Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. Woe to those to consider themselves wise and judge themselves clever. Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, who are champions at pouring beer, who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.   Isaiah 5:20-23 CSB

Ever feel like you are surrounded by evil? I read this Scripture passage and I think it is very appropriate for today. Now this passage is from Isaiah. Isaiah was trying to get Israel to turn back to God. He was warning them of their impending destruction if they did not turn back to the Lord. In verse 24, he goes on to tell them that just as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust for they have rejected the Lord of Armies, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel. In other words, no good can come of this behavior.

While this occurred in the Old Testament days, it seems very applicable to the world we live in today. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. We are honoring sin in our nation today. We honor things like homosexuality, abortion, total disrespect for authority. Christians are considered rigid and judgmental. We are told things like, “Why can’t we all just get along?” We can get along, we just can’t condone sinful behavior. We must love the sinner, but we must hate the sin. As my former pastor used to say, “We aren’t supposed to judge, but we are supposed to inspect the fruit.” We must be careful to adhere to God’s word and use that as a measuring tool for what is right and wrong. The Bible is not confusing, it clearly tells us what God expects of us in the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20). It also tells us that there are things that are detestable to God or are considered an abomination to Him in numerous Scripture passages. As Christians we must stay in God’s word to be sure that we know right from wrong.

We should not consider ourselves to be wise. Proverbs 3:7 tells us not to be wise in our own eyes, but to fear the Lord and turn away from evil. When we start to consider ourselves wise or clever, we open the door for pride. Pride is an abomination to the Lord and will not go unpunished according to Proverbs 16:5. Instead we are told in Colossians 3:12 that as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, we are to put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, accepting one another and forgiving one another. As Christians we are to be humble and put the needs of others above our own (Philippians 2:3-4).

What should a Christian do concerning alcohol? Well, our Scripture passage says woe to those who are champions at drinking wine and pouring beer. The problem with alcohol is that it is easy to go from consuming alcohol to being consumed by alcohol. It impairs our judgment and may be a gateway that leads us to sin. It destroys our witness. The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 5:8 that we should be sober and alert because the enemy is prowling around like a roaring lion seeking someone to destroy. We make an easy target when we let our guard down with alcohol.

And then what about justice? We serve a God of justice. He is no respecter of persons. There is no “good old” boy system. We don’t get a free ride on sin just because we put a healthy offering in the collection plate on Sunday morning. God expects us to be fair with others, just as He is fair with us.

So, in this sin torn world, what is a Christian to do? Well, the Bible makes that pretty clear for us. We are told in Micah 6:8 the Lord requires of us to seek justice, love mercy and walk humbly with our God. We are told in Galatians 5:16 that if we walk by the Spirit, we will not gratify the desires of the flesh.

In numerous Scripture passages, we are instructed to love the Lord with all our heart and our soul. When we do this, we will put Him first, we will seek to please Him and we will not confuse good for evil and evil for good. We will understand His will for our lives and we will want to strive to please Him in all we do.

Have a great day!