“I do not understand. Why are things still just the way they have been? Why do we have to do this over and over?”
I know I have asked myself these same two questions an infinate amount of times. Even with the answers before me, I will likely ask them again.
I have to believe that I am not the only one that fights these same said battles over and over. Things you’ve dealt with, prayed over, laid at the feet of Jesus, forgiven, and even prayed over again that just keep. coming. back. up.
Psalm chapter 12:
“save, oh lord, for the godly one is gone, for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man. Everyone utters lies to his neighbor, with flattering lips, and a double heart they speak……. because the poor are plundered, because the needy cry, I will now arise, says the Lord.  I will place him in the safety for which he longs.  The words of the lord are pure words, like silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times. You, O lord will keep them; you will guard us from this generation forever.  On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted among the children of man.
If I were to ask you who is the single most ruler of this world you would say?
Growing up in the bible belt, most all of us would presume the answer is Jesus, but that is not so.
The Godly one is gone; Jesus has left this Earth, and the faithful have vanished from the children of man. Man is Adam and Adam equates sin to which we are all born unto. Satan is the ruler of Earth. He even tempts Jesus in Matthew 4- Jesus come on over here, you see all of this on top of this mountain. I will give all of this to you if only you will bow and worship me.
David goes on to describe this people, those that only say what people want to hear. Even in the church, or maybe especially, there are those who always have just the right answer for any occasion but speak with no truth or transparency of heart- a double heart at that. Two hearts; one for Sundays and another for all the other days of the week.
And so what’s wrong with these people? These recurring things in our lives that show up time after time after time?
2 Corinthians 4:4 says it perfectly. “In their case the god of this world (satan) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ who is the image of God.
The scripture in this psalm lays it out, but maybe you just need some help dissecting it to fully understand its principality.
“On every side the wicked prowl, as vileness is exalted amongst the children of man.”
On every side– completely surrounding not only every circumstance but also every corner.
vileness– nasty, offensive, awful, and unsavory
exalted-  placed at a high or powerful level.
Yall, even as Godly people, we must never forget we live in an evil world. A world that exalts or gives power to all of these awful, potentially destructive, things. We, even believers, make the mistake of subconsciously giving such things POWER over our lives.
We have, maybe not as Christians but as a people, have a created a world that seeks pleasure in sinful entertainment that we find so enticing… until it directly affects our own personal lives.
sex. gossip. addiction. infidelity. betrayal. fatality. tragedy.
These are all topics that we enjoy sharing with our friends or find even sanctifying to be the first one to “get the news” and why Y’all? for what? I don’t know when we saw fit to enjoy in the failure of someone else, to make of a catastrophe some type of commodity in the midst of some of the most vulnerable and unavoidably transparent aspects of peoples lives.
but we have.
it is absolutely imperative that we realized that even though our spirits are safe in heaven, our very alive bodies are here. in this place. that has made these things acceptable.
wicked reigns, guys. Here evil, reigns.
All of these little tests. The walls that you run into over and over, that’s not God y’all. That’s Satan. God desires nothing but the best for His people.
Colossians 1 verse 13 says that God has rescued us from the darkness of this world and has assigned us a seat in heaven.
Praise Jesus, We have saved seats, but y’all not until we get there.
It says that His word is pure- refined, grounded. that means that it has been tested, studied, criticized. it is without impurity or flaw even after it has been sifted through and it remains standing.
yet we give evil the authority over our lives?
sounds crazy doesnt it?
Even to choose exalt Christ in our lives, does not mean the elimination of evil.
Even with a word precious and pure, people will still prefer those same things that will bury them.
but God says that because, indicating when, those are plundered, when the needy cry Then I will rise.
plundered. laid flat and bare. needy. crying. and I’m coming.
It wasn’t until I suffered without Christ, that I realized just how much joy there was to suffering with Him.
The next time you want to question the reappearing wall in front of you, ask yourself which god would set it before you- the one of this world, or The One.
You see, Satan may in fact rule this world, as the scripture says, but Jesus… He won it.
God, as much as I would like my actions to matter, on the days that I am full of doubt, I’m so glad they don’t. Thank you for an unfailing victory over all evil, even my own. Thank you, God, for you.
Amen.