11.e. “The prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together.”

Micah 7:1  Woe is me! For I have become as when the summer fruit has been gathered, as when the grapes have been gleaned: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fig that my soul desires. The godly has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among mankind; they all lie in wait for blood, and each hunts the other with a net. Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well; the prince and the judge ask for a bribe, and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul; thus they weave it together. The best of them is like a brier, the most upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, of your punishment, has come; now their confusion is at hand. Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

Psalms 12:1    Save, O LORD, for the godly one is gone; for the faithful have vanished from among the children of man.

Psalms 14:1-3    The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds; there is none who does good.  The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God.  They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one.

Romans 3:10-18     as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;  no one understands; no one seeks for God.  All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”  “Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive.” “The venom of asps is under their lips.”  “Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness.”  “Their feet are swift to shed blood;  in their paths are ruin and misery,  and the way of peace they have not known.”  “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We look at the times we are in and have to wonder what it will be like in the future when those who love Jesus Christ are gone.  It will be a time when the anger and wrath of God are not withheld.  It will be a time of punishment and a time of confusion.  It will be a time when trust is no longer a virtue.  We want to trust words that people speak and write.  We want to believe they are speaking the truth.  Even now we find it hard to believe anything that is reported.  News has become a political tool for the narratives the various media outlets determine to be important.  There is little news that is not tainted with bias or lies.  There is, however, a mountain of confusion from our elected officials and media outlets.  There are lies and more lies. They utter evil desires of their heart and it is weaved together through their intents.  The best of them is like a thorn.  They have turned aside and together they have become corrupt.  They are full of bitterness. The way of peace they have not known.  There is no fear of God before their eyes.  Ruin and misery follow them.

This is the world we live in but is not our home.  We have our eyes on our Savior, Redeemer, and  Son of God, Jesus Christ.  We can see the lies, bias, and half-truths.  We understand the way of the world and it should draw us closer to Jesus Christ.  Our hope is built on Him and not the things of this world.  I wonder if the best thing we could do right now is to turn off all news and social media outlets for 10 days.  I am certain our lives would not be as helpless or hopeless as they try to convince us it is.

4.r. How unsearchable are his judgments and how incomprehensible his ways!

Job 4:12   “Now a word was brought to me stealthily; my ear received the whisper of it. Amid thoughts from visions of the night, when deep sleep falls on men, dread came upon me, and trembling, which made all my bones shake. A spirit glided past my face; the hair of my flesh stood up. It stood still, but I could not discern its appearance. A form was before my eyes; there was silence, then I heard a voice: Can mortal man be in the right before God? Can a man be pure before his Maker? Even in his servants he puts no trust, and his angels he charges with error; how much more those who dwell in houses of clay, whose foundation is in the dust, who are crushed like the moth. Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces; they perish forever without anyone regarding it. Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them, do they not die, and that without wisdom?’

Romans 11:33   Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

Romans 9:20     But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?”

Ecclesiastes 7:20    Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Jeremiah 17:9   The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?

Matthew Henry:   “Eliphaz relates a vision. When we are communing with our own hearts, and are still, Ps 4:4, then is a time for the Holy Spirit to commune with us. This vision put him into very great fear. Ever since man sinned, it has been terrible to him to receive communications from Heaven, conscious that he can expect no good tidings thence. Sinful man! shall he pretend to be more just, more pure, than God, who being his Maker, is his Lord and Owner? How dreadful, then, the pride and presumption of man! How great the patience of God! Look upon man in his life. The very foundation of that cottage of clay in which man dwells, is in the dust, and it will sink with its own weight. We stand but upon the dust. Some have a higher heap of dust to stand upon than others but still it is the earth that stays us up, and will shortly swallow us up. Man is soon crushed; or if some lingering distemper, which consumes like a moth, be sent to destroy him, he cannot resist it. Shall such a creature pretend to blame the appointments of God? Look upon man in his death. Life is short, and in a little time men are cut off. Beauty, strength, learning, not only cannot secure them from death, but these things die with them; nor shall their pomp, their wealth, or power, continue after them. Shall a weak, sinful, dying creature, pretend to be more just than God, and more pure than his Maker? No: instead of quarrelling with his afflictions, let him wonder that he is out of hell. Can a man be cleansed without his Maker? Will God justify sinful mortals, and clear them from guilt? or will he do so without their having an interest in the righteousness and gracious help of their promised Redeemer, when angels, once ministering spirits before his throne, receive the just recompence of their sins? Notwithstanding the seeming impunity of men for a short time, though living without God in the world, their doom is as certain as that of the fallen angels, and is continually overtaking them. Yet careless sinners note it so little, that they expect not the change, nor are wise to consider their latter end.