God who hates
Psa
5:4,5 You are not a God
who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The
arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do
wrong
In
theses two verses we focus on the last phrase: you
hate all who do wrong. How, we might think, does this
fit with the God who is love? Let's check, first of all, what the
Bible says about the things or people God hates.
Deut
12:31: You must not worship the LORD your
God in their way, because in worshiping their gods, they do all kinds
of detestable things the LORD hates. They even burn their
sons and daughters in the fire as sacrifices to their gods.
Deut
16:21,22 Do not set up any wooden Asherah
pole beside the altar you build to the LORD your God, and do not erect
a sacred stone, for these the LORD your God hates.
Psa
11:5 The LORD examines the righteous, but
the wicked and those who love violence his soul hates.
Prov
6:16-19 There are six things the LORD hates,
seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes , a lying
tongue , hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that
devises wicked schemes , , feet that are quick to rush into
evil a false witness who pours out lies and a man
who stirs up dissension among brothers.
That
will do for now, a good selection. God made the world perfect. Sin
came in and spoilt it, yet it is still possible for men and women
of faith to enter into relationship with the Lord and receive His
ongoing restoration. Such people who turn to Him, He calls His children
(e.g. John 1:12). For God, perfection is normal and natural. Thus
Jesus was able to say, “Be perfect as your
heavenly Father is perfect.” (Mt 5:48). Perfect there
means whole or complete, i.e. let God restore you by His Holy Spirit
and the work of the Cross, so that you are the complete being He wants
you to be in the likeness of Jesus.
Now
because God is perfect, He loves what is perfect, all He has made,
and those He is restoring but, conversely He hates anything that spoils
or mars the wonderful world that He has made. Thus whenever He sees
sin He hates it, in the same way that a surgeon may hate cancer cells,
knowing that unless it is eradicated it will destroy. Thus in the
verses above we find a variety of expressions of sin that God hates
because He knows that unless it is dealt with it will destroy His
people, His creation.
But
people? Yes, even people. Look carefully at their descriptions: the
wicked, the arrogant. These are not people who just occasionally do
these things, these are people who have settled into this way of life.
Like an infection in the body these are “carriers” that cause sin
to spread. What to you do with a life-threatening infection? You destroy
it by whatever means you can before it destroys you. No wonder God
hates or detests these “carriers” of sin. They are working to destroy
the wonder of all that He has made.
But
note something else. As soon as this person comes to repentance, if
that is possible, then God is instantly there for them. The second
they turn to God He is there for them. Here is a mystery. We can see
someone who we would describe in the language used above, and then
somehow God moves in their life, they pause, they question, they seek
and they submit, and we see God's salvation was there for them just
as it was for us. Jesus told us to pray for and love our enemies (Mt
5:44 ). Is it possible that God loves and hates at the same time,
or is it that He sees the possibility of repentance coming in this
person, and although He hates what they are at the moment, He knows
they will respond and become one of His – pre-chosen! (Eph 1:4) A
glorious mystery!
Response?
Ask the Lord to show you anything in your life that offends Him. Dare
to do it! He loves you and is for you. You can trust Him to love and
forgive you when you see it and confess it.