Tag: Devotion

God Alone Can Define Hate. Surely God cannot hate, says man! Is He not the God who loves everyone, or so we are assured? Therefore, these words are quite startling to many. It seems inconceivable, if not totally inconsistent for God to hate! It is a sad fact that the greatest weakness of American Christianity is the loss of belief in the “wrath of God”. Machen said, “There is no doctrine that is more utterly pervasive in the Bible than the wrath of God.” When we use the word hate it is all sin-tainted. God, who is righteous and sinless, hates us with perfect hatred. The God of the Bible is holy, just and good. He must hate sin or He would be like the immoral gods of the heathen. God’s hatred, therefore, is not to be confused with our sinful ideas of hatred. We see what happens when politicians and social-activists define hate literature or obscene art! God alone has the sovereign prerogative to think, feel, and act according to His own pleasure and purpose. In God there is no malice, no enmity, no moral bias, as with fallen man. We must explain with the Apostle: Who hath known the mind of the Lord or who hath been his counseller? Having personified what is hateful, the Lord now lists seven things that He hates. These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven. Seven is the number of totality or perfection, and serves to intensify God’s hatred for these things.

Watch your body language! The eyes, feet and hands all are trademarks of these scoundrels, these worthless persons. The saying “actions speak louder than words” is applicable here in a negative way. It is not only what a person says, but how he says it that proves the true import of words. Gestures, tone of voice, facial expressions are the true indicators of what the words really are intended to mean. Body language is significant!

What a contrast! While the Snared is in danger of doing too much, and the Shirker is content to do nothing, the Schemer described here is ceaseless in his efforts to do as much harm as possible. Some suggest that the Shirker and the Schemer refer to the same person or same type, because idleness breeds all sorts of other mischief. The old saying is still true that “the devil finds work for idle hands to do.” Idleness is “a state of damnable sin”. Men seem to learn to do evil by doing that which is next to it – nothing!

The Shirker’s life is one of great daylight theft, unarmed robbery. Laziness abounds in our world. We define this as “inactivity arising from an indisposition to work.” The way may be there, but the will is lacking. “An idle man makes himself a target for the devil; and the devil is an uncommonly good shot” (CHS). There’s plenty of evidence to prove that an idle man’s heart is the devil’s nest, and his hands the devil’s tools. We can apply this to lazy Christians too. How many of us are idlers in the Lord’s Vineyard.

Proud Man is here sent to the inferior creation for some lessons on life, not to the greatest or noblest, but to the least, an insect, the ant! Why? It is a reproof for his spiritual indolence. Man, the crown of God’s creation, with his great intellect, is now so corrupted by sin that he must learn from ants! What can he learn from this little creature? Lesson One might be that the ant doesn’t act in opposition to the will of his Creator as does man.

The extended warning about adultery is interrupted by three examples of danger which illustrate the warning about going astray in 5:23. They are, suretyship (Snared), the sluggard (Shirker), the naughty person (Schemer). These are still profitable warnings for both this world and the next! “The Book of Proverbs is a better guide for a young man in business than Adam Smith or the Financial Post” (Thomas).

Is there no remedy for the deadly virus of sin? Nothing but God’s grace can rouse a sleeping and stupefied conscience. Well may the guilty tremble and mourn, yet let none despair. The Arm that rescued Solomon and Samson and Magdalene and Paul is not weakened today. With Paul we cry: Thanks be to God there is cleansing for the lost, the lowest and the least. Proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound (Isa. 61:1). The Saviour healed the demoniac and cleansed the leper. In First Corinthians 6:11 we read this glorious affirmation, And such were some of you; but ye are washed, ye are sanctified, ye are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus.

What a tender, precious picture Hosea paints of God’s training of Israel, which, alas, failed of the desired goal (Pr. 11:4). God says through the prophet, I drew them with cords of a man, even with bands of love. These are the cords of God’s grace. Israel, like a little child, is being taught to go,and is upheld, in those first baby-steps, by the loving parent’s cords. Now, Solomon speaks of the cords of one’s own sin. To reject the cords of God’s gentle leading is to become the victim of sin’s cruel chains of oppression and bondage. Sin becomes its own stick for punishing sinners. As virtue is its own reward, so sin its own rebuke. If man has no regard for the Eye of God, he must face the result of God’s wrath.

The sins of the adulterer outlined in vs.9-11 were beautifully balanced by the blessings provided within the God-ordained marriage ordinance (vs.15-19). Yet, the sad reality is that the man continues to go against both his conscience and the divine provision.

Don’t let the pride and privileges of home and family become a snare. Pastors too often see possessive parents and obstinate offspring. God will not bless selfishness or rebellion. When He gives the water He expects it to be dispersed abroad. “To keep all to yourself will defeat your own end; to hold it in will make it stagnate. The only way of keeping it sweet for ourselves is to let it run over for the good of others” (Arnot). Any family united in devotion to God, benefits both parents and children. When C.T. Studd announced he was going as a missionary to China, his mother, though a devout Christian, was distraught. She implored him not to go. When, however, she knew “CT” was settled in his decision, she withdrew her opposition and supported him warmly for the rest of her life.