Paul McKenzie

Memory Verse, Wednesday, March 4, Psalm 34:21

Taw: "Evil shall slay the wicked: And they that hate the righteous shall be desolate."

"For the wages of sin is death…" This is the beginning of Romans 6:23. From the beginning God told Adam and Eve that if they ate of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil, they would surely die. They had known only the goodness of God, but when they succumbed to the devil's temptation and sinned, they learned all about evil as well. And they died.

Christ said "For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved." (John 3:17)

He had no need to "condemn the world", for the world condemned itself. And here's how:

"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (18-19)

We are not all "born innocent", as I heard some singer say. We were all born in sin, all part of the seed of our original parents, Adam and Eve. All bear the curse of a sinful nature, whether we want to believe it or not.

But if you're honest with yourself, you know it. Your conscience tells you. When you're all by yourself, no one around to fake, you tremble because you have a guilt, a guilt that does not wash away. And you seek to wash it away, yet no matter what, sin remains, and in those moments of clarity you cry out, "O wretched person that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!" (adapted from the end of Romans 7).

Romans 1 says that the world tries to suppress that guilt. Some do it by creating some idol to throw themselves into, pouring themselves into "works", either in religion, family, work, social justice… anything but facing the fact that they are sinners in need of a Savior.

And they'll flock with what the Bible calls "itching ears" to anyone or anything that can give them some relief to this awful plague of guilt, when the remedy is right before their eyes. But alas, that means laying down their own self-centered lives and falling before the Light.

And, bottom line, they find that they love their darkness more. And as they continue in their sin, they, like those before them, will die.

Many read this and say to themselves "well, I am not wicked", and seconds later they find themselves loaded with all sorts of ugly thoughts. To me, it is obvious just by reading the FB political diatribes on both sides, or even the pictures people "share". So many evil desires for others, for they compare themselves to those who they deem worse than them. You can always find someone more evil than you in your own eyes. But you know what? You can always find someone better as well.

Even so, you're not being judged by any of those. You are being judged by the righteousness of Christ. Look there. You will find that, compared to Christ, you are indeed evil. And left to yourself, that evil you find will slay you.

But there is an answer, and if you are reading this, the answer is right before you. I pray that the Holy Spirit will enlighten your eyes today.

Today if you hear His voice, harden not your heart.

*KJV used*

Memory Helps

Taw:

"Evil shall slay the wicked:
And they that hate the righteous
shall be desolate."

A frightening verse. I imagine an unpleasant graphic with the devil personifying "evil" and slaying little men and women with horns on their heads to symbolize "wicked". Then, on the next frame, my symbol which I got from other memory books for "righteous" is "write-nest", a nest writing.

So, I'm full of stuff in my house and say to this "righteous" "nest-writing": "I hate you!". Suddenly everything is gone and I am "desolate". How I link the verse numbers to the verse is on my website.

Using the memory system for linking verses, I use my friend "NaTe for verses 21 (N=2, T=1). Many times I add a "net" as well to reinforce that N-T. I include in one frame my poor friend with horns on his head, and then in the next frame he is "hating" our "Singing MaRe" who has a "nest-writing" on his back. Poor Nate is picked up by a net and is now "desolate." "Singing" for Psalm, and MaRe for 3-4, vowels fillers. This links the verse to Psalm 34:21.