Thursday, January 17, 2013

Proverbs 6:16-19 God HATES that!

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. (Proverbs 6:16-19)

One of the things that I notice as we read through the Proverbs is how easy it is to apply the verses to other people rather than to ourselves. Whether thinking about people who hoard or are lazy, don’t we tend to shake our heads as we think of “those” who do such things? We fall so quickly into judging others rather than seeing our own sin. So, as we read verses that begin with “There are six things the Lord hates...,” we are already primed to also hate these things and “those people” who do them - and we cannot imagine how these verses would apply to us personally!

I’ve been thinking about these verses since yesterday, and the Lord showed me a couple of amazing things while I was preparing to tackle them. First, I noticed that it does NOT start out “The Lord hates people who do these things...” It isn’t until the last lines that it becomes that personalized. The other verses are talking about detached body parts: eyes that are proud or haughty; tongues that lie; hands that kill; hearts that plot; and feet that run to evil. It isn’t until the end that it says God hates the person who lies and stirs up dissension.

 God is love, and it’s hard to think of Him hating anything! But these attitudes and actions come straight from the pit of hell. They come from the father of lies whose goal is to kill, steal, and destroy. Satan LOVES each of these things that God hates. And he uses even the most godly people to be instruments of these hateful actions. Remember Jesus rebuking Peter with a “Get the behind me, Satan!” when Peter tried to dissuade Jesus from going to the cross?

We may decry “those people” who are prideful, “those” who lie, gossip and discourage, “those” who manipulate to get their way, “those” who create dissension, but we have to admit that sometimes “they” is “us!” We can be unwittingly used by Satan, and then, sometimes, it’s almost as if we raise our hands and shout to Satan, “Send me! I’ll discourage the heck out of that guy!”

How do we avoid being part of what God hates? First by humbly admitting our need to depend on His strength, not our own - and then ASKING Him for that strength. The Bible reminds us over and over to guard our hearts. Jesus said that out of the HEART the mouth speaks. In Jeremiah we are told, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jer 17:5) The Holy Spirit is the One who can change our hearts. We need to offer them up for change, be open to change as we study God’s Word, and actively seek to DO what God’s Word tells us!

We might even begin with that whole judgmental attitude thing. Repent of it! Then extend GRACE to others. I read the most amazing article the other day which speaks to the idea that Christians eat their own! We can be so harsh and gleefully jump on those who have fallen. I’m begging you to also read this article. It defines GRACE acted out. The title is “Going to Hell With Ted Haggard.” Now, doesn’t that make you want to read it? Do it, then let me know what you think!  


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