Call Evil to Account

 

“Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.”

—Psalm 10:15

Looking around in our present world it often appears that evil is winning. There is so much corruption and evil prevailing around us that it is easy to lose sight of the fact that God is still in charge. We can become quite easily discouraged by the coarseness of our society and the godless ways in which people treat each other. Then, of course, there is the hyper-sexuality, drug addiction, broken marriages, damaged families, hurtful relationships, corruption in government, and a host of other problems that seem to plague our age.

In the time of great distress, where the prevalence of evil seems almost overwhelming, it is appropriate to turn to God and share with Him the sorrow we feel. That is exactly what the Psalmist did, as recorded in Psalm 10. This is his lament that begins:

Why, Lord, do you stand far off? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble? In his arrogance the wicked man hunts down the weak, who are caught in the schemes he devises.

Having poured out his lament to God, the Psalmist seems to become buoyed in his spirit and transitions to a prayer for justice that includes these words from Psalm 10:15:

Break the arm of the wicked and evil man; call him to account for his wickedness that would not be found out.

We may not always feel comfortable praying such a prayer. But, we could also say: “Good enough for the Psalmist, good enough for us.” Of course, we want to pray for the salvation of all those who seem consumed by evil. Yet, when God does act to bring justice, we should not be at all surprised.

As we begin a new day, let’s not forget that God remains in charge of all things. He also is a holy God and a God of justice. While He does extend mercy to those ones He draws to Himself, He also metes out justice to those who persist in evil. It’s important for us to not be surprised when God does act, even if His justice may seem harsh to some. He will, from time to time, remind all people that He is all-powerful and holy.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

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Can We Really Claim This Verse?

 

“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

—Jeremiah 29:11

One of the somewhat annoying things that happens, as we become more and more familiar with the Bible, is that we find people quoting verses out of context. But recently, I’ve begun to wonder if when we study the context we might actually discover that the way God has acted in the past may well be the way He will act in the present. Here’s an example from a familiar and oft-quoted verse is found in Jeremiah 29:11, which reads:

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

What’s the context for this verse? To whom does it apply? Can we claim this verse as our own today? Let’s look at the context.

Jeremiah acts in his prophetic role at the beginning of Chapter 29 of the Book that bears his name. He reports that God has given him a very specific message for the children of Israel, who are in captivity in Babylon. Jeremiah sends this message to them in a letter. About one-third of the way into the letter, we find these words from God, as recorded in Jeremiah 29:10-14:

This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

“Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”

Clearly, the frequently quoted verse eleven applies to these Jews in captivity in Babylon. God states that He has a plan for them and promises to care for them. We can rightly ask ourselves:

“Does this verse only apply in this specific situation? Or, does it give us some potent clues about the nature of God and the way He interacts with those He loves and has called to Himself?”

I believe that the latter is truer than the former. God illustrates the way He intends to show His love to those who belong to Him. God has a distinct way of relating to not only these exiled Israelites, but also to we “Christ’s-ones” whom He has called to Himself. And, are we not living in a time of “exile” where sin abounds and followers of Jesus are besmirched by a society that wants to heap scorn on us? We “Christ’s-ones” have been grafted into the Jewish birth-line (Romans 11:11-24). Therefore, these words of God belong to us, too.

Stuart Hamblen certainly understood this concept of the consistency of God’s love toward His dear children when he wrote the following song in response to Hamblen’s life transformation during the 1949 Billy Graham Crusade in Los Angeles, California. The chorus of this song ¹ makes it clear that our God is One we can trust to do for us what He has done for others:

It is no secret what God can do.
What He's done for others, He'll do for you.
With arms wide open, He'll pardon you.
It is no secret what God can do.

As we begin a new day, let’s not quibble over the nature of God. Rather, let’s learn from what He has revealed about Himself in Scripture. Let’s recognize that God behaves consistently toward those whom He loves and whom He has called to belong to Himself. We can rejoice in this consistency and revel in His mercy, grace, and abiding love.

______________________

1 Hamblen, Stuart. “It Is No Secret What God Can Do.” Santa Clara, CA: Hamblen Music Company, 1950. Citation of Copyrighted material is made on this blog post for Educational Fair Use illustration purposes only. All Rights Reserved by the original Copyright Holder.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

All Things New

 

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”

—Isaiah 65:17

One of the joys of a new year comes when we turn a page and see before us 365 blank pages on which to write a new history of our lives. We put aside the trials and discouragements of the previous year and we move forward with great hope that tomorrow will be much better than yesterday. Even when we have problems that persist in our lives, there is something about the beginning of a new year that gives us hope. And, that is a very good characteristic of a new year. It always seems like it is a time of new beginnings.

For “Christ’s-ones”—those who believe in the life-transforming power of the living Lord Jesus Christ—we have the promise of a new beginning always before us. God is the God of New Beginnings. Just as He has washed away our sin with the blood of His one and only Son, Jesus, so He will continually renew us in our inner being. The Holy Spirit offers daily refreshment for our souls. Speaking through the Prophet Isaiah, God also promises the ultimate in new beginnings when He transforms our current sin-filled world into an ever-new eternal Kingdom. Notice what God says, as recorded in Isaiah 65:17:

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”

As Christians, our hope not only rests in the beginning of each new year, it also resides in our hope for eternity. God is, even now, preparing us for an eternal life where all things will become new. Let’s cling to that hope, as we begin this new day, this new month, and especially this new year.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

God Declares His Name

 

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

—Revelation 1:8

Whether or not you’ve spent a lifetime in church, or just walked through life immersed in cultural references, you’ve likely heard of the phrase “the burning bush.” In case you’re not familiar with this incident in the life of the Patriarch Moses, let me share it with you from Exodus 3:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”

When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

And God said, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”

Moses said to God, “Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

God also said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’

“This is my name forever, the name you shall call me from generation to generation.

“Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt. And I have promised to bring you up out of your misery in Egypt into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites—a land flowing with milk and honey.’

“The elders of Israel will listen to you. Then you and the elders are to go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Let us take a three-day journey into the wilderness to offer sacrifices to the Lord our God.’ But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will stretch out my hand and strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.

“And I will make the Egyptians favorably disposed toward this people, so that when you leave you will not go empty-handed. Every woman is to ask her neighbor and any woman living in her house for articles of silver and gold and for clothing, which you will put on your sons and daughters. And so you will plunder the Egyptians.”

One of the most interesting aspects of this incident in Moses’ life—at least interesting to me—occurs when Moses asks God what God’s name is. That’s a reasonable thing to do. We are known by our name. Think about it. Even the people who know us the very best, identify us by our names. In fact, our names are a short-form abbreviation for our reputation. If people know us by our name, they also associate our reputations with those names.

So, if God is sending Moses to make an almost unbelievable request of the Egyptians, to whom the people of Israel are enslaved, it is quite understandable that Moses wants to identify the One sending him on this scary assignment. By reporting the name of the One who has sent him, Moses can somewhat insulate himself from at least part of the wrath that will surely result from this request.

God’s answer to Moses is equally fascinating to me. God says, as recorded in Exodus 3:14:

“I am who I am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

Ponder God’s answer for just a moment. God identifies Himself as:

“I am who I am.”

In other words:

“I am the person I have always been, the person that I am at this present moment, and the person I always will be for all eternity.”

In these few short words, God declares His eternal existence. As difficult as it may be for our poor finite minds to comprehend, God has always been who He is. And, He will always be who He is, as time reaches out toward eternity.

Throughout Scripture, God affirms His name:

“I am who I am.”

In speaking to the Apostle John, God makes this statement found in Revelation 1:8:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

You probably realize that the letters Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the New Testament Koine Greek alphabet. Just as young pre-school children learn to say: “A, B, C, D, E, F, G …” so young children in the first century A.D. learned to say: “Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta, Theta, Iota, Kappa, Lambda, Mu, Nu …” all the way to “Omega.” By identifying Himself with the beginning and ending of the New Testament Koine Greek alphabet, God illustrates, in a very concrete way, that He is both the beginning and ending of all things.

Then, God seals this description by repeating a phrase similar to the phrase He used with Moses:

“ …who is, and was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Effectively, God says to John:

“Let there be no confusion. I am the one and only true God. I created all things and by my hand all things exist. When I speak to you in the moments that lie ahead, you can count on the truthfulness and accuracy of what I have to say.”

As we continue to move further into another year on the calendar, let’s remain conscious of the fact that in this time of transition—and in every moment of every day of our lives, both now and in the life to come—God is still the same. He has always been, He is now, and He ever will be. He created us. He sustains us. He loves us. He extends His grace to us. He grants us His mercy. That reality should become the anchor point of our lives.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Un-yielded Glory

 

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

—Isaiah 42:8

One thing we learn from the earliest study of Scripture is that God protects the glory of His name and will not yield that glory to any other person or any other thing. That’s why it is so important to understand that the glory Jesus receives comes only because He is, in fact, God the Son. Jesus not only bears the image of God—the imago Dei—He is God. As the second person of the Holy Trinity, Jesus has all of the attributes of God, the One in Three.

Jesus declared this when He said, as recorded in John 10:30:

“I and the Father are one.”

It should come as no surprise that centuries before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the Prophet Isaiah declared these words from God in Isaiah 42:8:

“I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not yield my glory to another or my praise to idols.”

God retains His glory. He does not yield it to another. That’s why our modern practice of making so many other things, or people, “gods” has such a destructive manifestation in our society. Nothing steals God’s glory. Not sports, nor houses, nor cars, nor family, nor—you can name whatever you wish. Nothing steals God’s glory.

So, at the beginning of this new day in this New Year, we should determine to remember that God must have the first place in our hearts and minds. He must always be preeminent. His glory cannot be shared and will not be shared.

God retains His glory. We bask in the Light of His divine Presence because He has chosen us before the foundation of the earth to belong to Himself. He sheds His mercy, grace, and love on us in great abundance. And, the reflection of His glory surrounding us directs our pathway.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Another New Beginning

 

“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”

—Ecclesiastes 9:10

Many years ago, when I was an eight-year-old boy back in 1955, my father gave me a small pocket perpetual calendar that he recieved as a bonus gift for renewing a well-regarded scientific magazine. This perpetual calendar allowed one to examine the days and dates of any particular month from the mid-1700s through the year 2024. From the vantage point of 1955, the year 2024 seemed like an inconceivable period of time in the far-distant future.

I have faithfully carried that calendar in my wallet for all of these intervening years. Fifty years ago, I had it laminated so that it could stand the wear-and-tear of time. Just today, I finally removed this perpetual calendar from my wallet because it no longer applies. The year 2024 has come to an end.

Now, as another new year begins, please seriously consider heeding these wise words found recorded in Ecclesiastes 9:10:

Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.

For followers of the Lord Jesus Christ, the realm of our death will be the eternity that God has provided for us through the birth, life, suffering, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension of His precious Son, our Savior, Lord, and King. Nevertheless, while we are alive on this earth, the admonition of the Scripture passage quoted above still applies. We do well whenever we apply ourselves to the tasks that God gives us with the strength and determination of all our might. Doing so will honor the trust that God has placed in us.

 

_{Blog Post Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Study in Contrasts

 

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

—James 3:16

The Bible is chock full of contrasts. Basically, the Scriptures describe the war that rages between God—who represents eternal righteousness, goodness—and love, and Satan, who represents everything that is the opposite of God—evil, deceit, hatred, enmity, anger, and so much more.

That Satan began as one of God’s most favored angels is far more than ironic. As C. S. Lewis describes in his magnificent little book, Mere Christianity, Satan wanted to be God without God.

Satan had organized a significant number of other angels to follow his lead. Because of Satan’s defiance of God’s authority, God essentially banished Satan to earth, along with the angels who had followed him. Thus, when God created humans, Adam and Eve, Satan—and his legions of demons—was already present to reap as much destruction as possible.

The whole condemning element for Satan, and for us, as well, is that summary written by Lewis: Satan wanted to be God without God. And, in our state of sinful rebellion, we, too, want to be the god in our lives without God. Thus, our very existence is fraught with conflict: the righteousness of an eternal, holy, and loving God vs. the sinful, selfish, temporal, hate-filled life we lead when God is not present within us.

The Apostle James summarized this state of being quite succinctly when he wrote these words found in James 3:16:

For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.

Without the Presence of God in our lives, we are envious and selfish. This envy and selfishness leads to a warped ambition that, in turn, leads to disorder and every evil practice. One of the blessed aspects of the Incarnation is that the Lord Jesus Christ brought divine order to the chaos of our sin-filled lives. Through this magnificent gift of God’s mercy, grace, and love, we have the possibility of banishing chaos forever and fully embracing peaceful order in our daily lives.

As we think about what God has so graciously done for us this day, let’s praise Him that He is One who created and sustains a straightened pathway for our lives. He brings order. He brings peace. He brings our redemption from the penalty of sin. He does all these things for one reason: He loves us with His eternal, unfailing, undying love.

 

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