Regular Dispatch: A Hating but Righteous God!

Proverb 6:17-19: 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.

The gravity of this verse bears heavily on me. Even God draws a distinction in what he dislikes. Some behavior he hates while some others (or even the same) he detest. To know God, is to know his behavior – his likes and dislikes. To be like Christ who is God is to have an attitude and mind set of Christ.

Living in a pluralistic society, we often forget that an innocent whether Christian, Muslim or Hindu, poor, rich, wise or foolish, white, black or brown, malayalee or north Indian – regardless, God is on the side of the innocent. Let us not deny justice to the week, poor and the needy or stand false witness against ANYBODY! Personally I think, in our modern times, the poor is more likely to find justice in a secular court than in the hall ways of the Church. Beware of partiality, nepotism and favoritism. Let us be just in our examination.

These verses address three areas – Attitude, Mind/Heart and the Tongue (the organ of death). Run away from pride like a hunted deer (especially the pride of the spiritual kind), keep you heart and mind clear of wicked thoughts, keep you tongue from lying (we tend to think white lie and small lies are okay! – but many times and oft these are the kind that cause confusion).

Guard your tongue from creating dissension among the brothers. Unity in the body of Christ is killed by dissension. God detest the one who cause dissension. Let us make ourselves aware of the complete meaning of this word.

Out of 7, three evils are of the tongue. Sometimes I think the dumb easily finds favor in the eyes of the Lord. But even they can’t escape their own heart. Above all let us remember that God hates and detest all these. If that is the case, let us hate these in our life and run away from these.