Evil: April 14, 2014

TODAYS WORD FOR MONDAY APRIL 14. 2014.

EVIL

DEFINITION:

Immoral; wicked; harmful; bad; sinful; of the devil.

SCRIPTURE:

You have wearied the Lord with your words; yet you say in what way have we wearied Him? In that you say, everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the Lord, and He delights in them, or, where is the God of justice? Malachi 2:17.

KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE:

The book of Nehemiah closes on the theme of resisting evil. Nehemiah took a stand against evil. He was a Jew living in exile and employed by the King of Persia. When Nehemiah learned about the broken down walls of Jerusalem, he heeded the call of God to repair the damage done by the evil invaders.

Nehemiah went to the Persian King and got permission and help to go to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild the walls. The book of Nehemiah goes through the many struggles and blessings that Nehemiah went through rebuilding the walls.

Along with the rebuilding of the walls Nehemiah knew that the people needed to rebuild their spiritual lives. So under Nehemiah’s leadership the people returned to the Temple to listen to Ezra read God’s Word.

When the walls were rebuilt we read about the dedication of the walls (chapter 12). Nehemiah appointed two great choirs. One went to the north part of the wall and one went to the south ultimately meeting at the temple. The people played instruments, sang and shouted praises to God in celebration of the completion of this task. So great was their joy that the sound of their rejoicing could be heard far away. When Nehemiah left Jerusalem the walls were rebuilt and the Israelites were serving God.

After Nehemiah returned to Persia, he soon heard about evil in the camp of the Israelites in Jerusalem. God’s priest Eliashib had allowed Tobiah, a pagan and enemy of God who opposed Nehemiah and all that he was doing for God, to move into the temple.

Nehemiah wept when he heard that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down. Just imagine how sad and even upset he was when he heard that God’s temple had been desecrated. Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem and responded by saying as recorded in chapter 13 verse 8, “I was greatly displeased and threw all Tobiah’s household goods out of the room.” He literally tossed Tobiah out on his ear.

And that was not all he found. He found that the priests had been stealing and not paying the Levites who worked in the Temple, taking the money that belonged to them. Then he discovered that, throughout the city, people were violating the Sabbath. They were bringing in merchandise and selling it in the streets on the Sabbath. In verse 19 we read, “When evening shadows fell on the gates of Jerusalem before the Sabbath, I ordered the doors to be shut and not opened until the Sabbath was over.”

Then Nehemiah heard that some of the vendors stayed all night outside the gate hoping someone would let them in. In verse 21 we read, “I warned them and said, why do you spend the night by the wall? If you do this again, I will lay hands on you. From that time on they never came on the Sabbath.”

Nehemiah showed action when he saw evil. As believers we need to take a stand and attack evil just as Nehemiah did. Our world is full of evil and as believers we are not to condone evil.

We read in the verse above from Malachi that the prophet is warning the people that were saying that evil is good that they wearied the Lord. It is likely that the book of Malachi was written during the time Nehemiah was back in Persia. Nehemiah returned to Israel to deal with the sins of Israel as described in Malachi.

Today’s society endorses all manner of evil, calling it good. It is bad enough that movie makers and rock stars extol the virtues of obscenity, pornography, lawlessness and degrading pictures of God and family, but in addition many educators, politicians, judges and psychologists are equally at fault. We are all at fault when we do not take a stand against evil.

We live in a culture that what God calls bad, society calls good --- and vice versa. We forget that the God of justice is still on His throne. There will come a day of judgment. As believers let us stay away from evil, stand up against evil and promote what is right and good by our words and actions.

LEARNING:

Our memory verse is the fourth Commandment found in Exodus 20:8.

Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

PRAYER:

Help me to clearly know the difference today between evil and good. Help me to stand firm for good and fight evil. May my life be a shining example of Your goodness to all that I associate with today.