, then he’s happy. The sad thing is that there are many people who think they are living a “good” life and, if there is a God, they will never be turned away at the pearly gates.  They claim that it would be an injustice if a loving God would overlook and disregard what they consider to be their goodness. But if they only lifted the Bible for a moment and started to read, they would soon discover the truth and start to feel an ominous terror emerging in their souls. But, as David wrote, they will “never learn“. 

We pilgrims, however, will never give up in our love and care for the evil people around us. We may not perceive the evil within them but God sees all, and He asks us to be as gracious and patient as he is, extending His message of salvation while there is still time. Peter wrote in his second letter, “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9). God never intended anyone to end up destroyed and consigned to hell. That will be the place He originally intended to be the final home for the devil and his angels, but, think about it, where else can God send those people who, because they are evil, cannot be accepted into Heaven? A sobering thought, and to find themselves in the company of the devil for all eternity is enough to strike terror into anyone. But God will protect His people, as David wrote, and we are so thankful for that. So we continue into the day ahead, with thankful hearts, repenting of our sins, and praising the God whom we love so much.

Yes Lord. We love You. We praise You. We thank You. You are the One who blesses and loves Your people, forever. Amen.

Revenge

Posted on by korgrocker

“Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord. Instead, “If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads.””
Romans 12:19-20 NLT

Paul follows on from his previous theme of not responding to evil with more evil. He warns his readers that they should never take revenge, instead leaving room for God to deal with the perpetrators of evil. It should be noted that God will get angry with them, as He does with all sinners. And He has promised to deal with these evildoers. 

Paul quoted two Scriptures in the verses from Romans 12 . The first is from Deuteronomy 32:34-35, “The Lord says, ‘Am I not storing up these things, sealing them away in my treasury? I will take revenge; I will pay them back. In due time their feet will slip. Their day of disaster will arrive, and their destiny will overtake them’”. God may not deal with those who commit evil acts straight away, even though we might want Him to, but He has promised to take a careful note and put it somewhere safe in His “treasury”. There is no escape for those who commit evil acts, because one day they will have to account for their behaviour. No deed ever committed will go unpunished. So that crime committed against an old lady, for example, that roused such indignation in the community, will catch up with the perpetrator one day. The books being stored in God’s “treasury” will one day be opened and the video of what really happened will be replayed before everyone. Imagine the shame! But, worse, will come the verdict – Guilty! 

Some people struggle with the thought that God gets angry. Well, Jesus did. Not often but we read in Mark 3:5, “He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored”. Jesus was angry with the irrational and misguided responses of the Pharisees in the synagogue, but note that, although He had the power to zap them on the spot, He moved on and healed a man with a withered hand. Those Pharisees were in for trouble, because God made a note of their evil response to His Son. Jesus was angry, yet in His anger He didn’t sin. 

The second Old Testament Paul quoted came from Provers 25:21-22, “If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink. You will heap burning coals of shame on their heads, and the Lord will reward you”. How does that work? In God’s Kingdom, there are a different set of rules applying. Whereas in our earthly kingdoms, our enemies will be locked up, and their malevolent intentions suppressed, in God’s Kingdom, we citizens treat our enemies with respect and compassion. We provide them with the basics of life, food and water, and show them kindness when none is deserved. That’s hard! It goes against everything we feel inside. But that is what God has asked us to do. Imagine a world where every evil act received such a kind, loving and compassionate response. There wouldn’t be much evil remaining for long. 

There is a battle raging against Christians in the West, around the gender ideologies. And the proponents of this evil want to close the churches who resist their wayward demands, demands that are in direct conflict with what the Bible says. We could join or organise the marches, the rallies, and write angry banners, or we could pray for them with compassion for their confusion. We gently make our views known to our politicians, expounding the love that we have. And as Peter wrote in 1 Peter 4:8b, “ … for love covers a multitude of sins”. I know that this verse was meant for Christians, but the principle remains. 

Paul wrote that there was a partnership between God and His followers. We respond to evil well and without sin. He will bring the punishment on those who sin against us. That is God’s way, and, by following it, we will truly conquer the evil that is so prevalent in our communities and nations. Small steps accumulate. Short prayers are answered. And we pilgrims will one day experience the reward promised us. 

Dear God. You promised to deal with evildoers. That takes a lot of pressure from us, because we don’t have to. Thank You. Amen.

Thrills

Posted on by korgrocker

“You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! 
I sing for joy because of what you have done. 
O Lord, what great works you do! 
And how deep are your thoughts. 
Only a simpleton would not know, 
and only a fool would not understand this: 
Though the wicked sprout like weeds 
and evildoers flourish, 
they will be destroyed forever.”
Psalms‬ ‭92:4-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

That’s a great word describing the impact God has on us – “thrill”. So I start by asking two questions this morning – what has God done for us, and has the impact thrilled us? Personally, I can remember life events that I refer back to time and time again, with a thankful heart. With a deep gratitude to God for His provision in a dire time of need. And I can remember, particularly after one event, an emotional surge of thankfulness that fell into the “thrill” category. But we can’t go through life looking for the thrills, sudden bursts of fairground-like emotions – day by day He constantly watches over us and the Holy Spirit nudges us when we need to change direction or change a decision. We cannot fail to be thrilled by a God, the Creator of everything, who so intimately cares for each one of us, even to the extent of counting and numbering all the hairs on our heads! And the Psalmist continues with a song of joy, spontaneously bursting out from a thrilling experience. It is a good exercise to sit down with a paper and pencil and list all the “great works” God has done, not just for us, but for our families and friends as well. And we can rejoice and be thrilled by them too. The Psalmist also refers to God’s thoughts – now there’s a whole new dimension. How can we know God’s thoughts? The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, finished the second chapter with this verse, “For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” So through our relationship with Jesus we can know His thoughts – not completely of course, but we can gain a glimpse  of what God is thinking, in the knowledge too that all His thoughts will line up with what He has said in His Word.

The Psalmist ends these verses today with a reference to a “simpleton” and a “fool”. Strong words describing someone who rejects God by behaving in an unacceptable way, not realising that one day, in spite of their apparent earthly successes, they will be destroyed. Sometimes that will happen in this life, but it will surely happen in the life to come. One day the “wicked” will stand before His throne of judgement.

So where do these verses leave us. I would say in the knowledge of the stark and even extreme dichotomy between God’s way and a godless way. There is no middle ground.