“The way of the LORD is a refuge for the blameless, but it is the ruin of those who do evil.” (Proverbs 10:29)
I woke up this morning thinking about how I used to believe that God didn’t like Samuel but Brother Samuel. Then the verse above showed up from my Facebook memories. But then God showed me how the message behind the verse is what only men might assess, but not what God would reveal.
I say this because when Jesus said to love and pray for your enemies, he destroys all human understanding of good and evil.
“But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:44-45)
Because of Jesus, I am sure that God loves me, Samuel, not necessarily Brother Samuel nor Pastor Samuel, nor Husband Samuel, nor Daddy Samuel, nor Black Samuel, nor Heterosexual Samuel, nor Haitian Samuel, nor College-educated Samuel, but me, plain Samuel. Before I was even called Samuel or even conceived, God loves me. I spent all the years before 2013 (25-30 something years) believing that God would love me when I do something good and hate me when I do something evil. That’s what I used to believe.
But then Paul reminded me that Christ died for the ungodly. That while I was yet a sinner Christ died for me. If Solomon had said what he said in Proverbs, it is according to his opinion, not by revelation of the Holy Spirit. This is why John later wrote that the truth came through Jesus Christ, not through Solomon. Men’s opinions are like half the truth, or maybe 1 trillionth of the truth.
Solomon said what he said according to his natural senses, his limited ability to make sense according to what’s before him. The way of the Lord is Jesus. And Jesus is not a ruin for those who do evil. He is their redeemer. The whole world was doing evil when he died on the cross.
We all can say that the sun goes up and down from what we can see with our eyes. But God knows the sun goes nowhere.
Jesus is the refuge for everyone, the good and the evil. He is the much-needed rain for the church and the world. He is the light of the church and the world. He is the sacrifice atoning for the sins of the church and the sins of the whole world.
Today, I’m reminded that God loves me.
God so love the world, the people of the world. That is the message of the good news to the world, to let them know that God is not against them despite their sufferings.
God loves you and me regardless of who we are or what we are. That is the truth. Rejoice!
Jesus is the well of the living water, the Holy Spirit. 