His Encouragement #199

Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

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But the wicked will perish; the enemies of the Lord are like the glory of the pastures; they vanish — like smoke they vanish away.

Psalm 37:20 (ESV)

I prefer the Jewish translation of this verse to our English: “For the wicked will perish, and the enemies of the Lord are like disappearing light on the plains; they are consumed in smoke, yea they are consumed.”

I also appreciate Rashi’s comments on this idea of enemies disappearing like light. He states, “Like the light of the morning cloud, which appears at dawn and glistens on the broad plains, which does not last.”

Dew is artificial rain. The technical definition of dew according to the Oxford Dictionary is “tiny drops of water that form on cool surfaces at night, when atmospheric vapor condenses.”

So, I’ve given you a bunch of ideas and images…where am I going with all this?

1. The enemies of the Lord…We all need to remember that we are not fighting the war we think we are fighting. Yeah, that guy who cut you off this morning on the way to work was a jerk, but you’re not fighting him. That woman who gave you a dirty look and called you something awful just cause you took her cart at Target was being mean, but you’re not fighting her. Your teen who won’t do what you want and stayed out way past curfew last night is a big problem, but you’re not fighting him either. We are all fighting in a war against an enemy who hates God with every fiber of his being AND he hates us, too. The enemies of the Lord are our enemies, and daily we must remember that we are fighting a supernatural war against them and not against our neighbors and significant others.
2. Will perish…like disappearing light…Yes, God has enemies and we do, too, BUT all of those enemies will vanish like light that is there one minute and gone the next. It’s kind of like turning a light off in your house. One second it’s on and light is everywhere, and the next it’s off and there is only darkness. Switching the light from on to off is a blink-of-an-eye sort of action. The same goes for God’s enemies. One minute they exist and then they don’t. Like a light He switches off, they’re gone. If that doesn’t prove God is WAY more powerful than any enemy He has, I don’t know what does.
3. My train of thought in point 2 is reinforced by Rashi’s dew imagery. God is all-powerful. God is 100% in control. He knows His enemies better than they know themselves. He knows their plans, but He also knows that they are unlike Him. Unlike God who was, is, and will always be, God’s enemies are as the dew — here for a moment and then gone. Like dew that forms in the cool night air, God’s enemies will vanish because they are no match for the warm, bright sunshine of the day. God’s light is way more powerful than their darkness. What a comforting truth!

Yes, the wicked are awful. They’re scary and mean and evil and in the wrong. Yes, they are frustrating. Yes, they don’t think or act right. They love to hurt and destroy. It’s maddening. BUT they are momentary. Enemies of God, whether on earth or in the heavenlies, will one day ALL be gone. But you know who won’t be gone? Those who genuinely love God with their whole hearts. The plain of existence we live on will change, but we won’t ever be gone because we will get to live forever with Jesus (1 John 2:17)!

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NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!

WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?