Dichotomy

"Those who devise wicked schemes are near,

but they are far from your law.

Yet you are near, LORD,

and all your commands are true."

Psalm 119:150-151

Gossip.  Destructive agendas.  Selfish living.  Desperate crimes.  Evil plots.  Terrorist attacks.  Power plays.  Government takeovers.  Military regimes.  Twisted religions.  It's hard to live in such a cold, cruel world.  While here, it's easy to become just as destructive, selfish, desperate, evil and twisted.  After all, it comes quite naturally to my flesh.  As I run toward Jesus, sticking close by His side, I look around me and become discouraged as I stand firm in His teachings.  How can I carry on?

As I live as a foreigner in a strange land that is not my home, I can draw strength as I remind myself of a few truths (Hebrews 13:14).

Evil.  I have an enemy and his mission is to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10).  It is his work to take away the peace I have in Christ, to eradicate all traces of God's love that wants to flow through me into a world in need, to extinguish the light of Jesus that flickers a message of hope to the darkness around me.  

Satan attempts to accomplish his objective through various tactics, schemes and sneaky plans.  While giving in to his around-the-clock attacks, it's easy to believe his filthy lies, buying into his message that all is lost, that I'm no good, that evil is winning and there is no hope for the world.  

If, however, I remember his power is limited by a God who is sovereign over all things and that he has no authority over me or any other follower of Christ, I can resist his attempts and watch him flee (James 4:7).  With such a God as this on my side, who can stand against me (Romans 8:31)?  Who can thwart His good plan?  Who can defeat His righteous and redemptive design for all of mankind?  Not one, not even the evil one who seems to have so much pull in this dark world.

I can draw strength from the fact that God is greater than Satan and his minions.

Far.  It's easy to wonder how the lost could live such self-destructive ways, especially when their mess spills into the lives of others who are vulnerable and defenseless.  I can feel discouraged when I witness the suffering inflicted upon the helpless by their fellow man.  I want to shake some sense into those stuck in a pattern of abuse as they ruin the lives of many like some kind of Tasmanian devil.  

Then God reminds me that they are far from His law.  They can no more do what is right than I can apart from the grace of God that flows through me due to my faith in Christ.  Without this grace, I'd be just as destructive, messy and abusive. In one way or another, I'm just like the worst of the worst.  We all need Jesus to save us from our own sinful selves.

I can draw strength from the fact that those who do evil acts and rise up against God's own operate in another stratosphere from God and His ways.  They can't help but do what they do (2 Timothy 2:26).

Near.  Many religions worship gods who are unknown and far away.  Little is understood about these deities and their followers pin their hope on what they believe these idols of stone and wood can deliver.  Unfortunately, they never really see any evidence of their impotent capabilities.  They are but a dim apparition in the far-off horizon.

In contrast, God is near.  The more I get to know Him, the bigger He becomes until He takes up the whole scope of my eyesight.  If I seek Him with everything that is in me, I will find Him (Jeremiah 29:13).  He is just that willing to be known.

I can draw strength from the fact that God is very near to me and wants to be intimately sought after and understood, becoming a Guide upon whom I can count and introducing a faithfulness that can be trusted.

There is no doubt that it can be hard to live in a world that seems to bent on destruction.  As I see the pain and suffering all around me, I can take heart by the fact that evil is limited and losing, the people caught up in wicked schemes are far from God and His ways, and God Himself is very near.  The dichotomy of evil and good cannot be denied.  Thankfully, when I choose God through faith in Christ, I am on the winning side (John 16:33)!

As I begin this day it is my prayer that I can trust God enough to realize that evil men are far from You and Your ways.

How do I live a defeated life, forgetting that Jesus died to give me victory over sin and death?

When do I give up, thinking my failures pigeonhole me as a failure instead of realizing Jesus died to make me a victor?