Copyright 2015 J. Neely
Psalm 37:14
14 The wicked [rasha`] have
drawn out [pathach] the sword [chereb], and have bent [darak]
their bow [qesheth], to cast down [naphal] the poor [`aniy] and needy ['ebyown], and to slay [tabach] such
as be of upright [yashar] conversation [derek]. KJV-Interlinear
14 The wicked draw the sword and bend their
bows to bring down the poor and needy, to slay those whose way is upright; ESV
This world is
portrayed as a jungle. In the jungle,
there are the predators and the prey.
The predators are the wicked, or those who would take, at any
price. The prey are the righteous, or
those who have empathy, faith, good intentions, look to fair play and so forth.
God gave this
world to the righteous, or those who have believed in Christ by faith, and
furthermore, those who have likewise sought to better themselves by means of
Gods spiritual process through learning doctrine and growing up in their
spiritual life.
But the predators,
or the wicked, or those who ignore Gods rules and purpose, are trying to take
from life and from this world, anything and everything they want, based on their
own beliefs and intentions. They are not just rebels or criminals, or social
rejects, they include all good people who ignore God, who ignore doctrine, who
ignore Gods process, but presume themselves as righteous based on their own
definition of righteousness.
There are a lot of
nice people out there who in fact belong to the category of the wicked.
So, there are two
views or approaches to life. There is Gods approach, and there is everything
else.
The, everything else
group is a false group.
The only
legitimate approach is Gods approach, which is faith in Christ, confession on a
regular basis, daily study and then usage and growth to spiritual
maturity. Ignoring this approach in any
aspect, is a rejection of Gods approach, and therefore places the individual in
the wicked group.
When you reject
Gods approach, then you are doing things your own way, which is evil, making
you wicked.
Gods provision is
for those who belong to Him. And those
who belong to Him are those who comply with His rules and procedures.
To reject that,
means you reject God, means you reject belonging to Him, means you are not
entitled to anything God provides to His people.
Therefore, taking anything,
which belongs to His people is in effect stealing that which does not belong to
you.
And when you
continually reject complying with Gods way, then you are trying to take as a
predator would take. And here we have
Gods description of what you are.
Namely, a predator, a wicked person, drawing the bow, which is rebellion
against God, and attempting to take by means of your own efforts.
