“Can wicked rulers be allied with You, those who frame injustice by statute? They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death. But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.” Psalm 94:20-23
Devotional Thought For The Day
We wrote on the first two of these verses last week. Of course God cannot be “allied” with wicked rulers, or for that matter, anyone in pursuit of evil purposes. God loves all people, and especially His dear “righteous ones,” those who have repented of their sins with integrity and have believed His gracious mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus, whose faith is “accounted” to them as righteousness. When His dear people are the target of the wicked – regardless of who those wicked may be, from outside of the church or from within the church, God cares and will act to protect His people and to punish those perpetrating harm against them. More on what happens to those who bring hurt and harm against the righteous and the innocent in a moment.
Many people have come to the conclusion that God “hates” them because they are engaged in certain behaviors. For them, even the witness of Scripture in regard to the love of God is ambiguous, and they see “contradictions.” This is their “case” against God. What they do not see is that there are objective distinctions between good and evil, and love can only be consistent with what is good. Their chief issue is that they have chosen what is evil, have worked hard to justify it in their minds, and then consider God wicked for punishing them for their “good.” Of course, they will not allow this same rationale for those who hurt and harm them – then they agree that there are objective standards of right and wrong and they demand punishment for those hurting them wrongly. This is acknowledgement that love, and God is love, must not only take the side of what is good, it must also inexorably and completely side against what is evil. So the basic issue is not God’s love, and His goodness, but rather what side of God they stand on.
We too struggle with the same issue when it comes to the evils that we are infected with, the ones we refuse to repent of, the ones we embrace and justify in our minds, and then pursue. People of faith continue to struggle to crucify the flesh with its passions. In fact, our sinful nature is such that it has no inclination whatsoever to kill off what pleases it. So if we recognize that we cannot turn away from our sin, we tend to “minimize” it and reduce it to the category of the “innocuous” and harmless. The danger of this is that such mild and innocent sins surely need no repentance, and hence no forgiveness. When we think and act this way how are we any different, in our relationship with God, than the wicked? Further, when God disciplines us, will we not also judge Him to be unfair and unloving toward us? All of us must take great care and caution as to what side of God we place ourselves!
God will punish the wicked – for their own good and also for the good of those they seek to harm and destroy. There is a measure of justice for those who demand it, who engage in wickedness, call it good, and then accuse God of evil and demand justice from Him. So the need and call for constant repentance, humility, and calling to God for mercy – lest we find ourselves among those who insist upon finding God at fault for our woes. So also the need to continue studying God’s Word and the distinction between what is objectively good and objectively evil – that we remain in repentance. So also the need for care and caution against judging others in a way that denies our absolute and continuing need for God’s mercy and forgiveness. And so also the need for us to maintain the distinction between good and evil in our conversations with others – not because we hate them [as they accuse us] but precisely out of humble and compassionate love for them. So also the need for us to continue to assert that God is love – even in the very discipline and punishment He metes out on wickedness. This is understandably a very humiliating, thankless, and even dangerous job – may God give us the love, His love, to live in keeping with love.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, keep us from the hypocrisy and impenitence our sinful nature demands, and from devotion to evil. Forbid that we should confuse the distinction between right and wrong, and so cast accusation and condemnation upon You. Help us also, in deep repentance and humility, to continue to assert that You are love, calling all to repentance and to the warmth of Your gracious forgiveness. Heal us, and heal Your world, through Your ongoing love – even if it must be through the love of Your discipline and punishment. Amen.