1Ki 22:7-8 But Jehoshaphat said, “Is there not here another prophet of the LORD of whom we may inquire?” (8) And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.” And Jehoshaphat said, “Let not the king say so.”
Many times evil people try to excuse their wickedness by claiming ignorance. “I just don’t know any different. This is how my parents treated me.” You have no doubt heard this kind of thing before.
But evil – ongoing, habitual, unrepentant, narcissistic evil – is a very knowing thing. You see it in the Scripture above. Ahab knew. He knew that Micaiah spoke for the Lord, and therefore spoke truth. Nevertheless, Ahab chose sin. He hated Micaiah because the prophet only spoke the truth. And for Ahab, God’s truth was bad news.
If you keep this thing in mind as you look at various wicked people in the Bible, you will see this same thing. They know. For instance:
Rom 1:32 Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
Judas knew. The Pharisees knew. The Chief Priests knew–
Joh 12:9-11 When the large crowd of the Jews learned that Jesus was there, they came, not only on account of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. (10) So the chief priests made plans to put Lazarus to death as well, (11) because on account of him many of the Jews were going away and believing in Jesus.
Don’t fall for excuses your abuser might give. He (or she) knows exactly what they are doing, they know it is evil, and yet they thrive on it.