"The Abuse of Power" - 2

 "And so I saw the wicked buried, who had come and gone from the place of the holy, and they were forgotten in the city where they had so done: this is also vanity." (Ecclesiastes 8:10 KJV)

  "God presides over heaven's court; he pronounces judgment on the heavenly beings: "How long will you hand down unjust decisions by favoring the wicked? Interlude "Give justice to the poor and the orphan; uphold the rights of the oppressed and the destitute. Rescue the poor and the helpless; deliver them from the grasp of evil people. But these oppressors know nothing; they are so ignorant! They wander about in darkness, while the whole world is shaken to the core. I say, 'You are gods; you are all children of the Most High. But you will die like mere mortals and fall like every other ruler.'" Rise up, O God, and judge the earth, for all the nations belong to you." (PSALM 82 NLT)

 Actually, it is rather sad to watch, as those who think they have control, realize that they really don't. But that isn't anything new! I am praying that those who are given the power to perform the right things, as great a task as that might be, will always remember that they are only servants, doing only that which is needed and never doing their own will and agenda.

 There are a couple of things about the things which Solomon had taken notice of; most of which was the fate of the wicked and how there was so great of a waste of opportunity to do right, but they choose to do what was wrong. The greatest example of this would be the devil himself as he was given such glory and great opportunities, being in the presence of God and in charge of the worship. 

 The spirit of envy is that which sees someone greater, and that wants what is not theirs for the taking! This goes way beyond that which is part of the church; this is something that started long ago at the very beginning, which was when Adam began naming the animals. God put that spirit within him, to see the thing that he was missing, giving him the desire for a mate of his own.

 It was not anything that Adam could make happen, which caused to have a great desire. Something that God responded to, saying, "It is not good for the man to be along. I will make a helper who is just right for him" (Genesis 2:18 NLT) I can only imagine what was not good; but I know that God needed for Adam to desire there to be a mate himself. 

 Moving on, as Adam became familiar with his mate, he also became more and more accustomed to the idea and feel of power; having the responsibility to rule over the garden and all that was in it, it caused him to want more power. You can see by this message, where this is going! 

 The one thing that he had not, but so desperately wanted, was the one and only thing God said he couldn't have! What is vanity? In the context of what Solomon is sharing, it is emptiness and become unsatisfactory. In other words, that which you thought would satisfy your craving, has taken from you that which would have done you good, making you empty and worthless...

"Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their own foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarreling, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip. They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They invent new ways of sinning, and they disobey their parents. They refuse to understand, break their promises, are heartless, and have no mercy. They know God's justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do then anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too." (Romans 1:28-32 NLT)