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. I am sure you do too.
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. 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 can refuse to participate! We can 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.
Ah, 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 YHVH.
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.
This is a day of reflection—and renewal. Choose not to know evil. Choose it now and shape yourself to fit life as YHVH defines it. May the new Roman year bring the blessing of bearing God’s burden. May you empathize with the heart of YHVH.
Topical Index: yada’, evil, ra, choice, Psalm 101:4
The full year of Today’s Word for 2019 is now available on my web site as a single file. CLICK HERE
