How Should We Live When The Times are Evil
Jun 18, 2019 11:24:18 GMT -5
fearnot and oliverwithatwist like this
Post by Cindy on Jun 18, 2019 11:24:18 GMT -5
“Therefore the prudent man keeps quiet in such times, for the times are evil.” (Amos 5:13) Did you notice that this verse is in the news feed at the top of the board, after 1 Peter 4:7–8? “The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear minded and self-controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:7–8) This commentary explains Amos 5:13 well:
keeps quiet—not mere silence of tongue, but the prudent shall keep himself quiet from taking part in any public or private affairs which he can avoid: as it is “an evil time,” and one in which all law is set at naught. Eph 5:16 “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” refers to this. Instead of impatiently agitating against irremediable evils, the godly wise will not cast pearls before swine, who would trample these, and rend the offerers (Matthew 7:6), but will patiently wait for God’s time of deliverance in silent submission. “I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.” (Psalm 39:9) Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The reason I'm showing you the commentary is so you'll know that what's said isn't just my idea, but has been explained this way for many years by scriptural teachers and pastors. So what this is saying is that we shouldn't get all worked up over the evils being done today, or try to make others agree with us that these things are evil and that what we say is good, because their hearts are hardened and they won't ever agree with us. Of course that's speaking about the vast majority of people, not the occasional person who comes and actually asks us to help them understand what we believe about this or that, and why. For those who show a true interest in the truth, which are those who don't spend their time arguing against the truth, it's fine to explain the gospel and why these things are happening now. That's what Eph 5:16 is speaking about. We have to discern who is worthy of the great pearls of truth we have to offer. But let me quote that verse in context for you: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16) To further clarify, when I say the vast majority of people's hearts are hardened and won't ever agree with us, I'm speaking about those people who generally hang out in apologetic forums or go to many different sites, only to post the same arguments to supposedly prove that what we believe or the Bible itself is wrong. These are the people who aren't really interested in the Truth. They've had the Truth shared with them numerous times, but have continued to be argumentative and disregard anything said to them. You can find these people in "real life" as well, doing the same things "in person" instead of or in addition to, on line.
This verse in Amos is saying though, that rather than getting worked up about the evil that's happening, or who's president or who should be or shouldn't be, or anything else, we should be simply acknowledging to ourselves that all these things are in God's hand and He is in complete control. It does no good for us to get all riled up about any of it, for as the Lord tells us, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.” (Psalm 37:8–9) I love Psalm 37 because of this, so whenever I begin to get upset about the goings on of today, I read this psalm; for the whole psalm is all about these two verses. The NT puts it this way: “for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:20) Both Old and New Testament verses show us that we shouldn't allow ourselves to get all riled up about the evil that's going on today. When we do, then we're actually adding to the evil instead of being righteous like the Lord wants us to be. Now that's a scary one to chew on, isn't it?
This is again why God says not to get involved with conspiracy theories. Not because they're not true, but because they generate anger and fear, both in the one reading or hearing about them and the one telling about them. Both anger and fear are sins against God because both emotions show a lack of trust in His love for us and in His sovereignty. There are many verses all through the Bible that tell us that God is sovereign and nothing happens unless He allows it or causes it to happen. For example: “When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?” (Amos 3:6) “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7) “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” (Acts 4:28)
Job shows us that getting angry about this only hurts ourselves: “You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?” (Job 18:4) It's saying in other words, that our anger is tearing us apart, and that "in our anger, do we expect God to do things our way, as though we know better then He does?"
Immediately after telling us to keep quiet about the evil, God says, “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.” (Amos 5:14) This is very important, especially for us today as we can apply these verses to our lives. (I mean Amos 5:13-14) When we constantly read or listen to the news (evil reports) and conspiracy theories, and other things that show us the evil that's going on now, what we're actually doing is "seeking evil". We're looking for it, and inputting that evil into our minds. That's one thing we're to guard against doing! Remember: “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” (Proverbs 23:7) and “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” (Proverbs 27:19)
We need to input good to have righteousness within us. The Lord gives us three beautiful verses to show us what kind of things we should be seeking to put into our minds. (well, there's also a bunch of verses that tell us the major thing we should input is His Word!) “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17) The phrase about good fruit reminds us of Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22–23) And of course you're familiar with the other one: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) If what we're reading of listening to causes us to think and feel the things in this verse, then it's something we should be putting in our mind. Sadly, we don't find any of the things from any of these verses in reports or conversations about the president, politics, conspiracy theories, etc. So the Lord wants us to be looking for good things to put in our minds, not negative things. This would include about other people we know, family, etc. as well as world events, politicians etc.
He isn't saying that we should be ignorant about what's going on in the world, or that we should never listen to or read the news. Not at all. But we don't have to seek it out constantly or regularly. The term the Bible uses about this is that we shouldn't dwell on it. For example, I can listen or read the news once a week and get a good idea of what's going on; and honestly, even only listening to it that often it's pretty much all the same stuff, only occasionally with a new face on it. I certainly don't have to read or listen to everything I can find about it in order to know what's going on. Besides that, God told us what was going to happen and what the world would be like and what the people would be like during this time. The news only confirms those things. So why should I constantly listen or read about something I'm already aware of. Knowing all the juicy details is only going to put more evil in my mind, it's certainly not going to help me in any way. See what I mean? By the way, using myself as an example, I didn't mean that no one should watch or read the news more then once a week. That's just how I deal with it. (In fact, sometimes I don't watch it for several weeks!) I figure the world is going to get along just fine without me knowing every little dirty detail.
I've even begun to feel that way about all the false teaching. While we certainly have to be discerning, I've realized that there's no way I can warn everyone about every single false teacher. Plus, I've also realized that I'm perfectly capable of watching a "Christian movie", seeing the errors, and yet still enjoy the movie! Because I know the Truth, I can actually make the movie mean more to me by remembering the truth that they're not speaking in it. So should I warn others not to watch it? I don't think so. Not unless they ask me anyway. God wants us each to be discerning. So while it's my job in a sense to warn "newbies" especially, (baby Christians), it's really up to each person to know the Truth so well that they can easily discern the errors for themselves. I guess I've just begun to trust the Holy Spirit a whole lot more, because I know He will warn every person that's truly saved about any false teacher or false teaching that they may have inadvertently gotten into. While He can and does at times use people like me to warn them, my job isn't to warn everyone, but to teach the truth, wait on Him, and warn those He tells me to, when He tells me to. So that's what I've been trying to do lately.
Anyway, the next verse, Amos 5:15, then tells us to "hate evil and love good". What do you do when you hate someone? Do you seek them out? No, you avoid them as much as possible! If you hate a certain food, you certainly don't eat it constantly, you avoid it. If you love someone, then you seek them out and spend as much time as you possibly can with them. If you love a food, you eat it as much as you can. Etc. The same goes for evil and good. If we hate evil, we will avoid it. If we love good, we will spend as much time around it as possible; reading about it, listening about it, etc. Sadly, Amos 5:13–15 is something most of us need to work on a great deal! Lest we think that these three verses are the only places God tells us these things, we need to think again, because they're repeated all through the old and new testament! Let me add a few more admonitions from the Lord about this to us: ““Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread,” (Isaiah 8:12–13) By the way, 1 Peter 3:14 quotes part of that verse! Then there's: “Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.” (Jeremiah 51:46) What's interesting about this last one is that the word translated "rumor" in this verse, also means "news" or "report" or you could even say "a news report"! That immediately brings to my mind what Jesus told us: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” (Matthew 24:6) There are many more, but I'll let you find more on your own.
keeps quiet—not mere silence of tongue, but the prudent shall keep himself quiet from taking part in any public or private affairs which he can avoid: as it is “an evil time,” and one in which all law is set at naught. Eph 5:16 “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” refers to this. Instead of impatiently agitating against irremediable evils, the godly wise will not cast pearls before swine, who would trample these, and rend the offerers (Matthew 7:6), but will patiently wait for God’s time of deliverance in silent submission. “I was silent; I would not open my mouth, for you are the one who has done this.” (Psalm 39:9) Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
The reason I'm showing you the commentary is so you'll know that what's said isn't just my idea, but has been explained this way for many years by scriptural teachers and pastors. So what this is saying is that we shouldn't get all worked up over the evils being done today, or try to make others agree with us that these things are evil and that what we say is good, because their hearts are hardened and they won't ever agree with us. Of course that's speaking about the vast majority of people, not the occasional person who comes and actually asks us to help them understand what we believe about this or that, and why. For those who show a true interest in the truth, which are those who don't spend their time arguing against the truth, it's fine to explain the gospel and why these things are happening now. That's what Eph 5:16 is speaking about. We have to discern who is worthy of the great pearls of truth we have to offer. But let me quote that verse in context for you: “Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.” (Ephesians 5:15–16) To further clarify, when I say the vast majority of people's hearts are hardened and won't ever agree with us, I'm speaking about those people who generally hang out in apologetic forums or go to many different sites, only to post the same arguments to supposedly prove that what we believe or the Bible itself is wrong. These are the people who aren't really interested in the Truth. They've had the Truth shared with them numerous times, but have continued to be argumentative and disregard anything said to them. You can find these people in "real life" as well, doing the same things "in person" instead of or in addition to, on line.
This verse in Amos is saying though, that rather than getting worked up about the evil that's happening, or who's president or who should be or shouldn't be, or anything else, we should be simply acknowledging to ourselves that all these things are in God's hand and He is in complete control. It does no good for us to get all riled up about any of it, for as the Lord tells us, “Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil. For evil men will be cut off, but those who hope in the LORD will inherit the land.” (Psalm 37:8–9) I love Psalm 37 because of this, so whenever I begin to get upset about the goings on of today, I read this psalm; for the whole psalm is all about these two verses. The NT puts it this way: “for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” (James 1:20) Both Old and New Testament verses show us that we shouldn't allow ourselves to get all riled up about the evil that's going on today. When we do, then we're actually adding to the evil instead of being righteous like the Lord wants us to be. Now that's a scary one to chew on, isn't it?
This is again why God says not to get involved with conspiracy theories. Not because they're not true, but because they generate anger and fear, both in the one reading or hearing about them and the one telling about them. Both anger and fear are sins against God because both emotions show a lack of trust in His love for us and in His sovereignty. There are many verses all through the Bible that tell us that God is sovereign and nothing happens unless He allows it or causes it to happen. For example: “When a trumpet sounds in a city, do not the people tremble? When disaster comes to a city, has not the LORD caused it?” (Amos 3:6) “I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the LORD, do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:7) “They did what your power and will had decided beforehand should happen.” (Acts 4:28)
Job shows us that getting angry about this only hurts ourselves: “You who tear yourself to pieces in your anger, is the earth to be abandoned for your sake? Or must the rocks be moved from their place?” (Job 18:4) It's saying in other words, that our anger is tearing us apart, and that "in our anger, do we expect God to do things our way, as though we know better then He does?"
Immediately after telling us to keep quiet about the evil, God says, “Seek good, not evil, that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty will be with you, just as you say he is.” (Amos 5:14) This is very important, especially for us today as we can apply these verses to our lives. (I mean Amos 5:13-14) When we constantly read or listen to the news (evil reports) and conspiracy theories, and other things that show us the evil that's going on now, what we're actually doing is "seeking evil". We're looking for it, and inputting that evil into our minds. That's one thing we're to guard against doing! Remember: “For as he thinks within himself, so he is.” (Proverbs 23:7) and “As water reflects a face, so a man’s heart reflects the man.” (Proverbs 27:19)
We need to input good to have righteousness within us. The Lord gives us three beautiful verses to show us what kind of things we should be seeking to put into our minds. (well, there's also a bunch of verses that tell us the major thing we should input is His Word!) “But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.” (James 3:17) The phrase about good fruit reminds us of Galatians 5:22-23: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” (Galatians 5:22–23) And of course you're familiar with the other one: “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.” (Philippians 4:8) If what we're reading of listening to causes us to think and feel the things in this verse, then it's something we should be putting in our mind. Sadly, we don't find any of the things from any of these verses in reports or conversations about the president, politics, conspiracy theories, etc. So the Lord wants us to be looking for good things to put in our minds, not negative things. This would include about other people we know, family, etc. as well as world events, politicians etc.
He isn't saying that we should be ignorant about what's going on in the world, or that we should never listen to or read the news. Not at all. But we don't have to seek it out constantly or regularly. The term the Bible uses about this is that we shouldn't dwell on it. For example, I can listen or read the news once a week and get a good idea of what's going on; and honestly, even only listening to it that often it's pretty much all the same stuff, only occasionally with a new face on it. I certainly don't have to read or listen to everything I can find about it in order to know what's going on. Besides that, God told us what was going to happen and what the world would be like and what the people would be like during this time. The news only confirms those things. So why should I constantly listen or read about something I'm already aware of. Knowing all the juicy details is only going to put more evil in my mind, it's certainly not going to help me in any way. See what I mean? By the way, using myself as an example, I didn't mean that no one should watch or read the news more then once a week. That's just how I deal with it. (In fact, sometimes I don't watch it for several weeks!) I figure the world is going to get along just fine without me knowing every little dirty detail.
I've even begun to feel that way about all the false teaching. While we certainly have to be discerning, I've realized that there's no way I can warn everyone about every single false teacher. Plus, I've also realized that I'm perfectly capable of watching a "Christian movie", seeing the errors, and yet still enjoy the movie! Because I know the Truth, I can actually make the movie mean more to me by remembering the truth that they're not speaking in it. So should I warn others not to watch it? I don't think so. Not unless they ask me anyway. God wants us each to be discerning. So while it's my job in a sense to warn "newbies" especially, (baby Christians), it's really up to each person to know the Truth so well that they can easily discern the errors for themselves. I guess I've just begun to trust the Holy Spirit a whole lot more, because I know He will warn every person that's truly saved about any false teacher or false teaching that they may have inadvertently gotten into. While He can and does at times use people like me to warn them, my job isn't to warn everyone, but to teach the truth, wait on Him, and warn those He tells me to, when He tells me to. So that's what I've been trying to do lately.
Anyway, the next verse, Amos 5:15, then tells us to "hate evil and love good". What do you do when you hate someone? Do you seek them out? No, you avoid them as much as possible! If you hate a certain food, you certainly don't eat it constantly, you avoid it. If you love someone, then you seek them out and spend as much time as you possibly can with them. If you love a food, you eat it as much as you can. Etc. The same goes for evil and good. If we hate evil, we will avoid it. If we love good, we will spend as much time around it as possible; reading about it, listening about it, etc. Sadly, Amos 5:13–15 is something most of us need to work on a great deal! Lest we think that these three verses are the only places God tells us these things, we need to think again, because they're repeated all through the old and new testament! Let me add a few more admonitions from the Lord about this to us: ““Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The LORD Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy, he is the one you are to fear, he is the one you are to dread,” (Isaiah 8:12–13) By the way, 1 Peter 3:14 quotes part of that verse! Then there's: “Do not lose heart or be afraid when rumors are heard in the land; one rumor comes this year, another the next, rumors of violence in the land and of ruler against ruler.” (Jeremiah 51:46) What's interesting about this last one is that the word translated "rumor" in this verse, also means "news" or "report" or you could even say "a news report"! That immediately brings to my mind what Jesus told us: “You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come.” (Matthew 24:6) There are many more, but I'll let you find more on your own.