Psalm 34:21

Psalm 34:21

            “Evil shall slay the wicked; and those who hate the righteous will be condemned.”

            I have been thinking of these words for several months now, but have not put anything in writing about them until now.  This word from the psalmist does not say that God will slay the sinner.  It says, instead, that the practice of evil will itself bring about death and destruction.  The “thief” comes to “kill, steal and destroy.”  God’s way of righteous living will bring with it the benefits of “life to the full.”  Someone has written that “live spelled backwards comes out evil.”  So living in evil is the opposite of life?  I think God’s answer would be “YES.”  Emphatically.

            Perhaps an example from Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings gives an insight into the working of evil in a person’s life.  The most pitiable character in the book to me is Gollum.  Having access to the Ring of Power for so many years, when that power is essentially the concentrated evil of Sauron, the Dark King, did two things to Gollum.  It extended the extent of his life many years beyond the normal years of a man (hobbit).  But it also robbed him of any quality of life, draining him of his relationships, his light, his humanity, and, ultimately, taking him to his destruction in the fires of Mount Doom when both he and the Ring were destroyed. 

            The only source of real life is Jesus, the Lord of Life.  “He that has the Son [Jesus] has life . . .”  Without Him we are storing up destruction for ourselves.  Indeed, we are already “dead in trespasses and sins.”  Only when we come to Him can we begin to really live.

            We have before the way of death, evil, and the way of life, Jesus.  Which do we choose?