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Oh To Be Wise Meditations
I looked again and saw people being mistreated everywhere on earth. They were crying, but no one was there to offer comfort, and those who mistreated them were powerful. People cry out under a load of oppression; they plead for relief from the arm of the powerful. Extortion turns wise people into fools, and bribes corrupt the heart. You must not twist justice, show favoritism, or take bribes, because a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and subverts the speech of the righteous. Other people take bribes to murder people. You collect interest and make excessive profits. You make profits by mistreating your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the Almighty LORD. Help, O LORD, for the godly are no more; the faithful have vanished from among men. The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. The wicked will not prosper, for they do not fear God. Their days will never grow long like the evening shadows. Although a wicked person who commits a hundred crimes may live a long time, I know that it will go better with those who fear God, who are reverent before him. Each new day, make sure that justice is done, and rescue those who are being robbed. Or else The LORD's anger will flame up like a fire that never goes out. Who can stand before his fierce anger? Who can survive his burning fury? His rage blazes forth like fire, and the mountains crumble to dust in his presence. The LORD is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him. But he will sweep away his enemies in an overwhelming flood. He will pursue his foes into the darkness of night. Why are you scheming against the LORD? He will destroy you with one blow; he won’t need to strike twice! His enemies, tangled like thorn bushes and staggering like drunks, will be burned up like dry stubble in a field. Just like Christ was the voluntary ram caught in the thicket of the Cross. So the enemies of God will be entangled in there own rebellion and sin, to face fairly the judgment of the Lamb of God slain before the foundation of the world. Jesus will take no bribe or corruption, only righteousness and truth will He judge the nations. With one blow at the brightness of His Coming, will completely destroy the works of the evil.
Meditate Eccls. 8:13
