THE HATRED OF GOD

The Scripture does not state very often that God hates. Yet there are a few place where the Bible is clear that certain behaviors/attitudes draw out from the Sovereign Lord a hatred which is holy and right. Proverbs 6:16-19 states that God hates haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness, and one who spreads strife among brothers. Psalm 11:5 says that the Lord hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. In today’s reading in the One Year Bible, the personification of wisdom is said to hate pride, arrogance, the evil way and the perverted mouth (Pro. 8:13).

If you noticed, immediately prior to listing what ‘wisdom’ hated, the text states that “The fear of the Lord is to hate evil.” (Pro. 8:13) You and I, as followers of Jesus, are to hate what God hates. We should react as He does to those things that the Bible says He hates. Some of us believe that we need to be inoculated against evil. ‘Inoculation’ is defined by Webster’s Dictionary as “the introduction of a pathogen or antigen into a living organism to stimulate the production of antibodies.” As Believers, we do not need a small dose of evil in order to develop an appropriate hatred for it! We do not need to be inoculated against it but rather be isolated from it. We have been made holy as a result of what Jesus accomplished for us on Calvary.

I hate COVID, oysters, and camping. But how developed is my hatred for things that really matter? Do I hate pride, arrogance, evil and perverse speech? Am I avoiding these evils or hoping to be inoculated against them as a result of exposing myself to them on the regular? How about you….how is your hatred?