GOD DOES NOT DELIGHT IN EVIL by Jimmy Yang
“You are not a God who take pleasure in evil, with you the wicked cannot dwell “ Ps 5 :4
God hates those who are wicked. In Ps 1, we see that the righteous delights in the law of God and mediate on it day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water and bears fruits in season. The wicked however is not like this and the way of the wicked will perish. Ps 36 describes three characteristics of a wicked person. In verse 1, we see that the wicked does not fear God. We have to fear God and ponder about our eternal future so that we can keep his words. It is when we keep sinning and our sin has become fully grown leading to death (James 1:15) and our heart is hardened, that we will no longer fear God. We will not have the heart to repent. We should subdue our evil desires so that we will not sin and in the end lead to wickedness and be rejected by God.
The second characteristic of the wicked is recorded in Ps 36 :2-3. The wicked thinks that God won’t detect his sin. He has ceased to be wise and to do good. This type of person will not pursue after wisdom and do good. God gave us grace. He hopes that we can use it to glorify him. There will be times when we are weak and do wrong, but since we know the word of God, we repent and God will forgive and continue to give grace. The wicked is different however, he will think that he is right. The type of person’s spiritual life will not grow and will die. There will be no chance for him to repent.
The third characteristic of the wicked is that he plots evil. (Ps 36:4) The wicked disregard the precious grace that God died for us. The Holy Spirit leads him but he despises the Holy Spirit and diminishes the moving of the spirit. He does evil on purpose, for this type of person there will be no chance of repentance.
In Mt 7:21-23, only those who obey the words of God can enter the kingdom of heaven. Those who do not obey are the wicked. Our conduct determines whether we are righteous or wicked. Paul say that he needs to force his body to submit to himself so that he would not be rejected in the last days, (1Cor 9:27) even though he has done a lot of work for God. We need to be instructed by the law of God so that we may know his will. (Rom 2:18) And to keep his words, we need to ask the help of the Holy Spirit. We have to be watchful and put the word of God in our hearts so we can discern right and wrong. Refrain from being a wicked person, as the wicked cannot dwell in God.
Reflections :
What should you do so that you would not become a wicked person ?
Count the grace you have received from God, have you made good use of them ?
Are there times when you ignore the moving of the Holy Spirit and acted on your own will ?