Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

See no, hear no, speak no evil

Wednesday, December 19, 2001

Psalm 71:3-6
Be my rock of refuge to which I can always go.
Give the command to save me,
for you are my rock and my fortress.
Deliver me, O my God, from the hand of the wicked,
fom the grasp of evil and cruel men.
For you have been my hope, O Sovereign Lord,
my confidence since my youth.
From birth I have relied on you.
You brought me forth from my mother's womb.
I will ever praise you.

Who better than God to deliver us from evil? Who could know evil's heart better than the one who tolerated its creation? So we ask, with sincere hearts, for God to fight with us, against the evil we see, we hear, we feel around us, the evil we cannot tolerate.

Bob Dylan, circa 1963, wrote a song expressing his own confusion about God's role in the struggles of his children. Here are some of the verses:

Oh my name it is nothin'

My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it

They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

If I can't be sure about what is evil, I can at least be sure about what is good. God is good. There may be few other certainties in the moral life, but I can rely on that one.

In the goodness that is God I find refuge. In that fortress, hiding in that rock - I rest, pray for direction, discover the goodness within me, learn to distinguish it from the evil that lies so close at hand.

Jesus, you are the way, the truth, the life. You are good. Come, Lord Jesus. Illuminate the shadows in my life.

Devotions Archive

See no, hear no, speak no evil

Wednesday, December 19, 2001