Calendar

NOT A HEART THAT IMAGINES EVIL (I)
MONDAY, JUNE 28
Zechariah 7:8-10

Proverbs 6:16-19

 

“…let none of you imagine evil against

his brother in your heart.”

 

NOT A HEART THAT IMAGINES EVIL (I)
 
The Word of the LORD that came to the people through Zechariah reminded them of their duty to love their neighbour. This was not to be a theory, but something practised and lived out. They were supposed to be a holy witness; and yet oppression, injustice, and unkindness abounded!
 
But, dear reader, how easy it is for us to cherish malice and bitterness in our hearts! When we feel ourselves cheated, we behave like Esau who hated his brother and plotted to slay him (Gen 27:41). When we see others blessed instead of ourselves, we behave like Cain who also hated his brother and rose up against him (Gen 4:8); or like Joseph’s brethren, who hated him (Gen 37:4) and sold him to merchants. Even when those whom we love are mistreated, we may respond likewise: as Absalom did, hating his half-brother Amnon for two full years, and plotting evil against him in his heart (2 Sam 13:22); or as Simeon and Levi did to avenge their sister (Gen 34:25-31).
 
How we need to check our hearts for bitterness! “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Eph 4:31) ‒ lest we “grieve… the holy Spirit of God” (v 30); or lest we find ourselves unable to study or learn from God’s Word because we have not laid aside “all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings” (1 Pet 2:1-2).
 
THOUGHT: What God hates, how can I even begin to do?
PRAYER: Father, search my heart, root out all bitterness and evil imagination, and fill me with love and forgiveness!

Search