Today’s Devotion
Topic: There Are Benefits To Fearing God
Text: Ecclesiastics 8: 8, 12
8 As no one has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has power over the time of their death. As no one is discharged in time of war, so wickedness will not release those who practice it. 12 Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before Him. Amen
Sometimes we compare until we conclude that it is not fair anymore, how to us, “wicked” people seem to prosper and live long while the righteous appear hit by too many obstacles for comfort.
We will always feel justified about this position until we remember that, there’s a God in heaven who is Just. He does not condone iniquity. He gives the wicked a long rope to repent, hoping that our lives will serve as an example to them. But the righteous must understand that, they are not battered because God is unjust but because they are righteous. Evil does not only perverse itself the more, it also fights righteousness and does everything to obstruct the way of the righteous.
Jesus explains this better in John 15: 18- 22. He said “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated Me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
That is why the world hates you. Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent Me.”
Is it not better then Child of God, that we keep our eyes fixed on Christ and our focus on the prize as we journey through life rather than concern ourselves about the seeming “prosperity” of the wicked; especially now that we know that, “Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all” (Ps 34: 19).
As for the wicked, pray for them and witness the love of Christ to them as well. Those who listen will be saved. But let those who will not know that “as no one is discharged in the time of war, so will wickedness not release those who practice it”. One day, their own wickedness will catch up with them.
Begin to pray now. Pray that your faith does not fail in the face of these many adversities you might be going through right now. This is because, although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, IT WILL ALWAYS GO BETTER WITH THOSE WHO FEAR GOD. THOSE WHO ARE REVERENT BEFORE HIM. See you at church!
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