Things God hates
“There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers”
God is a God of love, but there are seven things He really hates. We should sit up and pay attention. First, God hates the way we look down on other people--as if we were something and they were nothing. That is a convicting thought: God watches the way we watch other people. He judges the way our hearts make judgments. It bothers Him when we are easily bothered by "little people" who get in our way. Second, God hates tongues that lie. Of course, tongues that lie are attached to hearts that are not wholly committed to the truth. But He hates the tongue because He hates the sound of a lie. And He hates the organ that gives birth to deception. Third, he hates the way we hurt people needlessly. They have done nothing to us, but that doesn't matter; it doesn't shield them from our malice. Spite is often irrational, even subconscious in nature. We can't explain why we don't like someone, or why we want to hurt them. I once heard a wife confess (at the depths of her menopause) that she hated to hear her husband breathe. Just the sound of air moving in and out of his lungs annoyed her. She complained about it constantly. But what's a man to do? Stop? Fourth, God hates the heart that devises wicked plans and, fifth, the feet that carry them to fruition. Here's a man or a woman lying on their bed at night scheming, plotting someone's downfall, weaving a web of disaster. It's all done in private, of course. Nobody knows--or so they think. But God is there in the room watching them--and He doesn't like what He sees. Sixth, we are back again to lying. God hates deception so much it makes His top seven most annoying list twice! Here, it seems, is more than an occasional act of misspeak--I believe that's the trending term in Washington. Here's a man (or a woman) for whom lying is as natural as breathing. Like the proverbial used car salesman, you know they're lying when their lips are moving. I know people like that. They lie about the silliest things, and so often, I wonder if they even know they are doing it. But God does. Seven, God hates the person who sows discord among brothers. The kind of person who plays both ends against the middle, and who leaves a trail of broken fellowship in their wake.
If you are paying close attention--I mean really close attention--you will see yourself on this list in more than one location. How many dishonorable mentions do you get? Seen in that light, the love of God for people like us is the greatest miracle in all the world. That God would love the likes of us, and at such vast expense, really does say an awful lot about the kind of God He is. Let's draw near to Him today and confess all the ways we provoke His hatred, and all the ways we don't deserve His love.