Too many people today are having a terrible time figuring out what is bad and what is good.  Our current culture confuses the matter more, with different moral codes presented depending on the show, the culture, or even the week.  When we don’t have a solid moral compass, we don’t have any clue as to what is good and what is bad.  And without that, our world falls apart.

Knowing this, God has given us His word as the moral compass we need.  Within that Book, there are myriad lists of the kinds of things that are Good, “virtue lists”, and lists of the kinds of things that are Bad, “vice lists”.  These lists range from the very short (“He has told you what is Good and what the Lord requires of you: to live justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”  Micah 6:8) to the very long (I won’t recite the book of Deut. or Leviticus here, but both are basically Vice lists).

Today, we have the earliest vice list in recorded biblical history.  And a quick look at it give us some important insights into the expectations of God.  Over the next two days, we’ll look at this list and just what it contains, and perhaps as importantly, what it doesn’t.

Here’s the list:

Good:  weep for those in trouble, grieve over poverty, hospitality, caring for the homeless.

Bad: lust, lying, adultery, denying justice to workers, not helping the poor/widow/orphan, clothing the needy, put my trust in gold instead of God, idol worship, rejoicing over my enemies misfortune, hiding sin out of fear of others’ opinions.

Tomorrow we’ll look at these more closely.  For today, look over this list and see if your righteousness matches that of Job.

Herod Agrippa, grandson of Herod the Great of Jesus’ birth narrative, is the leader of the Roman Empire in Judah.  And as a political animal, he tests the waters about these followers of “The Way” by taking one of their leaders, James the “Son of Thunder” and one of the 12 apostles, and killing him.  Since the people seem to like that, he arrests an even bigger fish, Peter, with plans to do the same to him.

When we say “the people seem to like that,” we have to remember that this is Judah, a Jewish territory.  And though Rome rules it, it is populated by Jews.  In other words, it is the Jews who like the execution of James the Christian, and who inspire Herod to arrest and ultimately execute Peter.

But God has other plans for Peter.  Herod has Peter arrested and guarded by 16 guards, a significant case of overkill.  But God says, “Nope” and Peter is set free.  Herod plans to kill the apostles but God says, “Nope” and no more are killed by Herod… ever.  Herod claims the title of “god” from his people, but God says, “Nope” and rather than being worshiped, Herod is killed.

In other words, the moral of this story is that God cannot be opposed.  Just try to go against God’s will, and He will foil your plans, leave you out of His, or worst of all, leave you to your own plans which, without Him, will lead to death.  God cannot be opposed.

This is a hard truth.  When we see so much evil, so much anti-God in this world, we can only suppose God has lost control.  When death reigns and violence is worshiped, when children are separated by hundreds of miles from their parents for a misdemeanor, and the innocent suffer, what can we think but that God has lost it.

As a Spiritual Director, I am taught to observe rather than control, to trust the Holy Spirit to reign, but even with that it is very hard to trust that “God’s got this”.  However, nobody said faith was easy.  Nobody said faith would make things go my way or bring justice.  Faith is hard, faith is illogical, but faith is mandatory for a relationship with God.