O Lord, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve. O Lord, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? They pour out their evil words. All the evildoers boast. They crush Your people, O Lord, and afflict Your heritage. They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless. And they say, "The Lord does not see. The God of Jacob does not perceive."
(Verses 1-7)
Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for be so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12
These were hard verses to wake up to this morning. It's rather gloomy outside today. The air close. The kind of day that makes me want to go back to bed, not strive with what to do about evildoers. The very question of evil is strained in our world today. Everyone seems to be able to justify almost any behavior. But this isn't new. I don't think Hitler or Pol Pot thought of themselves as evil. There are still some today who don't even think Hitler was misunderstood, and certainly not wrong. People like Margaret Sanger espoused some of his same views when it came to cleansing the races and creating a "race of thoroughbreds (Birth Control Review, May 1919)". It was behind her ideas for Planned Parenthood, which we support with our tax payer dollars today. Eugenics, which many laud today as the right of at least the elderly, the weak and the marred to take their own lives or have them taken from them when they are too weak and infirm to have the "quality of life" they should expect, is becoming an ever-increasingly popular practice. So is evil relative? Can what we used to consider dark and eternally wrong be now perfectly okay? Is there no standard by which we can judge wrong and right in our current cultural environment?
It seems our society is capable of evolving into playing God without His even noticing it. I've actually heard people say, "If He's so upset by it, why hasn't He done something about it. I'll tell you why, there is no God." With that as the foundation of our society, it makes sense that we can make wrong right. In fact, there are songs extolling doing what feels good because, by golly, if it feels that good it can't be wrong. And down the black hole we go. In a world turned upside down, where evil seems to win as children are wholesale murdered in the womb of their safety and getting old is a drain on the economy, where we kill each other while the Middle East leaders hurl weapons on their brothers and little despots build nuclear weapons as they strut pompously about, tiny gods with the authority to turn the planet into ashes, what do we do? If there is no definition of evil, how do we then define it for our neighbors, our kids, our government? What should we look like in such chaos?
I understand why those who believe there is no God give themselves the right to do whatever they think makes sense. Create laws and rules that uphold those actions. But it affects those of us who know Christ. We will never be able to talk them out of the social deterioration they call progress. In the age of the internet and the moon walk, belief in the ancient tenets of an old book seems ridiculous. Besides, they say, if there is a God why is there so much suffering in the world. Were they wise, they could answer the question, in part, for themselves. We create a lion's share of it for ourselves. More and more we who still trust in our Lord will have to look more like Him if we are to survive.
We know the Lord sees when the fatherless are crushed and the evildoers boasts. When government legislates against its weakest and subverts truth. He knows--perceives. The time is here for us to be intentional Christians. Blessing those who curse us, feeding them when they are hungry and visiting them when they are sick. As the individual becomes lost in the masses, it is we who know Christ who will be more and more called to be Him to this world. Not argue Him. Not try with our own haughty words to stop the tide of evil that teems and drowns our faith. But trust, without fear, that a time will come when all eyes will be opened to what we are jeered at for believing. And maybe, just maybe, those who think there is no God will see Him in us.
One day our God will stand up and say, "Enough!" But for His mercies He would have already. Our task isn't to get even with or join the crowd marching toward their own destruction. And if in the face of love, we, like Jesus, are slaughtered for the coals of fire that unconditional love piles upon the heads of those who would do us in, then we become like Him in that as well. Vengeance here for us is folly because we don't know everything like God does. Here is our imperative from the Father:
They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong! Fear not! Behold, your God will come in vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." Isaiah 35
(Verses 1-7)
Repay no one evil for evil but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay," says the Lord. To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for be so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12
These were hard verses to wake up to this morning. It's rather gloomy outside today. The air close. The kind of day that makes me want to go back to bed, not strive with what to do about evildoers. The very question of evil is strained in our world today. Everyone seems to be able to justify almost any behavior. But this isn't new. I don't think Hitler or Pol Pot thought of themselves as evil. There are still some today who don't even think Hitler was misunderstood, and certainly not wrong. People like Margaret Sanger espoused some of his same views when it came to cleansing the races and creating a "race of thoroughbreds (Birth Control Review, May 1919)". It was behind her ideas for Planned Parenthood, which we support with our tax payer dollars today. Eugenics, which many laud today as the right of at least the elderly, the weak and the marred to take their own lives or have them taken from them when they are too weak and infirm to have the "quality of life" they should expect, is becoming an ever-increasingly popular practice. So is evil relative? Can what we used to consider dark and eternally wrong be now perfectly okay? Is there no standard by which we can judge wrong and right in our current cultural environment?
It seems our society is capable of evolving into playing God without His even noticing it. I've actually heard people say, "If He's so upset by it, why hasn't He done something about it. I'll tell you why, there is no God." With that as the foundation of our society, it makes sense that we can make wrong right. In fact, there are songs extolling doing what feels good because, by golly, if it feels that good it can't be wrong. And down the black hole we go. In a world turned upside down, where evil seems to win as children are wholesale murdered in the womb of their safety and getting old is a drain on the economy, where we kill each other while the Middle East leaders hurl weapons on their brothers and little despots build nuclear weapons as they strut pompously about, tiny gods with the authority to turn the planet into ashes, what do we do? If there is no definition of evil, how do we then define it for our neighbors, our kids, our government? What should we look like in such chaos?
I understand why those who believe there is no God give themselves the right to do whatever they think makes sense. Create laws and rules that uphold those actions. But it affects those of us who know Christ. We will never be able to talk them out of the social deterioration they call progress. In the age of the internet and the moon walk, belief in the ancient tenets of an old book seems ridiculous. Besides, they say, if there is a God why is there so much suffering in the world. Were they wise, they could answer the question, in part, for themselves. We create a lion's share of it for ourselves. More and more we who still trust in our Lord will have to look more like Him if we are to survive.
We know the Lord sees when the fatherless are crushed and the evildoers boasts. When government legislates against its weakest and subverts truth. He knows--perceives. The time is here for us to be intentional Christians. Blessing those who curse us, feeding them when they are hungry and visiting them when they are sick. As the individual becomes lost in the masses, it is we who know Christ who will be more and more called to be Him to this world. Not argue Him. Not try with our own haughty words to stop the tide of evil that teems and drowns our faith. But trust, without fear, that a time will come when all eyes will be opened to what we are jeered at for believing. And maybe, just maybe, those who think there is no God will see Him in us.
One day our God will stand up and say, "Enough!" But for His mercies He would have already. Our task isn't to get even with or join the crowd marching toward their own destruction. And if in the face of love, we, like Jesus, are slaughtered for the coals of fire that unconditional love piles upon the heads of those who would do us in, then we become like Him in that as well. Vengeance here for us is folly because we don't know everything like God does. Here is our imperative from the Father:
They shall see the glory of the Lord, the majesty of our God. Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, "Be strong! Fear not! Behold, your God will come in vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you." Isaiah 35
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