There wasn’t all this worry about who was right and who was wrong. You just knew.”
–Elmer Kelton (The Far Canyon)
“Observe and obey all these words which I command you, that it may go well with you and your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God.”
–Deuteronomy 12:28(NKJV)
———————
“It is only man’s world that is cramping. Human fickleness makes a drooping contrast to God’s towering covenant love and faithfulness; human standards, where all is relative, are a marshland beside the exacting, exhilarating mountains of His righteousness.”
–Derek Kidner
This world is in a mess. No one can deny it. Wherever one turns there is havoc, mayhem, doom, and the tentacles of evil reach out to clutch all it can. Look at the first few verses of Psalm 36. Doesn’t that describe humanity? Man, trying his best, or worse, to undermine God, and it seems that anymore when man gets in trouble instead of turning to God, he turns to man causing more bickering and strife. Thank the Lord for a President who has called for a National Day of Prayer (but what does he receive for it–bickering and strife).
1 – An oracle within my heart concerning the transgression of the wicked person: There is no dread of God before his eyes,
2 – for in his own eyes he flatters himself too much to discover and hate his sin.
3 – The words of his mouth are malicious and deceptive; he has stopped acting wisely and doing good.
4 – Even on his bed he makes malicious plans. He sets himself on a path that is not good
and does not reject evil.
5 – Lord, Your faithful love reaches to heaven, Your faithfulness to the clouds.
6 – Your righteousness is like the highest mountains; Your judgments, like the deepest sea. Lord, You preserve man and beast.
7 – God, Your faithful love is so valuable that people take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. (HCSB)
Verse one shows that man doesn’t care what God thinks. Whereas the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7, NKJV); man just scoffs. Man does not hate or acknowledge his sin. Right or wrong, man says it is all relative. “God, ha, who is He?” is the cry of modern man.
Don’t worry about anything. Lies will take care of everything. Lie about this, lie about that, get them so confused that they will either believe nothing or they will believe anything. Honesty is “old school,” lie to get ahead, to cover wrongdoings, to get your agenda accomplished. Man will not heed the Word of God. “Little do I realize such sin perverts my personality so much that I am no longer capable of discerning or desiring good.” (George O. Wood) That is where man is now. There is a determination to do evil, to plan what is wrong. If Plan A doesn’t work, go on to Plan B.
But thank the Lord, in times like these we can trust in God’s amazing love and His faithfulness. God cleanses evil from the believer–righteousness and justice will prevail. No matter what type of evil tries to beset us, we have the Lord Almighty looking over us.
“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in his justice which is more than liberty.
For the love of God is broader than the measure of our mind;
And the heart of the Eternal is most wonderfully kind.”
–Frederick W. Faber