Hater

Proverb 6: 16 – 19

There are six things which the Lord hates, yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies and one who spreads strife among brothers.

This is an amazing passage to me. First of all, it is so interesting that of the things God hates, I mean really hates, He has included haughty eyes and a lying tongue. Now we all expect Him to hate hands that shed innocent blood, feet that run to evil and a heart that devises wickedness. I don’t imagine any of that is a surprise but what about the haughty eyes and lying tongue? Did you think that God hates those as much as the others?

Secondly, the haughty eyes and lying tongue are mentioned before those heinous attributes that we all recognize as wicked. Also, the author uses a body part to describe each of the things that God hates until He gets to the end. He starts with eyes, then tongue, hands, heart and feet. When he gets to the end he just goes straight to talking about God hating a person who does these things. That is really strong. You may not have thought that spreading strife was that big a deal or making false statements, but it seems to me that those two don’t even get the benefit of a body part to hide behind. The writer just levels those straight at anyone who participates in that kind of behavior.

Lastly, I am struck that three of the things God hates have to do with how we use our mouths and two of them have to do with lying specifically. This is a great revelation. These things are an abomination to God. He hates a lying tongue, a false witness who utters lies and one who spreads strife. The first two are pretty obvious. As for strife, how is that usually spread? By the words of our mouths usually. Look, Jesus described himself as the truth so of course lying and bearing false witness are an abomination to the Lord. The truth and a lie cannot exist together. The devil, God’s mortal enemy, is the father of lies (John 8: 44) so we have no business having any part in deception of any sort. Jesus is the truth and the Holy Spirit was called, by Jesus, the Spirit of truth (John 14: 17) which stands to reason since Jesus is the truth. So, the truth is completely incompatible with deception and lying. We must choose. It is either truth or deception, God or the devil. You cannot have it both ways. Choose truth in all circumstances and don’t grieve the heart of God.