Skip to main content

The Wicked Man


In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises. He boasts about the cravings of his heart; he blesses the greedy and reviles the Lord. In his pride the wicked man does not seek him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. His ways are always prosperous; your laws are rejected by him; he sneers at all his enemies. He says to himself, “Nothing will ever shake me.” He swears, “No one will ever do me harm.” (Psalm 10:2-6)
I doubt there has been a survey done to prove that most evil people don’t believe they’re evil, but since I’m pretty sure that most people don’t believe they’re evil, I’m betting it’s true. I’m no different. I like to tell myself I’m not evil, but when I think about it, I know it’s not true. I also know that I have what some consider an extreme view of evil. Anything that is not one hundred percent good is evil. Those who are saved have been forgiven and justified. They are being sanctified, which means they’re on the road to good, but they haven’t arrived.
         Evil is not a person. The devil is evil, but evil is not the devil. We are evil but evil is not we. Today’s passage begins with arrogance, and I suspect that is a key. Evil is deceptive. It preys on the weak, and we are all weak. It catches us all in its schemes. That means we end up deceived, partly because we are arrogant enough that we believe we are good enough, wise enough, strong enough… whatever-else-enough. The easiest person to trick is the one who considers himself the authority.
          When we make ourselves the authority about what is right and wrong, and we use ourselves as the standard, we are doing nothing more than boasting about the cravings of our hearts. This is why it’s so important to use objective, external standards. This is why we must seek the Lord and accept His laws. We cannot trust that our ways are good ways, untainted by deception and evil.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Way, The Truth, and The Life

              Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me . (John 14:6)           If “I am the gate of the sheep…I am the good shepherd” from chapter 10 is a double whammy, this verse is a triple whammy. And its first victim is the notion that any other so-called god was acceptable or the same as Jesus. He, and He alone is the way, the truth, and the life, and the only way to get to the Father. There is no other Savior, or Redeemer, according to Jesus. Now, to be fair, other religions will claim that their religion or god(s) are the only way. That is the nature of gods and of religions. If this and that are equally good and agree on what’s necessary, then this and that are the same thing, so there’s no need to from the other to one. If that’s the case, then why speak against the other or promote the one? There’s a song I’ve been listening to i...
Post a Comment
Read more