September 8, 2023: Psalm 139:19-20 - Have Nothing to Do with Evil

“Oh, that You would slay the wicked, O God! Depart from me, therefore, you bloodthirsty men. For they speak against You wickedly; Your enemies take Your name in vain.” - Psalm 139:19-20

Many people believe these two Scripture verses and also 139:21-22 don’t match the rest of David’s heart’s expressions and that they are a rapid turnaround from the rest of this beautiful psalm. However, as one commentator explained, it very well may be that as David recalled when he was under attack by his enemies, it caused him to consider God and what He meant to David. I must admit, I struggled with these verses as well, but it is true that when we are under attack by evil, when we are burdened by the wiles of the devil, it just may cause us to fall on our knees and cry out to God; it may just cause us to look up and reach out and up to the only one who can save us. It may also cause us to look at our own self and to see the evil things that we have done in our lives, that we are all sinners in need of the Savior. It also represents the fact that David despised the things that these men of bloodshed did against God: they spoke against Him wickedly and took His name in vain.

David took personal offense to these attacks on God, just as he did when he was a young man, a shepherd of the sheep, when he heard about a Philistine giant named Goliath who had come against the armies of Israel, the armies of the living God. After the armies of Israel had fled in fear, David spoke out against Goliath to the people and when King Saul heard about it, he sent for David:

“Then David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, ‘What shall be done for the man who kills this Philistine and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?’” (1 Samuel 17:26)

“Then David said to Saul, ‘Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.’ But David said to Saul, ‘Your servant used to keep his father’s sheep, and when a lion or a bear came and took a lamb out of the flock, I went out after it and struck it, and delivered the lamb from its mouth; and when it arose against me, I caught it by its beard, and struck and killed it. Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, seeing he has defied the armies of the living God.’ Moreover David said, ‘The LORD, who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.’ And Saul said to David, ‘Go, and the LORD be with you!’” (1 Samuel 17:32-37)

When all the men of Israel had seen Goliath and fled in fear, it was only David who was bold enough to stand against him and to fight him, for David knew he had the power of God with him to fight against Goliath:

“Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand, and I will strike you and take your head from you. And this day I will give the carcasses of the camp of the Philistines to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel. Then all this assembly shall know that the LORD does not save with sword and spear; for the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands.’” (1 Samuel 17:45-47)

And that is exactly what happened when the uncircumcised Philistine came to meet David. God saved David from the Philistine, and He saved not only David but Israel, and He did it with one smooth stone:

“Then David put his hand in his bag and took out a stone; and he slung it and struck the Philistine in his forehead, so that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone and struck the Philistine and killed him. But there was no sword in the hand of David.” (1 Samuel 49-50)

During the times of King David, Jesus Christ had not yet come in the flesh. The Jewish nation was under the Mosaic Law to abide by God’s commandments and ordinances and to perform certain sacrifices and offerings to atone for their sins. When David wrote Psalm 139, David acknowledged the wicked and that their attacks are against God. David’s heart’s cry was not just for himself but for His God who had been with him and protected him from the very beginning of his life. His God was under attack by wicked and evil men who took the Lord’s name in vain and spoke against God in a wicked manner, and he appealed to God that He would slay the wicked. Similarly, in the book of Job, in his times of horrible persecution by Satan, Job also prayed that God would destroy the wicked:

“Why do the wicked live and become old, yes, become mighty in power?… They spend their days in wealth, and in a moment go down to the grave. Yet they say to God, ‘Depart from us, for we do not desire the knowledge of Your ways. Who is the Almighty that we should serve Him? And what profit do we have if we pray to Him?’…Let his eyes see his destruction, and let him drink of the wrath of the Almighty.” (Job 21:7, 13-15, 20)

I know that as our world today grows darker and more wicked, I too want God to bring justice in His righteousness to the wicked, to those who curse God and take His name in vain and hate what is good and love what is evil. Instead of turning to God, they have turned to Satan and his wicked ways in order to build themselves up in power. They don’t heed the words of God but listen to the lies of Satan.

Let’s look at what the Bible tell us about evil and that we are to have nothing to do with it:

“Seek good and not evil, that you may live; so the LORD God of hosts will be with you, as you have spoken.” (Amos 5:14)

“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; pride and arrogance and the evil way and the perverse mouth I hate.” (Proverbs 8:13)

“You who love the LORD, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked. Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.” (Psalm 97:10-12)

“These six things the LORD hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that are swift in running to evil, a false witness who speaks lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.” (Proverbs 6:16-19)

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)

“He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)

“Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels…” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 25:41)

In Deuteronomy, God commanded Moses to tell His people that before they went to conquer the land that God gave them, they should not worship the false gods that the ungodly nations worshipped. God had given the Amorites 400 years to change their evil ways, but they did not stop doing their wicked and evil abominations against Him. Thus, God was ready to bring His people, the nation of Israel, into the land of Canaan, where the Amorites lived, and conquer them, but God warned Israel not to do what the Amorites had done:

“You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way; for every abomination to the LORD which He hates they have done to their gods; for they burn even their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods.” (Deuteronomy 12:31)

God hates evil, plain and simple. Evil is what Satan does to deceive people and lead them straight to the pit of hell, and that is the complete opposite of what God wants for us. Satan wraps his evil deeds in light and dresses them up with smooth-sounding words to entice people into sin. It is up to us to decide whether we will hate what is evil and flee from it or embrace it and be judged by God for it. It was that way from the very beginning in the garden with Adam and Eve, and it is that way now.

The Bible tells us:

“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away! For of this sort are those who creep into households and make captives of gullible women loaded down with sins, led away by various lusts, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, disapproved concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.” (2 Timothy 3:1-9)

“But evil men and imposters will grow worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Timothy 3:13)

As believers in Christ, we know that God wants all to be saved by turning to Jesus and that He wants no one to perish. Jesus Himself told His disciples:

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.” (Jesus Christ; Matthew 5:43-45)

We never know who will turn from their wicked ways and turn to God and be saved; who will turn from evil and turn to good. The apostle Paul is a perfect example of this. We also know that we are not to accept and promote what is evil. Jesus Himself told the adulterous woman whom the Jewish scribes and Pharisees had brought to Him:

“‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’ Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.’” (John 8:11-12)

Jesus acknowledged her sin of adultery and told her to go and stop sinning. He didn’t tell her that it was okay for her to continue to commit sexual sin because it made her happy, or it was okay because it was of two consenting adults, or it was okay because it was love…name your excuse; no, He called it for what it was: sin, and told her she must not continue in it. He also acknowledged that those who are in sin are in darkness and that if we follow Him, we must not walk in the darkness but walk in the light, in Him, for He is light. If we love God, if we love Jesus, we are to hate what is evil and flee from it, not leaving any room in our lives to be tempted by it.

In our world today, I can only imagine what David would have to say about the wicked who are running our world; evil is running rampant and only growing worse, just as the Bible said it would. I want it to stop, I want to see justice done, true justice that is executed by Jesus, righteously, without bias or bribery. I also know that if the evil ones do not repent and turn to Jesus, they will spend their eternity in hell, a place so much more wicked than what we see in our world today. I pray for them to turn to Jesus and be saved.

For all unbelievers, those who choose to reject Christ, they will one day be resurrected to life and stand before Him to be judged in His court. They will all be found guilty, for the only thing that could have made them innocent in God’s court is redemption of sins by Jesus, but they will have rejected His pardon that He paid with His precious blood. All of them will be cast into the lake of fire, where Satan, the final antichrist, also called the “beast,” and the false prophet will also have been cast. Evil will be finished, forever and ever, and sin will be no more. No more will bloodthirsty men speak against God and take His name in vain, and God will declare victory:

“And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:6-8)

All who choose to put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, Almighty God, will live in His kingdom forevermore:

“Then the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people, the saints of the Most High. His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey Him.” (Daniel 7:27)

As our world grows darker and more wicked by the hour, may we stand up for what is good in the sight of God, and may we be like David, not fearing what man can do to us, but fear God only:

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and Your right hand will save me. The LORD will perfect that which concerns me; Your mercy, O LORD, endures forever; do not forsake the works of Your hands.” (Psalm 138:7-8) ✝️