The Final Choice
A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will know no evil. Psalm 101:4 NASB
I will know – End of the Roman calendar year. Most people are making some sort of resolution. Usually these last but a short time and the ordinary routine returns. Most resolutions are statements of positive self-improvement. I have a few. Lose weight. Learn another language. Get my photo web page started. Go to China.
David takes a different tack. His resolution is negative. “Evil I will not know,” is an adequate translation of ra lo eda. This is a resolution worth keeping. In fact, it is absolutely essential for living. The verb is yada’. It means a lot more than cognitive information. That’s a very good thing because all of us have cognitive information about evil. If that’s what David meant, we all fail. So does he. But yada’ includes the experiential, emotional, volitional acquaintance with evil. It includes practice, and in this case, practice makes putrid, not perfect. Here is the heart of David’s declaration. Yes, we live in a world of chaos. Yes, evil is real and it surrounds us. But you and I can decide to have nothing to do with it. Will evil still attack? Of course. Will evil still attempt to seduce? Certainly. Are we so immune that nothing can harm us or get under our skin? No, we are not. But we refuse to participate! We refuse to actively pursue, encourage, endorse, experiment with, favor, consider, or sanction any of it. We stand for righteousness even when standing means being exposed to the dark hurricane.
Everyone is applauding. “Yes! Yes! Preach it, brother. That’s us. We won’t let any of the bad stuff in.” But if all we do is circle the wagons, put up the walls, retreat to the monasteries, we have not understood David or the Lord. “Evil I will not know” means taking action to combat it. We do not retreat into closed communities of common conscience. We walk among the wounded. We defy death in any of its forms. We are not still when we are silent before Him. We are not lax in blessing others. We see, we hear, we do. There is no retirement from the call of YHWH.
WE CHOOSE NOT TO KNOW! And that means action, deeds, endeavors, exertion and drive. Let it never be said of one of His followers that this man took comfort in a cloister.
his is a day of reflection—and renewal. Choose not to know evil. Choose it now and shape yourself to fit life as YHWH defines it. May the new Roman year bring the blessing of bearing His burden.
Topical Index: yada’, evil, ra, choice, Psalm 101:4
Do we not live in the kingdom?
“But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”
Mat 6:33
“For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Lk 17:21
“Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the
Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God,
and you are not your own?”
1 Cor 6:19
“But deliver us from the evil one, for yours is the kingdom
and the power and the glory forever. Amen.”
Mat 6:13
Job got it! He was here on the earth but he lived in the kingdom!
Scripture tells us he was:
“blameless and upright”
“one who feared God and shunned evil”
May our kingdom living bring great light into 2014!!!
If we practice evil, then “practice makes putrid, not perfect.” (love it!- and amen!) Here is the heart of David’s declaration. Yes, we live in a world of chaos. Yes, evil is real and it surrounds us. But you and I can decide to have nothing to do with it. Will evil still attack? Of course. Will evil still attempt to seduce? Certainly. Are we so immune that nothing can harm us or get under our skin? No, we are not. But we refuse to participate! We refuse to actively pursue, encourage, endorse, experiment with, favor, consider, or sanction any of it. We stand for righteousness even when standing means being exposed to the dark hurricane.
Oh, friends! Listen! Listen to Him! What does the word of our God say? ~ *Stand therefore!* Ephesians 6.14-17. (- and having done all, to stand!) For ~ Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world! ~ You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because *the One* who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. Who (he inquired) is the One who is (now) in you? The Word speaks again to us: ~ and if (since!) Christ be in you!! Why do we refuse(?) to listen? Be not faithless, but believing! (And again!) ~ But you (is He talking to you?) are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwells (tabernacles) in you. Now if any man (I qualify have not the Spirit of Christ, he (that would be me) is none of His. ~ Do you (he inquired) belong (or not) to Him? Have you (he inquired again) been ~ *bought with a price?* Have you been (and are you now) *redeemed?* God has a people who are (now) His *purchased possession.*
Again.. (and again..) ~ He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? ~
(Romans 8.32) Friends, “what meaneth this?” (lol!) He *ever loves* and cares for His own! Is this, (he inquired) “good news?” Does this (he inquired) merit a “Hallelujah” from anyone? – If it were only within my power to slap your brain awake.. Abba Father.. where is the icy water? Apply it, please. Amen.
Friends, take heart! Be not faithless (without faith) but believing! Again, how do we know the future? – By *remembering* the past! Has God been good to you? Then when (he inquired) will His goodness cease? – n e v e r ! (ever!)
Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
God will take care of you!
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you!
God will take care of you,
Through every day o’er all the way;
He will take care of you;
God will take care of you!
Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you!
When dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you!
All you may need He will provide,
God will take care of you!
Trust Him, and you will be satisfied,
God will take care of you!
Lonely and sad, from friends apart,
God will take care of you!
He will give peace to your aching heart,
God will take care of you!
No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you!
Lean, weary one, upon His breast,
God will take care of you!
God will take care of you,
Through every day o’er all the way;
He will take care of you;
God will take care of you!
“Fear not!”
~ And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.. Now to our God and (our) Father be the glory forever and ever. Amen. ~
~ which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your (own) children, *how much more* will your Father who is in Heaven give good things to those who ask Him! ~
What is it you need? Ask.. Seek.. Knock..
“Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” [James 4:17] This is my life’s “theme,” if-you-will. I love learning (and teaching). The more I learn, of course the more I know. The more I know, the better I am able to walk straight with the LORD.
Thank you, Skip, for this Today’s Word… a huge encouragement to me today.
PRAISE YHVH that He gave us His WORD in order to know how to live!
“But if all we do is circle the wagons, put up the walls, retreat to the monasteries…”-
speaks of most of us, retreating rather than confronting issues to put them right, for our own sakes, or for the sakes/benefit of others.
It will be a tough battle, no doubt, but “to know no evil”, a passion for what is right and pleasing to ABBA, it will be a task to fulfill our role/s in Meshiach.
That has to come with an ‘anger’ arising in us, of desiring that things be put right
when things are not. That provocation has to come through the Ruach, and not through our personal opinion, nor perspective, but aligned with Scriptures, and being tuned to ABBA’s directives.
“Evil I will not know” means taking action to combat it.” Amein! Not simply ignoring the situation, hoping it will pass with the day.
Oftentimes than not, events will escalate from a molehill to a mountain of problems, when issues are not dealt with-let not the sun set on your anger- would apply in a sense.
This Todays Word is most applicable in our walk. Shalom!