There are two readings for today.
SCRIPTURE: Psalm 140
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
They make their tongues as sharp as a serpent’s; the poison of vipers is on their lips. [Psalm 140:3]
David is struggling with some extremely wicked people.
He is surrounded by them, they are scheming against him.
Their words are cruel, poisonous, deadly, like viper’s venom.
He looks to God for mercy and help.
Keep me safe, LORD, from the hands of the wicked; protect me from the violent, who devise ways to trip my feet. [Psalm 140:4]
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. [Matthew 12:33-35]
Are there people like this, extremely wicked and cruel, the offspring of vipers?
Notice who Jesus is speaking to, the religious leaders!
Their words are poison because their hearts are poison.
Their actions are the overflow of the state of their inner being.
For me today the lesson I draw from this is that there are such people, even if I have never met them.
I hear stories of cruel, wicked, violent, mean people, and their victims.
The idea that all people are good just doesn’t fit with the facts.
All people are created by God, and all people have God’s law imprinted on their heart and therefore all people will one day have to stand before Him [Romans 2:14-16].
But some people resist or refuse God, and give themselves over to evil, while others resist or refuse evil and strive to live according to God’s law (if they realize it or not).
Their words and actions are the overflow of their heart.
God is not responsible for the evil that fills the world, people are.
But He has not abandoned us to our own devices; He is committed to restoring goodness and protecting the weak.
Those whose hearts are set on justice and truth and goodness can take comfort in the fact that God is on their side.
I know that the LORD secures justice for the poor and upholds the cause of the needy. Surely the righteous will praise your name, and the upright will live in your presence. [Psalm 140:12]
PRAYER:
Lord, remind me of the suffering of people all over the world, and to join with them in their desperate plea for mercy and help. May my heart be set on justice and truth and goodness, and may I become an advocate for the weak and oppressed. Like You!