Sometimes I think it can’t get any worse than it is right now. Or that it’s never been this bad. Psalm 12:8 reminds me that it’s been this way for thousands of years. On one hand, that sure is a discouraging thought on its own. But despite humankind’s obsession with and acceptance of evil, hope and encouragement come from knowing God has remained faithful all this time. If the evil of the past hasn’t knocked God out, the evil of the present sure isn’t going to either. God has remained on the throne. God cares about the needy and the oppressed. God will judge the wicked. God is and always has been worthy of our praise, adoration, and obedience.
Psalm 2 Devotional – When the evil kings rise up
We often forget when we read the Psalms that these were written in a real time and a real place. That real time and real place was God’s Old Testament people of Israel that he had made a covenant with (which you can read more about here). They were an earthly nation chosen by God to shine his light to the rest of the world. Within this relationship, an agreement was made (the Mosaic Covenant or “old covenant”) where Israel was to obey God’s commands and if they did, their nation would prosper. But if they worshiped other gods (which they did often!), they would be under God’s judgment and the nation would falter. Most of the years of Israel that the Old Testament spans is of the faltering variety, not the prospering variety. In fact, with the exception of a very brief window of time (David and Solomon’s reign), Israel got its rear end repeatedly kicked by the neighboring nations and the regional superpowers. It’s important to keep this context in mind when we read the Psalms, especially one like Psalm 2.
Ep. 29: Why do bad things happen to good people?
In Episode 29, we tackle the age old question, “Why do bad things happen to good people?”
And of course there’s a Noah’s Rant to lift your quarantined spirits!
Email the show at podcast@beyondthebattle.net
How Evangelical Christians Should Respond to the Orlando Nightclub Massacre
49 people were gunned down and killed in an Orlando gay bar early Sunday morning, with another 53 wounded. You can read more about the gut-wrenching story here (CNN). The Orlando Sentinel is compiling a page where you can read a short tribute about each of the victims. There are lots of heavy elements to […]
An Agnostic and a Druid on Church in a Bar, Free Beer
We’ve been doing church in a bar, buying a free drink for first timers. Here’s an unsolicited blog comment I received this week following our 2nd time doing The Upper Room. Check out ChurchAtTheLoft.com if you’d like to come join us on a Tuesday night. This post was written by an agnostic who came to […]
The Problem of Evil
A non-Christian friend of mine was recently struggling with the amount of evil he saw in the world. He doesn’t believe in God, but he seemed to see evil everywhere and admitted to believing Satan was behind it. I asked him to consider the implications of believing in Satan, but not in a God who […]