If evil is fed into one’s heart, all that can happen is for evil to come out.”
–D.C. Adkisson (Winter of the Wolves)
“Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”
–Isaiah 5:20(NASB)
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I am currently doing a study of which I will share more of it with you in weeks to come. However, one verse, Psalm 119:53, has caught my attention. Psalm 119 is such a great Psalm about obedience and commitment to the Word of God, but let’s look a little deeper at verse 53.
Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked,
Who forsake Your law. (NASB)
We see in this verse horror and anger. “Righteous anger,” “burning indignation,” “rage,” “fury,” are all terms used in various translations for the first pass of this verse. Put them together and we see a person gripped by the evil he sees in the world and in individuals. Spurgeon says, “he was distressed by a foresight of their overthrow.” It is hard to completely understand the feeling of this individual. Perhaps the King James says it best, “Horror hath taken hold upon me…”
This term, “taken hold,” or “seized” literally means “gripped.” Gripping is to not let go. Holding fast, clenching tightly to an object. In this case, horror/indignation has gripped this person because of wickedness. This is where we live. Look around you at the evil, the wickedness. “Living in a wicked society should scare us.” (Craig Ledbetter). My question is, does it? So many, it seems, are complacent at what is happening around them, or they have been so duped by evil that they either tolerate it, or join in.
Two things bring this horror. The first is that the Psalmist remembers how God deals with wickedness. Unless there is genuine repentance, judgment will come. Sodom comes to mind: “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:24-25, NASB). Korah: “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and all the people who belonged to Korah with all their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly” (Numbers 16:32-33, NASB). The children of Israel refused to believe the report of Joshua and Caleb, thus spurning the Lord, and they wandered in the wilderness until all of that generation passed. Of course, we cannot forget that mankind, with the exception of Noah and his family, was destroyed by the Flood because the people were doing evil continually.
So the writer of this psalm remembers what happened to those who practiced evil and wickedness in the past. Because of that, he looks at what is currently happening, as we should do, and knows that God is holy and will only for so long allow evil to bring forth its rotten fruit. One day the “man of lawlessness” will appear and will bring his wrath upon the earth. When that happens God will say that is enough and will counter. Just in the Fourth Seal (Revelation 6:8) we see that power was given to them “to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth” (NKJV). Continuing in chapter 6, there is the Sixth Seal that will bring great disturbances on earth and in the sky. Go on and read chapters 8-9 regarding the Trumpets, then chapter 16, the bowl judgments.
When we read these our response should be like that of the Psalmist–horror. God’s character and word is not to be scorned. His judgments are not to be laughed at. They should bring horror at what will happen as well as indignation at those who commit such things. True righteous anger brings abhorrence of all that is contrary to it. Too often we groan, or smile, or say “let live” or maybe the most appalling, “whatever makes them happy.” No, the wicked should cause us to cringe. Their acts should bring an indignation to our being. It should be as Charles Bridges wrote, “Every stroke at His law you will feel as a stroke at your own heart.” Wickedness and evil should cause us severe pain for it strikes against the very character of God.
——————————–
I am currently doing a study of which I will share more of it with you in weeks to come. However, one verse, Psalm 119:53, has caught my attention. Psalm 119 is such a great Psalm about obedience and commitment to the Word of God, but let’s look a little deeper at verse 53.
Burning indignation has seized me because of the wicked,
Who forsake Your law. (NASB)
We see in this verse horror and anger. “Righteous anger,” “burning indignation,” “rage,” “fury,” are all terms used in various translations for the first pass of this verse. Put them together and we see a person gripped by the evil he sees in the world and in individuals. Spurgeon says, “he was distressed by a foresight of their overthrow.” It is hard to completely understand the feeling of this individual. Perhaps the King James says it best, “Horror hath taken hold upon me…”
This term, “taken hold,” or “seized” literally means “gripped.” Gripping is to not let go. Holding fast, clenching tightly to an object. In this case, horror/indignation has gripped this person because of wickedness. This is where we live. Look around you at the evil, the wickedness. “Living in a wicked society should scare us.” (Craig Ledbetter). My question is, does it? So many, it seems, are complacent at what is happening around them, or they have been so duped by evil that they either tolerate it, or join in.
Two things bring this horror. The first is that the Psalmist remembers how God deals with wickedness. Unless there is genuine repentance, judgment will come. Sodom comes to mind: “Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground” (Genesis 19:24-25, NASB). Korah: “the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, their households, and all the people who belonged to Korah with all their possessions. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive to Sheol; and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly” (Numbers 16:32-33, NASB). The children of Israel refused to believe the report of Joshua and Caleb, thus spurning the Lord, and they wandered in the wilderness until all of that generation passed. Of course, we cannot forget that mankind, with the exception of Noah and his family, was destroyed by the Flood because the people were doing evil continually.
So the writer of this psalm remembers what happened to those who practiced evil and wickedness in the past. Because of that, he looks at what is currently happening, as we should do, and knows that God is holy and will only for so long allow evil to bring forth its rotten fruit. One day the “man of lawlessness” will appear and will bring his wrath upon the earth. When that happens God will say that is enough and will counter. Just in the Fourth Seal (Revelation 6:8) we see that power was given to them “to kill with the sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth” (NKJV). Continuing in chapter 6, there is the Sixth Seal that will bring great disturbances on earth and in the sky. Go on and read chapters 8-9 regarding the Trumpets, then chapter 16, the bowl judgments.
When we read these our response should be like that of the Psalmist–horror. God’s character and word is not to be scorned. His judgments are not to be laughed at. They should bring horror at what will happen as well as indignation at those who commit such things. True righteous anger brings abhorrence of all that is contrary to it. Too often we groan, or smile, or say “let live” or maybe the most appalling, “whatever makes them happy.” No, the wicked should cause us to cringe. Their acts should bring an indignation to our being. It should be as Charles Bridges wrote, “Every stroke at His law you will feel as a stroke at your own heart.” Wickedness and evil should cause us severe pain for it strikes against the very character of God.