Isaiah 19 | Wayfarer

“I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian—
    brother will fight against brother,
    neighbor against neighbor,
    city against city,
    kingdom against kingdom.”
Isaiah 19:2 (NIV)

‘Yes, they quarreled, seemingly,’ said Sam. ‘There must have been a couple of hundred of the dirty creatures in this place. A bit of a tall order for Sam Gamgee, as you might say. But they’ve done all the killing of themselves.’
The Lord of the Rings, Book 6, Chapter 1

Evil falls prey to its own nature. That’s one of the themes that Tolkien threaded through his epic stories. Left to its own devices, evil implodes from its self-seeking appetites:

Several characters relented from killing Gollum and Gandalf even believed that Gollum had a part to play in the fate of the ring. Gollum’s insatiable lust for the One Ring was what ultimately saved Frodo and everyone else, while destroying both the Ring and himself.
In the Tower of Cirith Ungol Sam is able to find Frodo and rescue him because all of the orcs fought and destroyed each other. (see quoted passage above)
The orcs who took Merry and Pippin quarrel over their captives and their quarrel is leveraged by the hobbits to plot their escape.
Gandalf refuses to kill either Saruman or Wormtongue. In the end, Wormtongue finishes Saruman off himself.

I thought about this theme in Tolkien’s stories, and its caused me to think about my responses and reactions to evil that I encounter around me and in others. As a young man I was far more given to the notion of swift and final justice of any perpetrator of evil. The further I get in my journey the more I’ve come to appreciate that life is not always as simply black and white.

Even God, through the word of the prophets, makes it clear that sometimes the agents of evil unwittingly serve the greater design of the Great Story. In Isaiah’s prophetic messages to the nations in the past few chapters there has been a recurring theme of Israel’s enemies accomplishing God’s larger purposes. And, sometimes implodes and devours itself.

“Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgement,” Gandalf says to Frodo regarding Gollum’s deserving justice. “For even the very wise cannot see all ends.”

This morning I’m thinking about grand themes of good and evil, of mercy and justice. I would love for things to always be simple in the story telling and to avoid the messiness of the mystery. I would especially appreciate it as I apply these themes to my own life and relationships. Yet, my life journey has taught me that things are rarely that simple. The truth is that I would have quickly dispatched Gollum and considered it a just end, but then how would the larger epic have ended?

I’m left, as I am so often am, praying for wisdom and discernment. I’m trying harder than ever to suppress my natural eagerness to deal out judgement. I’m trying harder than ever to increase love in tangible ways.

On that Day, there will be a highway all the way from Egypt to Assyria: Assyrians will have free range in Egypt and Egyptians in Assyria. No longer rivals, they'll worship together, Egyptians and Assyrians! Isaiah 19:23 (MSG)

Charles Colson is well known in Christian circles for his teaching, his writing, and his ministry through Prison Fellowship. As the years go by, fewer and fewer people remember his incredible story. His life journey led to a pinnacle position among the conservative republicans and the political elite of the Nixon administration. Then came a rapid, deep descent he did not foresee. Colson was the first person convicted in the Watergate scandal that led to Nixon's resignation. Alone, broken, sitting in prison, Colson entered into a relationship with Jesus Christ and struck out on the path of redemption which would forever change his life and the lives of countless others.

What is often forgotten in Colson's story is the name of the person who visited him in prison and shared God's Message with him. It was not one of his political cronies. They all fled when he was convicted. His friends had also abandoned him in fear that they might be soiled by the Watergate scandal. The man who reached out to Colson was his political enemy. Harold Hughes was a liberal democrat, former governor of Iowa, and recovering alcoholic. Hughes visited Colson in prison, shared God's love with the pariah, and introduced Colson to Jesus.

Several years ago I had the opportunity to see Colson and Hughes reunited and hear them speak together. They were as opposite as opposites could be. Hughes the long-haired, liberal hippie and Colson the horn-rimmed, straight-laced conservative. I imagine that there was a lot on which the two disagreed. I was touched by watching the two of them together sharing their agreement on the single-most important truth. They were a living example of what happens when we follow Jesus' command and love our enemies.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and speakingoffaith