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Do not I hate them, O LORD, that hate thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee? Psalm 139:21
Reading Psalms is wonderful as it shows the glory and reverence of the Lord that l believed also. It shows His omnipotence, too. There is nothing He does not know nor cannot do to show forth His greatness and power in forming man. David put it so vividly in the chapters of this book. But, this one verse stands out to me in many ways that someday l shall preach on it. It gets me to ask, “Am l not to hate those who hate our dear and precious Lord Jesus Christ?
I seek for the answers and find them. Below is a summary that I gather:
a) We are to hate the filthiness, wickedness and sensual desires of this world and all kinds of sins. We are to hate our sins, too. We are not to allow them to be “caught” on us. Instead, we are to repent and ask forgiveness from our Lord and get right with Him. I believe we are to hate, abhor and despise all that has to do with rebellion against the Lord! We are to have the desire to love all that He has allowed us to have. He is the Creator of all things. He allows us to enjoy the good things as well as to go through bad times to learn our lessons. He also takes things from us to make us stronger in Him. He will then lead us to the place that is higher than anyone could ever reach and attain as we can never attain the incomparable greatness and magnificence of the Lord Himself.
b) I believe we are to hate the attitudes of others when they do not adhere to the Lord's commandments, nor comply with His promises in His Word. Adherence to His commandments will give us comfort in times of distress and need or in times when we need nothing. No one should hate a person, but the Word of God is true. We must not stray from our commitment to them. Instead, we must follow the His Holy Word every day. Best of all, His Word confirms to us that Jesus Christ alone separates us from hell. Our wholehearted acceptance of Him as our personal Savior and Lord means we are heaven-bound. This is clearly written in His Word. It is a commandment. We must not delay in keeping with the Lord's commandments, or He will supply many with a one-way-ticket to Hell in refusing, rejecting, refuting, denying, ignoring and downright rebelling against Him and His Word, the KJB Bible. He hates it when so many reject His free gift of eternal salvation. Yet, how very simple is the matter of wholehearted acceptance that a child can understand it with no problem. What foolishness, ignorance and plain stupidity it is when an adult would not surrender even till death and be cast into the lake of eternal hellfire. The proud are apparent evils on this earth. When the Lord sees all the good and evil, His face is much focused on the rebellion, pride, hatred and bitterness in many of us. The Lord is much heartbroken over those who refuse His free gift of salvation. He hates it and it grieves Him much too.
c) We must hate evil of all kinds and even expose sins in others so that they can see their unrighteousness clearly, too. Either they or we must not think of ourselves highly by trying to elevate ourselves above others. We are to think lower of ourselves even when others honestly compliment us. We need to thank them though, but with humility. We should hate sinning and the thought of it. Furthermore, it is always upright to fear the Lord and depart even from evil thoughts. We should be bothered deep in our soul when we commit errors. Our spirits should be heartbroken and sore at the thought of loving sin and hating righteousness. We should be grieved and hurt very much when we see others in evil sin. Committing them should make us hang our heads and cry for them. Moreover, we should cry for the Lord to save them by using us as vessels and witnesses to lead them to Christ Jesus.
d) We all should hate it when others rise up against our Lord to do Him harm (though we can never harm God). We must hate how they take His name in vain, curse Him, blaspheme Him, and mock His Holy Word. We need to hate it when others rebel against the Lord in all things. e.g. smoking, drinking, adultery, fornication, thefts, lying, prostitution, sodomy, pornography, all kinds of sins and evils. We should hate the devil as he is the father of all lies. We need to love what GOD loves and hate what HE hate, not the other way around. Most of all, I believe we should hate evil and sin, in such a way, that it makes us even wince and feel so much ashamed to even think wickedness, evil, profane thoughts and to even to sin just to have pleasure for a season. We know our Lord Jesus is a God of love. Yet, we know, too, that He is a God of hate and great wrath. The Bible says so. If anyone thinks He is not, read the Bible if there is one available and study it. We should stop making excuses and give sweet words about the Lord not condemning sin because it is a lie! We must do something honorable by believing only the truth. Many will die thinking the Lord will bypass the evils they had done while alive. For it is written in His Word: “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment.(Heb.9:27)” We all will be judged by the Lord in EVERYTHING WE HAVE DONE ON EARTH. NO ONE is exempted from His mighty wrath after death. God will not hold our hand and tell us that we have been exceptionally good that is why we are heaven-bound. Neither will He allow us in heaven just because we may not have broken His Word on how He tells us to live. Not even the little words of remorse will convince Him to give us the best favor. He will not be convicted, convinced nor intimidated by us because us if we are not truly saved! We are filled with rotten, filthy, stench-filled pride and vile wicked sins while on earth. He will send us to heaven if we are saved or hell if not. It is not His will that anyone perishes and goes to hell. There is coming a day when every idle word we say will be put in front of us and He will judge us all not just on what we do, or how we live. He will also judge us on what we did that we shouldn't have done, on what we should of done that we didn't do, on how we treated others and what was said that never should have been spoken, and on everything. If are saved, all these will not be counted against us. What if we are not? So, beware the wrath of the Lord when so many think they can rise up against Him, show Him hatred and contempt and get away with it. No one will face Him and still standing unafraid. God will show His great wrath and anger. It will be very sad for so many who will witness the same end because sooner this will happen to them, too. If they have not believed on the name of the Lord to save them from their sins, ask for His great forgiveness, have never repented of their rotten sins, and turned from them in humiliation and tears, they sure know their end.
A recapitulation: we need to love our Lord God with all our hearts, with all our souls, with all our minds, with all that is deep within us, with all our strength. We need to love what God loves, too. We need to hate what God hates, not the other way around. We need to hate our sins and the sins of others. We need to do something about them. We have choices: not sin and then not be convicted by them or continue to live in sin by rebelling against the Lord Jesus Christ who created us to have communion and fellowship with Him.
God is love. God hates, too. God judgeth the righteous and God is angry with the wicked everyday (Psalm 7:11). Those who only were taught God is love will never have that relationship with Him till they understand that God loves us so much that He hates our sins. He loves us so much that He hates it when people rebel against Him. He hates it when people put up a wall between Him and them and live as though there is no hell. Furthermore, He abhors those who live as if they are so full of pride that they put on acts of righteousness before others. But, the Lord knows the heart of us all, bar none.
Amen and Praise our Lord God for His goodness which endures forever and to every generation.
(c) Michael Carey; January 4, 2011
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