Day 82, Year 1 Refusing Evil and Choosing Good

“For before the Child shall know to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land that you dread will be forsaken by both her kings.” (Isaiah 7:16 NKJV)

“Both … kings” in today’s verse refers to the kings of Syria and Israel at that time. The verse points out a stage before adulthood when children do not know how to forsake evil and choose the good. Often we only learn to do this after experiencing both good and evil. Some smart people withdraw different things in the process of growing up. First, letting go of harmful things. Second, letting go of evil and sinful things out of conscience. Third, let go of useless things and keep only the useful ones. Finally, letting go of good things to pursue only the best.

Many people would put away childish things as they grow into adulthood, as these things are often detrimental and useless. However, this does not mean rejecting children’s virtues, such as purity, honesty, uprightness, goodness, etc., but rather their intellectual inadequacy to combat the sins in this world. Thus, readers should note that the sharing of the past few days is not to negate everything about childhood completely. In fact, most of the virtuous purity of children is worth preserving.

Today’s verse focuses on and teaches us to discern good and evil so we can forsake evil and choose the good. In addition to discerning good and evil based on personal experience, it is also valuable to draw insights from other’s exposure. The Bible records the observation of dozens of authors in discerning good and evil. These life encounters and discernments often are not explicitly articulated in the passages or are shared in a hidden way, prompting us to engage in meditation, analysis, deep reflection, and introspection to uncover the underlying meanings and gain insights. This method safeguards certain vital spiritual truths from falling into the hands of malicious people.

Forsaking evil and choosing good indicates that rational choices outweigh emotionalities. After all, the evil accompanying many people growing up might feel familiar or even intimate. We need to learn to be decisive in letting go, rejecting evil, and choosing good. To do so, we need to be willing to endure poverty or hardship, willing to lose rather than keep something harmful. It is worth noting that while certain things might seem harmless, they are actually detrimental in the long run.

Reflection questions:

1) Reflecting on the four levels of letting go in the first paragraph, which one do you find the most difficult? How would you overcome it by relying on the Lord, if any?

2) Could you overcome the feeling of familiarity and emotional closeness with evil or harmful people or things, and decisively forsake them or let them go? Why?