1 Peter 3:12 (Authorized KJV)
For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.
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God is good. He is patient, kind, loving, and attentive, but
it seems as if he has feelings—or something similar. The Creator of humankind
seems to have some attributes to which his creations may be able to relate.
Can God, who proclaims love for his handiwork, also turn away
from them—or at least some of them (or even any of them at one time or
another)? In a time when “positive” and “negative” is so stressed in both the religious
world as well as the secular world, are we to accept that God can, in any way,
be against anyone? Isn’t that just too “negative”? How could a loving and
caring God ever be AGAINST his own?
If “the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous”, does it
mean he can’t see the unrighteous? And if his ears are “open to their prayers”,
those of the righteous, does that mean he does not hear the prayers of the
unrighteous? If not, how could the unrighteous ever repent and become
righteous?
Well, it’s not really important who they are, as long as it isn’t us, yes? They
are unrighteous and God’s face is against them,
and that’s all we need to know, right?
We may be tempted to embrace the first part of the verse
regarding the righteous and eagerly place ourselves in that category. God is
watching over us and hears our prayers. Likewise, we may decide the unrighteous
are those other people—someone else; not us…never US.
We see, from this one verse, that God’s face is against those
who “do evil”. Do we ever “do evil”? If we are honest, we can acknowledge that we
may have done or even currently do some thing that is considered “evil”
(according to Scripture). So then, is God against us?
God loves us and does not want us to “do evil”. Evil creates
a breach of close connection between us and God.
Isaiah 59:2
But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.
It’s less an issue of the righteous vs. the unrighteous and
more a matter one’s actions. The questions to asks are: Would any of my ways be
considered evil, by biblical standards? Has doing evil crafted a break in sweet
communion with God whereby his very face is against me? Has that face-time,
that more personal correspondence, become an impersonal, obligatory weekly
gathering or possibly something akin to a brief text message?
Yes, God loves us, but something damaging happens to the
relationship with Creator when we “do evil”. Just as would happen between two
friends when one continuously offends the other with hurtful words or actions
but refuses to acknowledge the behavior or the harm being caused, the love may
remain, but intimacy is adversely affected. When we keep throwing our “evil”
toward the face of God, is it any surprise that the Most High would turn his face against
it, and therefore against us?
We
want to believe we are righteous, and we want God to hear our prayers, so then,
let us not “do evil”. Not from fear of getting caught nor even from fear of
hell, but for that unequaled bond between ourselves and our loving Creator. Let us willingly and truly BE “the righteous”.
