Overcoming Evil with Good

In 1 Chronicles 7, there is an obscure account of the tragic deaths of the sons of Ephraim, Ezer and Elead, at the hands of the men of Gath over the theft of cattle.  It is unclear whether the sons of Ephraim or the men of Gath were the aggressors.  It seems most likely men from Gath came to steal cattle from the sons of Ephraim during their sojourn in Egypt.  It is also possible the sons of Ephraim, during a trip to Gath before the enslavement of the Hebrews, attempted to take cattle from Philistines and it resulted in their death.  Ephraim was rightly devastated by the death of his sons, and his grief and sorrow continued for some time.  His mourning for the evil which had befallen his house continued to the birth of his next son as 1 Chronicles 7:23 tells us:  "And when he went in to his wife, she conceived and bore a son; and he called his name Beriah, because tragedy had come upon his house."  Beriah means, "in evil."  It seems evil had overtaken Ephraim and his house, and he was profoundly affected by his great loss.

The life of Ephraim shows us how we can be more negatively impacted by grief and feelings of loss than being encouraged by all God has given us.  It is no sin to love others and to care deeply about them, to be overwhelmed by emotions and feelings God has provided us by His grace.  But it is sinful to remain hopeless and despair when God remains good.  Though we live in a world filled with evil (and we are all contributors to the downward spiral in our natural state), we can be glad it need not overcome us.  The Son of God Jesus Christ came into this world and experienced the wickedness of this fallen world in full, for He was betrayed, mocked, condemned and murdered though He was righteous and without sin.  In embracing the human experience He embraced every sinner by His sacrifice, not just to empathise with us but to provide redemption, reconciliation, restoration, atonement, healing and eternal life.  Words fail to describe in full the awesome works God has done through the Gospel for all who trust in Christ, and He has brought enduring hope to lost, hurting, dying sinners.

Paul wrote to Christian believers in Romans 12:21, "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."  Israel described his days on earth as "few and evil" compared to his fathers, and evil which flourished in Ephraim's day has continued until now.  Though we live in evil days, through faith in Jesus Christ evil can still be overcome by good--as sure as sinners can be made saints by the Gospel.  Jesus said to His disciples, "Be of good cheer, for I have overcome the world," and He demonstrated all power to overcome death (the consequences of sin) by rising from the dead and remains victorious in eternal glory.  To "overcome" means to conquer or prevail.  Christ makes us overcomers when we are born again by faith in Jesus and then willingly submit to Him, presenting ourselves to Him as living sacrifices.  Rather than being conformed to the world, we are to be transformed by the renewing of our minds, approving of God's will and practicing it (Romans 12:1-2).

Since we are called to overcome evil with good, we must learn to discern between God's ways and the wisdom of this world.  Romans 12:9 says, "Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good."  We can be easily overtaken and overcome by evil when we have embraced hypocrisy in our hearts, loving what is evil and being unfaithful to do and think on what is good.  Our love of God prompts us to be faithful to Him in practice:  wouldn't it be a shame for acts of devotion and obedience to God to resemble a "fling" because we remain married and cling to evil?   God's word is able to pierce our hearts and stir our conscience, revealing wickedness in us to repent of and guiding us to do what is good as Psalm 119:104-105 says:  "Through Your precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way. ¹⁰⁵ Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path."  Praise the LORD we are not at the mercy of evil, for the mercies of our good God are great.  Knowing death has been conquered by Christ, by His strength and wisdom we can choose to hate evil and do what is good every day--even to rejoice in a sorrowful season.