THE ELM

November 17

Psalms 34:14 Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it.

How simple are the instructions of the Lord. The ‘simplicity’ of the Lord is wiser than the complicated theses of men. In the previous verse, the psalmist asks how to live a good abundant life. He finds the answer in applying to his life the simplest principles ‘keep your tongue from evil’, ‘do not speak guile’, ‘depart from evil’, ‘seek and pursue peace’.

James from the New Testament of the Bible tells us that even as great ships are ‘turned about’ by a very small helm, we, as people, are also turned by a small organ: our tongue (James 3:4). It is a fact that once we learn to keep our tongue from evil and guile, we are ready to depart from evil, and do good; seek peace and pursue it. If we first we take care of our tongue, (which, let us not forget, speaks from the abundance of the heart (Matthew 12;34)), then the proper executive action takes place.

We need to be led by the words from His tongue, not ours. Therefore, starting with bringing our tongue under your control, let us depart from evil. Let us not just go around it, let’s just go away from it altogether. Let’s not just take your hands off of it, but our whole self too. Let’s not even live near it; let’s avoid it; leave it; set a great distance between us and “it” and leave no forwarding address. And do good; we need to be pragmatic, energetic, actively persevering in the good. Virtue overcomes ill. He who does good is sure to avoid evil (Romans 12:21). Seek peace; let’s not merely prefer it, but rather seek it with ardent zeal. Peace with God, peace with our own heart, with our friends, relatives and co-workers in the Lord. Let’s seek after peace as the merchantman sought after the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:46).

James 4:17 Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.