I read the “command to obey” in Psalm 97 and it triggers something. It picks at something that’s bugged me for a while. But part of me wants to just brush it off for fear of getting on a hobby-horse. And yet another part of me says, it’s been served up this morning, so chew on it.

What’s that something? It’s the idea that choosing “the lesser of two evils” is a righteous thing to do.

Somehow that’s become a thing in this cultural moment. If two things are evil, and you feel like you gotta pick one, then the right thing to do must be to choose “the lesser of two evils.” That, if you want to advance the things of righteousness but there are no righteous options, then it just makes sense to opt for the “the lesser of two evils.” But is that really the way it works in the economy of the kingdom of heaven?

Romans 12 has been my “go to” text for objecting to buying into the rightness of getting behind “the lesser of two evils.”

Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. . . . Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

(Romans 12:9, 21 ESV)

You don’t overcome evil with the “lesser of two evils”, you overcome evil with good.

And that, as I’m reminded in this morning’s reading, is because of what we believe about our God.

The LORD reigns, let the earth rejoice;
       let the many coastlands be glad!

O you who love the LORD, hate evil!
       He preserves the lives of His saints;
       He delivers them from the hand of the wicked.
Light is sown for the righteous,
       and joy for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the LORD, O you righteous,
       and give thanks to His holy name!

(Psalm 97:1, 10-12 ESV)

O you who love the LORD, hate evil! . . . That’s what’s grabbed me this morning.

A truth about our God — the LORD reigns — connects to a command to obey for me — hate evil!

Don’t choose evil, even when it’s the “lesser of two evils”. Hate it!

And how can I do that when so much is at stake? Set your mind on things above (Col. 3:2) and remember — and believe — the LORD reigns.

If God rules (MSG), if He really is king (NLT), then nothing needs to force my hand to NOT hate evil. Nothing corners me into choosing the lesser of two things which I am to abhor.

For the LORD preserves. And the LORD delivers.

And it is the LORD who sows seeds of light among His people (that sounds pretty metaphysical, something to chew on for another time). Nothing else, nor anyone else, in this world will produce a harvest of righteousness for the upright in heart.

Thus, because the LORD reigns, by faith I can always abhor what is evil and only hold fast to what is good and believe that evil just will not overcome evil (even if it’s “the lesser of two evils”), but that good, under God, ultimately prevails.

By His grace. For His glory.