God of Truth

How do you stop evil? 

It's a question we ask ourselves a lot, especially as the headlines look darker and darker every day. Murder, rape, war, famine, disease, sin...our world is broken. And someone once said that all it takes for evil to flourish is for a good man to do nothing, but what are we - good men - to do?

I love the story of David and Saul when it comes to this question. It's a story that we read, but I'm not sure if it really strikes us the way it ought to. It's one of those stories that would make a great cinematic scene, if only we could picture it that way. So here it is:

David has been told he's going to be king, but Saul is still living and Saul is still king. David spends a lot of his time running away from Saul so that the current king doesn't kill him, and that's what we find happening in this scene: David is running away, again, trying to preserve his life. 

Saul keeps sending men after him, and every time the men come to the place where David is staying, God strikes them with a prophesying spirit and they stop pursuing and start prophesying. 

Let's stop right here and talk about what prophecy is. It is not, as we so often confuse it in our world, the ability to foretell the future and the talking about things that are going to happen. Rather, prophecy was simply speaking God's truth. 

So these men come, sent by Saul in pursuit of David, and as soon as they reach the king-to-be, they are struck by the spirit of God and just stand there speaking truth. 

And then, a second group comes, and the same thing happens to them. And another group, with the same result. Until Saul himself comes in pursuit of David, determined to kill the anointed one, and he, too, is struck by the spirit of God and stands there "completely caught up" in prophesying. 

All of the evil in Saul's heart is stopped dead in its tracks by a spirit that will let him do nothing but proclaim the truth. God's truth. 

I think the same thing would go a long way in our world. 

I think the answer to the evils in our world is not good, but truth. It's our willingness to stand in broken places and declare God's truth - that this isn't the way things were supposed to be, that this isn't how things are going to be, that there is a Savior who already died and rose again to fix things exactly like this, that there is hope, there is grace, and there is love. 

I think the answer to the evils in our world is to get our world "completely caught up" in speaking the truth about God. Or, if they are unwilling, then at the very least, to teach our world to hear the rocks crying out. 

Truth is one way to stop evil. 

Are you caught up in the spirit?