As I lie awake and wonder what the future will hold
Help me to remember that You’re in control
You’re my courage when I worry in the dead of night
You’re my strength ’cause I’m not strong enough to win this fight
You are greater than the battle raging in my mind
I will trust You Lord, I will fear no more
I will lift my eyes, I will lift my cares
Lay them in Your hands, I’ll leave them there
When the wind and waves are coming, You shelter me
Even though I’m in the storm, the storm is not in me
No power can come against me ’cause You have overcome
No darkness can overwhelm me ’cause You’ve already won
No power can come against me ’cause You have overcome
No darkness can overwhelm me ’cause You’ve already won
You’re my courage when I worry in the dead of night
You’re my strength ’cause I’m not strong enough to win this fight
You are greater than the battle raging in my mind
I will trust You, Lord (trust you, Lord)
I will fear no more (fear no more)
Song: I Will Fear No More, by The Afters, Christian Pop Rock Band
Profound immorality and wickedness does.
“The world is stalked by relentless evil”
We see it every day on the news. We seem to see the dark side of people. There are very few ‘feel good’ stories of people doing things for each other. There are some who would blame God for everything that comes to pass, including evil. But God cannot be tempted with evil and doesn’t tempt us into it.James 1:13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.”
We are responsible for our actions.
The first account of evil was in the garden.Genesis 2:9says,“And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”We know that God told Adam and Eve not to touch the tree of knowledge, but good old Satan persuaded and tempted with cunning words that it would be ok. And there you have it the first evil deed which didn’t go unpunished, because God told Adam and Eve that since they disobeyed his instructions, they would have hardships. And so we have hardships.
As man multiplied so did wickedness.Genesis 6:5, “Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”This just broke God’s heart and so through Noah, God tried to purge the earth and start over. However, time and time again, man continued to bring sin to the forefront of his life and the evil continued.
Even to this day, and perhaps more so, there are those who call evil good and good evil. Who would have you believe that darkness is light and light is darkness. Everything is turned upside down. Some people attempt to make evil appear acceptable by calling it by another name. This is one of Satan’s oldest tactics(Genesis 3:4-5). Over the course of last year we’ve seen so much evil in riots, arson, looting and killing, and where is the chastisement. A lot of this has just been overlooked, as if it was right and normal. This is evil. People’s sin continues to get them into trouble and they want to bring everyone down with them.
My husband and I were recently in a shop and of course, due to Covid, the limit of customers were strictly adhered to. The limit was three. There were presently two people in the store and my husband and I opened the door to the store and one customer turned on us in a spitting rage, yelling and cursing at us and telling me, in particular, to get out that he didn’t want to die, as if I was going to give him the virus. He continued to spout his viciousness at the other person in the store, as well as the salesperson. I stayed outside and my husband remained at the door. The eyes of this man were red with anger, pure evil shooting out from them. I have seen evil in faces of people before and it has frightened me, as did this man. There was no reason for this person to speak the way he did, other than he was a tormented soul and the strain we are all under with the virus completely overtook him and was eating him up. This is what evil is and how Satan uses the most vulnerable to do his bidding.
Addressing the state of our hearts:What we desire — What we pursue — What we live for — and — Whether our hearts are set on things above, where Christ is, or on material things of this earth, is how we can combat the evil in the world we live in. When we have peace with God and Jesus as our Lord, we have nothing to be fearful of.
Fear can be the evil that can encompass us. Fear is the tyrant of the imagination – but the evil of Satan sits and watches. The more we fear life the weaker we become and the more vulnerable we are, the more easily he can overtake us. As humans are, at the core of our beings, there is the evil as God saw from the first fall of Adam and Eve and Satan in the garden.2 Timothy 1:7, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”We will have fear in our lives, but with God’s perfect will, we will have calm.
We’ve all seen the three monkeys: See no evil – hide your eyes from it. Hear no evil – close your ears to it. Speak no evil – keep a civil tongue and withhold saying vile and vicious things towards others. But there is also one more monkey to consider: Do no evil. We all know right from wrong, good from bad. So when we are on our daily travels, look to find the good things to do for others. Jesus speaks to those who align with Him. He said in,Luke 6:27, “But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who spitefully use you.”He gave us standards of behaviour, impossible to achieve if not for the Holy Spirit. As Christians we should respond to hatred with love and to antagonism with blessing. Because when you do, as Paul reminds us inRomans 12:20-21, “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” When you think about it, this doesn’t seem like something humans would do, because we think of getting back, but God’s got this. He hates evil and eventually He will be the one to repay. When we hate the evil, but love the evil doer, we really make them feel uncomfortable. It might just give them pause to think about what they are doing. No use in using evil to combat evil, it only causes more casualties. There is a heaven. There is a hell. Those who continue in their evil ways, are destined to hell, until they have a change of heart, for God will not let them get away with their rebellious ways.
The bible tells us(Revelation 5:11), there are and there will be, thousands upon thousands of saints, will you be one of them? You can start to change your ways and the way you see things with this short prayer.
Walk with the Lord Jesus daily and you can experience peace in this world of turmoil and be guaranteed a place in heaven.
