Beloved: grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord. I am delighted to welcome you to the month of March 2023. My prayer is that God will build you up to be someone He can always rely on to restrain or judge wickedness wherever you are, so that His righteousness may reign there, in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Now judging wickedness or people’s misconduct is not always an easy task, even in the church of God. That is because people often frown at it or resist it. However, it is something that must regularly happen, if our society will be healthy and safe for us to dwell in. And it is only those who are always ready to judge evil and misconduct in lawful ways that can be God’s true leaders, whether in matters of this world or those of the church.
Solomon, in his book, Ecclesiastes, says this to us: “When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.” (Eccl 8:11NIV) Did you see that? If people are misbehaving and no one will rightly punish them for their misbehaviour, they and others who see them getting away with their wickedness will surely be strengthened to misbehave even more. And if the situation continues like that, at some point, God will have to step in to judge the wicked Himself.
For example, there was a time that the men of Israel that Moses brought out of Egypt began to indulge in sexual immorality with the women of Moab. And these women took advantage of the situation to lure them into idol worship. Therefore, God sent a plague among them to destroy them. Why? It was because no one addressed or judged the matter when it got stated. If someone had addressed and judged it when it all started, then, there would not have been many of the men that would participate in the nonsense and God would not have had to step in.
In any case, by the time Moses woke up to judge the matter, many people had already lost their lives. And even while he was still addressing the judges among the people to investigate the matter and deal with those involved, a son of one of the leaders brought a Moabite woman into his tent right before their eyes in order to commit sexual immorality with her. That, as I said before, is usually what happens when people are misbehaving and no one is calling them to order. They will become more daring to do worse things. (Cf. Num 25)
Thankfully, there was a young priest that would not allow the nonsense going on in the land to continue. That was Phinehas, the grandson of Aaron. This man took a javelin, went after that stubborn Israelite and killed him and his partner right where they were committing their wickedness. And when he did that, as the account further shows, the plague immediately stopped. Then God said these words of commendation about him to Moses:
“Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, has turned my anger away from the Israelites; for he was as zealous as I am for my honor among them, so that in my zeal I did not put an end to them. Therefore tell him I am making my covenant of peace with him. He and his descendants will have a covenant of a lasting priesthood, because he was zealous for the honor of his God and made atonement for the Israelites.” (Num 25:11-13NIV)
Did you see that? God said that Phinehas was the reason He did not destroy all the Israelites for their sin at that time. How? According to God, Phinehas made atonement for the sins of the people by judging that man and his partner in their sin. So, when we duly judge wrongdoing or any kind of wickedness, we are in a sense making atonement for our people and preventing God’s judgment from falling on us all. And just as God honoured Phinehas on that occasion, He will honour us too.
Therefore, wherever you are in a position to judge evil or condemn people’s wrongdoings, don’t hesitate to do so. Yes, those involved, even in the church, may condemn you or call you names for doing so. But you have to do what you have to do. Otherwise, like Eli who failed to judge the wickedness of his sons, you will be inviting God to judge the matter Himself. Who, then, knows how he will judge?
Have a glorious week.
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