Evil prevails
Another lie about God subsists within belief about the devil. Popular Christian culture has made itself okay with the following statements: “this world is evil;” “our hope is in heaven alone;” “this is the hour of darkness.” And that darkness blankets this physical earth, giving evil the upper hand, sentencing this planet to doom. We, then, are to just wait it out, so to speak, knowing evil prevails here, but when we die, ah!
No, no, no. Bring the focus from this quite ugly macro to the precious micro! Learn how to see the light of God, the movement of God, the intervention of God, the control of God. And once we see those points of light, then, yes, go ahead and move back out to that macro level and look again! See the inferno of light! This world is God’s! Every blade of grass, every grain of sand, every cell of every creature. It is God’s. We want to posit that a mere devil can remove this from the hand and care of God!?
Come into my eleventh year of life. I was in the midst of many adults who were degrading themselves and abusing me. The situation does not matter. What does matter is what was going on in my mind, my heart, my soul. Yes, my body fell victim to this horrible scene, but I distinctly remember thinking how stupid these adults looked, how silly their particular beliefs were, how sick, how sad. That, those thoughts, that recognition was the intervention of God, and with that thought came a flow of grace so powerful it wrapped itself around the core of my being and protected me. Remember our verse from yesterday…
“They attacked me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord came to my support.” (Psalm 18:19)
In no way does God stop saving this world that belongs to Him! Redemption continues, powerfully so! We need only to learn to see.
Reflection
In what ways did you realize what was being done to you was wrong? Spend time with the truth that this knowing was God within you. What else are you aware of this knowledge enabling you to do, even as your suffering continued?
Prayer
Dear God, I wanted you to end my suffering. That’s where I wanted to find You — by ending it! I wanted this so badly (and I still do) that I am not seeing how You are HERE, then and now. Help me to continue to sit here under the Juniper and consider this. Help me to just be here with You. No devil has control. You do. You have always had my back.
This is God’s world. He has no intention of giving it up.