Evil is not so bad???
Scripture Read:
Judges 9:26–29 One day Gaal son of Ebed moved to Shechem with his brothers and
gained the confidence of the leading citizens of Shechem. 27 During the annual harvest festival at
Shechem, held in the temple of the local god, the wine flowed freely, and
everyone began cursing Abimelech. 28 “Who
is Abimelech?” Gaal shouted. “He’s not a true son of Shechem, so why should we
be his servants? He’s merely the son of Gideon, and this Zebul is merely his
deputy. Serve the true sons of Hamor, the founder of Shechem. Why should we
serve Abimelech? 29 If I were in charge here, I
would get rid of Abimelech. I would say to him, ‘Get some soldiers, and come
out and fight!’ ”
Application:
When sin rules, those involved find themselves at the mercy of circumstances.
Abimelech and the men of Shechem were deep in sin, and now that trend of
circumstance continues and brings another set of characters that intensify the
sinful circumstances. Gaal and Zebul become players. Gaal, as often is the
case, starts by speaking words he has not really measured. Sin has a loud and
braggadocios voice! We will see in the rest of this passage how sin drives the
circumstances to betray all involved. But first let’s meditate on how evil
works, I find that many misunderstand how it works. Many treat evil like an
appetite...once satisfied it will cease. Unlike the appetite of our body, even
though we can and do eat even after satisfied, at some point we have no choice
but to stop because it is physically impossible to take any more in.
Evil does
eat solely for taste, but it is a bottomless pit. In fact, once it has
tasted, its appetite expands exponentially! It will cobble everything up in its
path, spit out the bones and look for more. Evil is the deadliest disease in
the universe because it destroys both body and soul. Jesus warned His disciples
about evil
Matthew 16:6 And
Jesus said to them, “Watch out and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and
Sadducees.”
They misunderstood and then He explained:
Matthew 16:11
“How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning
bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12
Then they understood that He did not say to beware of the leaven of bread, but
of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
Why did Jesus warn them about the false teachings? Jesus
understood how evil works. Paul warns us also:
1 Corinthians 5:6
Your boasting is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens the
whole lump of dough?
Galatians 5:9 A
little leaven leavens the whole lump of dough.
Many times we think we can play around with evil. I know
sometimes I do...when I am foolish enough to play with evil...I become evil’s toy! It plays me and this fun is no fun! Wisdom
instructs us to stay far away from evil! By doing so our appetite for Holiness
will increase!
Remember: The
good things of life have to be paid for in advance while the evil things we do
are paid for, generally on the installment plan."
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