God and evil are not traveling companions. Speaking of God, Psalm 5 says, “evil will not sojourn with you.” The Message Bible translates that to say that God doesn't socialize with Wicked or invite Evil as a houseguest.
They aren’t cozy. God doesn’t pull up a chair for evil.
I wish I could say the same about us.
We know evil is wrong. But spend enough time around it, and you notice something. We trade contempt with contempt. We let resentment sound like righteousness. And we can become so determined to oppose evil that we stop noticing what it’s doing in us.
Paul’s later warning makes sense then. “Do not be overcome by evil” (Romans 12:21). Evil can overcome us even while we’re arguing against it.
So, what do we do with the pressure building in our souls?
The psalmist says, “Through the abundance of your steadfast love, I will enter your house, I will bow down toward your holy temple in awe of you.”
With God’s steadfast love as his starting point, he bows.
When was the last time you bowed before God?
Trust me, I know knees and backs hurt. I encourage you to bow in spirit, if that's all you can do. But maybe we should bow more. Not just at a communion railings or another prescribed time in church.
At home, before the day gets rolling, we could lower ourselves before God and let our bodies help us pray, “Lord, I need your love to shape what happens in me today.”
Bowing won’t make evil disappear. It can help you face cruelty without surrendering to it. As you rise, you remember whose love holds you and whose way you follow.
Yes, there is evil to resist. But there is also a soul to tend. Yours.
Stay blessed...john
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