When we believe in God’s truth, it puts us in the middle of the battle of good versus evil. This daily devotional looks at how Satan and his lies work against God’s Truth.
Nuggets
- Evil is the exact opposite of God’s character and how He wants us to live our lives.
- Satan’s lies cover up the truth of how those pursuing evil live.
- Evil doers look for ways to pleasure themselves, but those ways are trouble in the end.
- We have to love good and despise evil.
Devotions in the What Is Truth? series
We know that Jesus is the Truth (Jn. 14: 6). Martin wrote, “The life of Jesus opposed and contradicted that which was false and wrong; and in this respect the truth was in Jesus.”
Ooo, baby. That has set up a battle between good and evil. What can we learn about that?
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Let's Put It into Context
God’s Truth is the gospel. It is the doctrine that produces faithfulness that leads to godliness. Godliness is an attitude of reverence that is promoted by walking in His Spirit.
Good, in the biblical sense, is the workings of God within His people. Evil is equated with sin because it is that which goes against God and His purposes.
Evil Makes Us Destitute while Good Saves Us
“Hear the word of the LORD, people of Israel, for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land: There is no truth, no faithful love, and no knowledge of God in the land!” (Hos. 4: 1 CSB)
We said in the last devotion that God’s Truth is faithfulness that leads to godliness. Here we have the opposite.
The kicker is God is not talking about the surrounding nations. He is talking about the people of Israel – His people.
Glossary
Hosea detailed three reasons why God had a case against the Israelites. They did not have the Truth, love, or knowledge of God.
I am sitting here wondering why these three terms are separated out. I can see the love being separated, but we are to have knowledge of the Truth.
What distinguishes these terms? Work with me through this.
If the Israelites didn’t have the Truth, they didn’t have God’s moral character. They didn’t have faith, goodness, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, kindness, and love. (Okay, that stick love back into the why-are-they-separated conundrum.)
To read a related devotion, click the appropriate button below.
In the King James Version, love is translated as mercy. God’s mercy is the unexpected way God responds in love to our needs.
Truth is what God is; mercy is what God does. Pusey wrote, “Truth takes in all which is right, and to which God has bound Himself; mercy all beyond which God does out of His boundless love.”
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Instead, the Israelites would be as the Homilist described them. It was written that they were “a people without reality, their very life a lie. No acts of beneficence performed, and the very spirit of kindliness extinct. The greatest, the holiest Being in the universe utterly ignored.”
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Really, they are violating all for which God stands.
But isn’t that true of evil/sin? Evil is the exact opposite of God’s character and how He wants us to live our lives.
Our perception of God all starts with knowledge. We gain this knowledge by hearing His Word, reading it, studying it, meditating on it, and memorizing it. All through that, we need to be in prayer, asking God to provide the meaning.
As we gain in knowledge, our hearts are opened to receive God. We receive God’s peace, mercy, and love at our center when we accept God’s salvation.
Using Our Words Against the Truth
“Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to speak lies; they wear themselves out doing wrong” (Jer. 9: 5 CSB)
Ummm. Is Jeremiah talking about today? People betray their friends. They betray their family. Lies are prevalent. People wear themselves out looking for their pleasure, which is opposite of how God wants us to live our lives.
The genesis of this is easy to determine. Satan is ruling this world right now. He is the father of liars.
Satan’s lies cover up the truth of how those pursuing evil live. Clark wrote, “Disgrace; loss of property; of all real friendship; of domestic affection; of the health and life; of self-respect and elevated companionship; all wait around a course of vice.” This moral depravity in reality is only going to promote misery.
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The hard thing is that this misery won’t know an end. That is, unless we ABCD.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Then the misery caused by evil will be cast out by the joy created by good.
How Does Evil Conceive Trouble?
“No one makes claims justly; no one pleads honestly. They trust in empty and worthless words; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity” (Isa. 59: 4 CSB)
Ooo, baby. Those are some words: “… they conceive trouble …” (Isa. 59: 4 CSB).
Don’t they hook up with the “… they wear themselves out doing wrong” (Jer. 9: 5 CSB) from the last verse?
Trouble? Wrong? Same difference.
Evil doers look for ways to pleasure themselves, but those ways are trouble in the end. It is that constant pursuit of worldly pleasures that keep us separated from God.
God doesn’t want us looking for evil. He wants us searching for and seeking Him.
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
That is the only way we find God and change our characters to match His.
Determined to Stand for the Truth
“They bent their tongues like their bows; lies and not faithfulness prevail in the land, for they proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take me into account. This is the LORD's declaration” (Jer. 9: 3 CSB)
If we look at this verse in the King James Version, it says “… but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth …” (Jer. 9: 3 KJV). God’s truth does not rule the earth; lies and unfaithfulness does.
I kind of like that word valiant. We see courageousness and the determination.
Doesn’t it take that to combat evil? Face it. Satan is going to be shooting at us both barrels.
It is not the time to go wimpy on Him. Yes, God will do the spiritual warfare for us, but that doesn’t mean we get a spa day.
We have to stick around for the decision-making process. Are we going to hold firm with God? Or are we cashing in and honking up with Satan?
It is an all-or-nothing decision. We can’t waffle back and forth. “Well, I’ll follow God Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday and Satan, Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday.”
We have to love good and despise evil. We have to be totally committed to following God’s laws and commandments and be fully submitted to His Will.
Oh, no. It isn’t going to be easy. There are going to be a lot of temptations flying around us. That will make us doubt ourselves.
Don’t do it. Stay true to the Truth.
Making the Connections
Let’s go at it from this direction. God says that He will never leave us.
That means the only thing that can — and will — separate God from us is sin. “But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear” (Isa. 59: 2 ESV).
Bottom of Form
Even though we are separated from God spiritually, that doesn’t mean God doesn’t have anything to do with us. We were just talking about Ahaz a couple of devotions ago.
We gave a list of what Ahaz had to do to conquer his sins.
- Stop the idol worship
- Break off the relationship with the Assyrian monarchy
- Return what he had appropriated from the temple treasure.
To read a related devotion, click on the appropriate button below.
Ahaz had all of those issues he needed to address — yet God was still talking with him. God was still providing for him and the nation of Israel.
That God used Ahaz did not give him a pass. Ahaz still had to ABCD.
Making the Connections to Self-Discipline
We have to actively resist evil. This takes a strength that we can only get from God. We get that strength as we seek Him.
How Do We Apply This?
Burroughs wrote that “the good or evil of the creature depends on man.” That tells me that it is our choice.
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We can follow God and be good. We can follow Satan and be evil.
We have to be consistently following His Will in prayerful obedience.
We have to truly know God. Pusey was getting at the fact that head knowledge is not heart knowledge. God can’t merely be an acquaintance. Pusey wrote, “We cannot know God in any respect unless we are so far made like unto Him.”
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Being made like Him takes work. It goes above and beyond being made in God’s image.
Gaskin outlined how we should go about that work.
- We must have a consistent plan to dig deeply into Scriptures so that we can meditate on them.
- We must let the truth in all the way down to the heart level.
- We must actively work to witness and fulfill the Great Commission.
- We must pray that the Holy Spirit move within our efforts to use them to fulfill God’s plan.
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Satan will do everything in his power to distort the truth for us. We need to learn God’s Truth and hold onto it.
Father God. Thank You that You are the Truth. You have provided it for us so that we can be restored to You. Help us to learn of You and follow Your laws and commandments. Amen.
What do you think?
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