Apart from God's word, we will judge the right to be wrong and evil people as good.
Do we take seriously what God's word says about sin and evil? We're told that "The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually" (Gen 6:5). Likewise, Jesus tells us that Satan is "the ruler of this world" (John 14:30, 16:11). Sin and evil are real, and they occur and manifest themselves in concrete ways in the world.
The primary purpose of satanic evil is to destroy good. Liars seek to destroy the truth. Murderers want to destroy life. But who decides what is satanic and evil? What is good and true, what is real life and what is evil, what is lying, and what is murder? There is only one who decides these things, and that is the One who says of himself, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life” (John 14:6).
Jesus does not make mistakes in his judgment about good and evil, life and death, righteousness, and Satan. As the Psalmist writes, "He is God who judges in the earth" (Ps 58:11). It is Jesus as God and Savior who judges the wickedness of those who reject him and his decrees. When David prays, he cries out to God about the evil intent of the human heart. He directs his prayer at those who've gone astray as soon as they were born. David cries to God to judge them righteously because he knows that God will not make a mistake in his judgment.
Apart from God's word, we will judge the right to be wrong and evil people as good.
So we don't rely on our feelings to determine what is true and untrue. We don't hold back from praying against evil because we're not sure whether we're right or wrong in our judgments. Instead, we pray according to God's word. We listen to what God says about liars and murderers, life and evil, Satan and wickedness.
When we submit ourselves to God's word, we don't have to worry whether we're on God's side or allied with learned people who mislead us about truth and good with their educated arguments, but they can't distinguish right from wrong according to God's word. The God and Savior who judges all people with equity are more knowledgeable than all the learned people on earth combined.
Apart from God's word, we will judge the right to be wrong and evil people as good. We will distrust God to tell us the truth and instead plead with wicked judges to judge righteously. We will elect power-hungry public servants to defend the rights of the powerless and vulnerable. When we turn away from God's word, we will trust our own judgments, follow the wrong people, and celebrate the sin in which we were born. But trusting our Savior, who loves us and gave himself for us, we will continue in his word and know the truth.
When we're in the company of liars it's difficult to stand up for the truth about right and wrong, and more than that, to speak to the truth, Jesus Christ. This is why we pray every day that our God and Savior, Jesus, lead and guide us with his word so that we may know the truth and stand up for it and him because worldly lies always speak against God's word and truth.
