On This Day: When Life Goes to the Doegs

“But if that wicked servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed,’ and begins to beat his fellow servants and eats and drinks with drunkards, the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know and will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:48-51)

 

   My testimony this morning is all about how personal God gets as we have our daily time with him in his word and prayer. My morning time with God is my primary venue for attaching to my heavenly Father through his word, but this is supplemented by listening to the Bible a few times a week during my exercise times. The differences between the two opportunities make them both rewarding in their own ways. And I am often delightfully surprised at how they weave together with each other, but also with my current circumstances in life.

   For me, it is easy to make the connection between “that wicked servant” Jesus was speaking about to his disciples, the evil shepherd Doeg who murdered God’s priests, and real-life experiences that fit these very descriptions.

   It is interesting that there are three men whose names begin with “D” who are presented in God’s word in a negative light. Doeg was called by David, “you worker of deceit”.[1] Paul spoke of “Demas” who once was one of Paul’s “fellow workers” (Philemon 1:2), but later fell “in love with this present world, (and) has deserted me…” (II Timothy 4:10). And John wrote about a Diotrephes “who likes to put himself first… does not acknowledge our authority… talking wicked nonsense against us... refuses to welcome the brothers, and also stops those who want to and puts them out of the church” (3 John 1:9-10). All these men were condemned.

   I believe that one reason God breathed out into Scripture the names of individuals who were “wicked servants” alongside the names of “faithful and wise servants” was to help his children who have been hurt by similar people realize that we can press on as the faithful and wise servants of God no matter what anyone else does. We can also trust that God will bring about justice in the end.

   My own experience with such people is far fresher than I wish were the case. But I hope God is at work in this to comfort anyone who needs to hear how Jesus condemns such people. We can take courage from God’s warning and promise, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19).

   That is Paul quoting what God said in Deuteronomy to show that this is who God is and what he is like. We are never to avenge ourselves against “that wicked servant”, no matter who he/she is. But when we are told to “leave it to the wrath of God” it is because God’s wrath WILL be satisfied in the execution of justice against sinful servants. He who claims vengeance “is mine" also promises that he "WILL repay”.

   By showing how the “faithful and wise servant” is rewarded, and how “that wicked servant” is condemned, Jesus calls us to,

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13)

And God’s “good pleasure” makes it all worth it![2] 

 

© 2024 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8

Email: in2freedom@gmail.com

Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)

 

 

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[1] David wrote Psalm 52 about what Doeg did. Verse 2 is the specific one I referenced, but the whole Psalm shows David’s disdain for such an evil and deceitful man.

[2] Here is Psalm 52 to help anyone who could benefit from praying through a Scripture where a child of God was processing how a Doeg, a Demas, or a Diotrephes has done them wrong.

Psalm 52 “To the choirmaster. A Maskil of David, when Doeg, the Edomite, came and told Saul, ‘David has come to the house of Ahimelech.’” 

1 Why do you boast of evil, O mighty man?
    The steadfast love of God endures all the day.
2 Your tongue plots destruction,
    like a sharp razor, you worker of deceit.
3 You love evil more than good,
    and lying more than speaking what is right. Selah
4 You love all words that devour,
    O deceitful tongue.
 
5 But God will break you down forever;
    he will snatch and tear you from your tent;
    he will uproot you from the land of the living. Selah
6 The righteous shall see and fear,
    and shall laugh at him, saying,
7 “See the man who would not make
    God his refuge,
but trusted in the abundance of his riches
    and sought refuge in his own destruction!”
 
8 But I am like a green olive tree
    in the house of God.
I trust in the steadfast love of God
    forever and ever.
9 I will thank you forever,
    because you have done it.
I will wait for your name, for it is good,
    in the presence of the godly.