“Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.” Romans 12:21
Recently, have you felt exhausted, angry, depleted, sad, and helpless about what is going on in the world? I have, too. Earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, oppressive takeovers, corrupt leadership, the list goes on. Maybe you are feeling these same emotions about what is happening in your own little world. Whether on the macrolevel (global), on the microlevel (personal), or both, many people around the world are feeling this way. The world is broken, and the worst feeling is that we do not know what to do about it. It’s easy to be overcome with the evil of natural disasters or wicked oppressors rather than to be an overcomer of evil.
It’s easy to look at the evil and the oppression around the world and ask, like the psalmist in Psalm 94:3, “How long shall the wicked triumph?” In psalm 94, the psalmist is calling down God’s righteous vengeance on the wicked. When we are overwhelmed with the wickedness in the world, we can be overcomers when we do what this psalmist did. Like the psalmist, we must recognize God’s sovereignty, rest in God’s immutable character, and appeal to God’s name.
Like the psalmist, the first thing we must do to be an overecomer is recognize that God is the Overcomer. He is sovereign! In Psalm 94:1-2, 5, the psalmist says, “O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself. Lift up thyself, thou judge of the earth: render a reward to the proud.” God owns vengeance, God owns the oppressed, and God owns the oppressors as well! In prayer for deliverance from the wicked oppressors of God’s people, the psalmist says in Psalm 74:12-17, “For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength: Thou brakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people inhabiting the wilderness. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driest up mighty rivers. The day is thine, the night also is thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth: thou hast made summer and winter.” The psalmist recognizes that God is in control of nature—the sea, the beasts, the weather, the day and night cycle—and He can use it all to fulfill His purposes. Like the psalmist, when we are distressed by natural disasters, tyrannical dictators, failing leaders, or corrupting nations, we can find comfort in the fact that God is sovereign over it all. The earth and all its inhabitants, the weather and all its disasters, the oppressed and the oppressors alike belong to the Sovereign King who is our God.
In addition to recognizing His sovereignty, we must also rest in God’s immutable character. When the psalmist’s own thoughts about the present situation tormented him, the comforts of God delighted him. Psalm 94:19 says, “In the multitude of my thoughts within me thy comforts delight my soul.” What are some of God’s comforts? Well, we can take comfort in His character—what He does and how He relates to us. We can see God’s character very clearly through His promises to us. In Psalm 74:20, the psalmist clung to God’s promise to the nation of Israel, saying, “Have respect unto the covenant.” If there is one thing we have learned from history, it is that God always respects His promises to us. After all, He sent His Son Jesus Christ, didn’t He? After all, He raised Jesus Christ from the dead, didn’t He? If God could respect such astounding promises, then we can be confident that He will respect others.
For example, we can be confident when God promises in Hebrews 13:5, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” God is the leader who will never leave you behind. We can know that Jesus is with us because He promised in Matthew 28:20, “lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” No matter where we are or what we face, we can be sure of one thing: we are not alone. We can claim the confidence of David in Psalm 23:4, “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” The Bible tells us that David certainly faced real fear fostered by real threats to his life and wellbeing. But we also know that David was comforted by God’s immutable character.
Another promise that we can cling to during troubled times is His imminent return and restoration of all things. He has promised that He is coming again to judge the earth in His righteousness and His truth (Psalm 96:12-13). He has promised that He will make a new heaven and new earth, the way that this world was originally intended to be before Adam and Eve sinned. The reason that our hearts break so at the injustice, the violence, and the destruction in this world is that it was not supposed to be this way. And we know that deep down in our souls. We know that we were created for life, not death. We understand that we were meant for eternity, not the grave. While we all may intellectually understand that all humans are mortal, it doesn’t make death an any more welcome visitor. We desire peace, justice, and life. As C. S. Lewis puts it, “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.”[1] We were made for eternal life with God—the source of peace, justice, and life. And one day, according to His promise, that hope will be realized. C. H. Spurgeon said, “Here is the world’s true hope of rescue from the fangs of tyranny . . . The time will come when all races of men shall own their God and accept him as their king. There is one who is ‘King by right divine,’ and he is even now on his way.”[2] There is coming a day!
Even when we do not feel God’s presence, God is present. Even when we have been forsaken by our earthly leaders and people in power, God has not forsaken us. Even when our leaders have broken promise after empty promise, God is a covenant keeper. And He will not break His covenant with us!
A third element to the psalmist’s prayer in Psalm 94 is an appeal to God’s name. This psalmist was bold in His prayer! He called down vengeance on his enemies! How could he do that? He could do that because he was praying down vengeance for the Lord’s name’s sake. He says to the LORD, “shew thyself” in verse 1. In Psalm 74:22, the psalmist prayed a similar prayer of judgement on enemies, saying, “Arise, O God, plead thine own cause: Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily.” Again, in Psalm 79:9-10 the psalmist pleads, “Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name: And deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is their God? Let him be known among the heathen in our sight by the revenging of the blood of thy servants which is shed.” Appealing to God’s name, His glory and reputation among the heathen, is one of the strongest appeals we can make in prayer. It is strong because, no matter what, God’s glory will shine through and His name will be vindicated! There is power when we invoke the name of the LORD God, Jehovah! When we are on His side and we pray for His name’s sake, we can know that He will act.
Like the psalmist in Psalm 94, we can be overcomers even in a world overcome with evil. While we may feel helpless, there is plenty for us to do. At the very least, we can be praying down God’s righteous vengeance. We can pray recognizing God’s sovereignty, resting in God’s character, and invoking God’s name. Be bold. Be praying. Be not overcome, but an overcomer.
[1] C. S. Lewis. Mere Christianity, 39.
[2] Spurgeon, Charles. “Psalm 82.” Blue Letter Bible. 5 Dec 2016. Web. 1 Sep, 2021. <https://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/spurgeon_charles/tod/ps82.cfm>.