"For you are not a God who is pleased
with wickedness; with you, evil people are not welcome. The
arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong; you
destroy those who tell lies. The bloodthirsty and deceitful you, Lord,
detest.” (Psalms 5:4-6 NIV)
The lesson to be learned from verses 4-6 is that God isn’t pleased
with wickedness and those who do evil are not welcome. He can’t stand
the presence of the prideful and He hates those who willfully do wrong.
He cannot abide dishonesty and deceit, He actually detests
those who are thirsty for blood.
I can totally relate to this, and I suspect you can as well. We
don’t want anyone who is vulgar in our homes. We would prefer to not
have to deal with the prideful, the dishonest, the bloodthirsty. We, who
are sinful, don’t like these things, and neither does God. But because
of His supreme holiness, not only doesn’t He like these things, but
these evils can’t abide in His presence.
When you go on, however, to verse 7, you see a whole different
side to God: “But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in
reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.” (Psalms 5:7 NIV).
We all know that in Christ we are to hate the sin but love the
sinner, and God gives us the ultimate example of this. He hated the sin;
but He loved us enough to make a way, even though that “way” cost Him
His life. When we accept that gift of Salvation, when we put our trust
in Him, when we show His love to those around us, we are welcome to come
into His house, to bow before His throne!
Do you know God? Have you accepted His gift of salvation? Then you
have the right to stand in His presence. Because of His great love, you
can come into His house and bow down in reverence before His throne. I
would urge you, however, to not take this gift for granted. You may be
forgiven, but God still hates the sin. Out of gratitude to Him for what
He has done, let’s do our part in putting off these things that God
hates. Let’s look to Him for the strength to say “no” to our pet sins.
Let’s not drag His gift of grace through the dirt by continuing to
willfully sin. Let’s make it a point to be obedient.
What is one way to tell if someone truly loves our Heavenly
Father?
Their actions will show it. They will respond to others, even the
sinners, in love; and when they do, God’s presence will flood through
wherever they are.
A very long time ago, I had a class of Grade 3 students. The class
was full of problem kids, and as a result, they weren’t the best group
of students. However, when my Heavenly Father told me to show these
rough students love and to listen to them and care about them, I did my
best to obey. The result was that we did, indeed, have a great time. The
students became motivated, and they learned well. You could feel God’s
presence amongst us. These students often told me that they had the best
teacher possible. Funny, I didn’t feel that way. I certainly made plenty
of mistakes! However, it was by worshiping my God in His holy temple
through obedience, it was by showing God’s love to these students
despite their faults, that He was able to step in and make a difference
in our classroom.
Let’s love God enough to put off willful sin. Let’s love Him
enough to obey. Let’s love Him enough to love others, especially the
unloveable. For when we do, we will be counted among those who are
welcome in His presence, and we will discover that God’s love will pour
through us to others, and His presence will fill us up to overflowing.
In His love,
Rob Chaffart