Evil for Evil?

Today's Bible Passage: Micah 2

Scripture: Micah 2:3: "But this is what the Lord says: "I will reward your evil with evil; you won't be able to escape! After I am through with you, none of you will ever again walk proudly in the streets."

Observation
I don't like the New Living Translation here. It sounds like God does evil in return for their evil. The Biblical principle, however, is once again that you reap what you sow. They will face the consequences of their actions. The tables will be turned.

This is a very interesting verse. God has said, "I condemn you because you lie on your beds and plot evil." Now He says, "I am going to plot evil against you." What does He mean by that? Was God actually going to do that which was evil? No, God intended to punish the evildoers, which was right, but from their viewpoint it was wrong because they wouldn't like that. They would call it evil. —J. Vernon McGee's Thru The Bible

God does not do evil, though some people still claim he does. When a disaster strikes, many people say, "Why did God let (or make) that happen?" attributing evil to God. By allowing us to face the natural consequences of our own actions, he brings consequences of punishment and judgment to us, which often looks like evil from our limited human viewpoint. But they are really discipline, meant to bring us into God's will.

The verse could say it this way: "I will reward you with what you will perceive as evil for the evil you are doing. The tables will be turned!"

God is gracious and kind, full of compassion and love, but he does not sugar-coat our sin. He loves us too much to allow us to wallow in our sinful behaviors. He so wants us to experience life to the full! So he has created this world in such a way that we face consequences when we are living outside his will. He disciplines us so that we will live life the way he intends us to.

But why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? (This is another question that attributes evil to God.) But the whole question is faulty. No one is good. We've all gone astray from God. He disciplines us for our bad behavior, not our good deeds. The whole point is to align us with his perfect, abundant, purposeful will for our lives.

Application
I am a child of God, and I'm glad my Father loves me enough to discipline me. He allows me to face the consequences of my wrong actions in order to help move me onto the right path--his path. He loves me way too much to allow me to continue living my own way. He desires for me to live life to the full, and I can only do that his way!

When things are not going my way in life, I will not question God's intentions. He is not evil and is not doing evil to me. I will try to see these hard times as ways God may be trying to get my attention, return me to the right path, and discipline me so that I may experience life to the full. I will try to view God during these times as a loving Father. I will ask him to reveal to me what he is trying to teach me and ask him for his power and patience to go through it and learn from it.

Prayer
My loving Father, thank you for your compassionate discipline in my life. Father, help me to learn from the difficulties I am presently enduring. Help me to grow to the place you want me to be. Help me to get onto the right path and live life your way, not my own or the way of the world. As a leader after your own heart, help me to be wise in the way I model this for others. Help me to help them discern what you are doing in their lives when you are applying your loving discipline.

The Choice

Where do you turn when you mess things up?

The book of Hosea recounts a time when God's people lost their way. And they had a choice: Where would they turn for help? Unfortunately they made the wrong decision:

"When Israel and Judah saw how sick they were, Israel turned to Assyria, to the great king there, but he could neither help nor cure them" (Hosea 5:13, NLT).

How sad. They could have turned to God, confessed their sin, and repented. But instead they turned to the world that could not really help or cure them, as only God could. But here's the Good News: even though God brings judgment upon people who have gone astray and don't depend on Him, He still patiently waits for us to admit our guilt and look to Him for our help (see v. 15).

God promises throughout Scripture that when we repent and turn to Him, He will respond to us. When we ask, he'll give. When we have faith in Him, He'll give us life. When we come to Him, he will give us rest. When we love Him, He will work for our good. He is for us. When we obey Him, He will be with us always, to the very end. He will never leave nor forsake us.

So, where will you turn when you are in need, when you have failed, or when you realize how sick and messed-up you are? You have a choice. There is only one source that can truly help and cure you. Apart from Him, you and I are nothing.

The One Thing a Leader Must Know

At the center of a spiritual leader's competencies is an unshakable belief that God is sovereign.

Even (or maybe especially) in the midst of difficult or even tragic situations, a leader knows that God is in control and will work for the good.

"As the princess opened [the basket that she found in the river], she found the baby boy. His helpless cries touched her heart."

- Exodus 2:6, NLT

Exodus 1 recounts the terrible suffering in Egypt of the Israelites, God's chosen people. They were being worked to death as slaves by brutal, ruthless slave drivers and their newborn baby boys were being killed. When all seemed hopeless, Moses entered the scene and we see God's sovereignty at work. Through a series of dramatic, made-for-TV situations and circumstances, God used Moses to save his people. You probably know the rest of the story (if you don't, buckle up and read Exodus).

God had a plan for his people through all of their trials and tribulations. There's no way they could have seen or understood it in the midst of their tremendous sufferings. But God was at work; He had a plan. He even used the daughter of the one who was inflicting the pain to bring about his purposes.

Faith is based upon the understanding that God is in control over all his creation, including every circumstance in which you as a Christ-follower find yourself. Today, if you are conflicted or hurting or confused, know that God is indeed sovereign. Rather than looking at the circumstances, keep your eyes on Christ. Ask what God is doing in the midst of this. What does God want me to learn through this? How is he at work behind the scenes? Who might he send to help walk me through this? Read Philippians 4 today.

God is sovereign. He really is!

Trials Along the Trails

"At the Lord's command, the people of Israel left the Sin Desert and moved from place to place." 

- Exodus 17:1, NLT

For us as leaders, life is more than just setting a goal and then achieving it. God works in our lives, families, small groups, and churches in the midst of the journey, as we move from place to place. Often that journey is longer and harder than we had hoped, planned, or imagined. Always we face trials along the trails. But God is at work during the journey, leading us, guiding us, maturing us, and working through us.

What the Israelites forgot and we must remember is that the same God who has led the way on the journey will provide for us during that journey. The question is not always, "How quickly can we get to the destination?" but "What can we be learning along the way? How can God use us during this part of the journey?"

Lord, just as you led the Israelites by a pillar of cloud at day and a pillar of light at night, you guide us along our journeys today. As you lead us to your Promised Land, we know you are with us, even in the wilderness, even in our times of trials and tests. You will not leave us nor forsake us. You are for us, so who can be against us? As I walk with you today on this part of the journey, help me to sense your presence with me.