Friday, July 16, 2021
One May Expect Goodness to Simply Be There Tomorrow
But the Dark Clouds on the Horizon
Bear the Truth of Evil’s Power
It is Always at Work
God still Always
Wins
Psalm 142:6
Give heed to my cry, for I am brought very low. Save me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me.
Luke 20:38
Now God is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.
Words of Grace For Today
When I think of those who have persecuted and falsely prosecuted me, I think of what Martin Luther King Jr. called God’s double victory. Both that our persecutors and evil prosecutors will stop doing the evil they do against us, that God’s justice will be done; and that our persecutors and evil prosecutors will be won over to serve God and live abundantly. Which leads me to think that if God has not ended them yet, and they still continue the evil the do so easily, often and effectively, then it is because God still believes in them. God still believes that they could be converted from enemies of God into children of God.
That’s quite a transformation for my enemies, who are too strong for me! It is almost beyond imagination that those who delighted so in planning their persecution of me (who are recorded in their glee speaking to each other) and told me that they did it just because they could, and who so easily lied and twisted reality into a Kafkaesque nightmare, a twilight zone of their own making … it is hard to imagine that these people could confess, repent (turn about towards doing good), and serve God alone.
Yet this is God’s promise for us all: that God is abounding in steadfast love, slow to anger, and that all people (no matter when or what we or they have done) are still alive!
It is comfort to know that God protects us, no matter how low we are brought by evil, no matter if we think there is no lower we can be forced. God certainly does not protect us from the effects of our enemies sins, nor protect us so that we remain alive on this earth even. God protects us, walks with us, and promises us that we will never be dead to God!
If God is for us so much so that to God we will always be alive, there is nothing that can destroy us or make us fear the power of evil more than we trust the promises of God.
Yet we pray Give heed to our cries, for we are brought very low. Save us from our persecutors, for they are too strong for us.
God sends help in the most extraordinary and unexpected ways, through the most surprising people. Watch it all with eyes wide, hearts open, and minds a-boggling; yet there is God at work!
Now it’s our turn to be the surprise of God’s good works giving life abundant to others, overcoming the work of evil that destroys.