The Origin of Evil
Several years ago as I was reading through the Bible, I came upon II Chronicles 12:14. I believe it holds the key to the origin of evil or sin in our lives and in our world. It simply says about King Rehoboam, "And he did evil because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord." This verse is simply profound, if we stop to consider all this means.
The son of Solomon began his reign doing God's will, but he ended badly, much like his father. However, we are given the reason for his failure. He did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. In short, he forgot to seek God's will in everything he did. This led to him going astray. It doesn't happen all at once, but a little at a time, once a person stops seeking the Lord.
Think about Lucifer leading the worship around God's throne. How did he commit the first sin? He did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord, instead he sought glory and worship for Himself. Yes, pride was under it, but pride would never have risen in his heart, if he continued to seek the Lord and not his own way. The same was true for Adam and Eve, and it is still true for us to this day.
The opposite of this truth is also true. The way to do what is right is to make sure we always prepare our hearts to seek the Lord. We do this by starting out giving ourselves to Him and to seeking Him in the morning, and we stay with it all day long. When a temptation comes, we turn to the Lord, instead of away from Him, because we have prepared our heart to seek the Lord.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Chronicles 14-16.
The son of Solomon began his reign doing God's will, but he ended badly, much like his father. However, we are given the reason for his failure. He did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. In short, he forgot to seek God's will in everything he did. This led to him going astray. It doesn't happen all at once, but a little at a time, once a person stops seeking the Lord.
Think about Lucifer leading the worship around God's throne. How did he commit the first sin? He did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord, instead he sought glory and worship for Himself. Yes, pride was under it, but pride would never have risen in his heart, if he continued to seek the Lord and not his own way. The same was true for Adam and Eve, and it is still true for us to this day.
The opposite of this truth is also true. The way to do what is right is to make sure we always prepare our hearts to seek the Lord. We do this by starting out giving ourselves to Him and to seeking Him in the morning, and we stay with it all day long. When a temptation comes, we turn to the Lord, instead of away from Him, because we have prepared our heart to seek the Lord.
Tomorrow, I intend to read II Chronicles 14-16.