Choose Love (23 page)

David said, “
It is God who arms me with strength, and makes my way perfect
…I have pursued my enemies and overtaken them; neither did I turn back again till they were destroyed” (Psalm 18:32,37).
God arms us and helps us in battle by enabling us to do what we cannot do without Him
.

God protects us from our enemy,
and He
teaches us
to pray through the attacks against us and to not give up until our enemy is defeated. Even when our enemy surrounds us, we can call upon the Lord and His name alone will deliver us.

We must separate ourselves from those who reject God and His ways. The psalmist said, “My soul has dwelt too long with one who hates peace” (Psalm 120:6).

The enemy often disguises himself, even as a type of quasi-believer. That is how cults are formed. Their beliefs seem
kind of right
, or
mostly right
, or
could be right
. And they appeal to those who want to be the
most right
of anyone. Be suspicious of any group promising they alone have special revelation from God that no one else has, or that only they have true revelation from God. Cults are built and established on these kinds of claims, and the people in them become blinded to the truth.

We can all be enticed into the world of the enemy that way if we are not diligent to keep our heart clean before the Lord. Remember, “
The heart is deceitful above all things”
(Jeremiah 17:9). God said He searches our heart and tests our mind and rewards us according to
what He finds (Jeremiah 17:10). There are those who
pretend
to be good, or
think
they are good but who are
not
, and God knows the truth about that.

Sometimes we are tested by God to see if we will join the wicked when they seem to be winning. For example, when the people around us serving evil are the popular ones, will we forsake God and align ourselves with them? We must never be weak in resisting evil. Every time we are faced with a choice, we must make the right one. And each day our choices must be clear. “The L
ORD
tests the righteous, but the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates” (Psalm 11:5).

God tests those He loves. We show love for God by passing each test.

When we do as the Bible says and love the Lord with all of our heart, soul, and strength, then we won’t fall for the lure of the enemy and will pass the test of whether we will resist him or not (Deuteronomy 6:5).

We have a choice every day as to what or who we lift up our souls to. Will it be an idol or will it be the Lord? David said, “To You, O L
ORD
, I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in You;
let me not be ashamed; let not my enemies triumph over me
” (Psalm 25:1-2). When we lift our soul to any form of idol, our enemy always triumphs.

Loving God means separating ourselves from the world’s value system and instead valuing the things of God above all else. It means listening for the voice of God over all other voices—including the voice of our own self-interest.

Ask God frequently to show you if there is any idol in your life to which you have lifted up your soul. You may be surprised at what He shows you. Even judging ourselves by the world’s image of how we should look or act can become an idol to us.

The Bible says we are not to “give place to the devil” (Ephesians 4:27). For example, if we truly love God, we will not look at things that are ungodly and opposed to His ways. When we do, it wounds
our spirit
and grieves
His
. If we fill our thoughts with the things of God, we will keep ourselves from allowing evil in. David said, “
I will set nothing wicked before my eyes
; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me.
A perverse heart shall depart from me
; I will not know wickedness” (Psalm 101:3-4). We must learn to say the same thing.

Even though David did at one point allow himself to think and view what was evil, it grieved him so painfully that he repented before God and paid an enormous price for his lack of judgment.

We have to make a conscious and ongoing effort to depart from all evil and do the right thing. Ask God to show you if there is anything in your life with which you have aligned your heart and from which you need to separate yourself. There is great freedom and relief when you do.

God never takes away our right to make bad choices. We have to choose to turn from living life on our own terms to living life on
His
.

Don’t Be Overwhelmed When Evil Prospers

We all see evil proliferating in the world every day. And just when we think we’ve seen it all, something even more unimaginably horrific happens. We observe ruthless people benefiting from bad deeds and we wonder,
How long will evil reign and profit?

David saw the same thing happening in his time and said,
“Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity.
For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb” (Psalm 37:1-2). Isn’t it comforting to know there will be an end to the evil we see? That’s why we must never covet their profits.

We wonder why the wicked flourish, but the Bible says it is so they will be destroyed forever (Psalm 92:7). God gives them a chance to turn back to Him, but when they refuse it is clear where they stand. God’s enemies
will
be destroyed because He is all-powerful, He will not be mocked, and He always has the last word (Psalm 92:8-9).

Instead of fretting over the evil, here are some things we can do in the meantime until the workers of evil are destroyed:

“
Trust in the L
ORD
, and do good
; dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness” (Psalm 37:3).

“Delight yourself also in the L
ORD
, and He shall give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

“Commit your way to the L
ORD
, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass. He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday” (Psalm 37:5-6).

“Rest in the L
ORD
, and wait patiently for Him
; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who brings wicked schemes to pass” (Psalm 37:7).