Thursday, August 31 2023

Listen to the Word

To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate pride and arrogance, evil behavior and perverse speech.  (Proverbs 8:13)  

“Fear” and “hate” are not normally things we strive to achieve, but today’s Scripture instructs us to do both of them. As we have been discussing all week, we are to fear God – we are to have an appropriate awe and respect for him instead of treating him casually. And if we have that appropriately high opinion of him, we will hate things that interfere with his purposes and harm his children.

We are called to do more than have mild displeasure about evil. We are to hate it, like we hate cancer when we watch it rob the life of someone we love. Evil attitudes, behavior, and speech wreck the lives of people who are precious to God. If we respect him, we will be unable to dispassionately observe evil – we will get worked up about it. We will hate it.

Live the Word

Ask God to help you to respect him so much that you are deeply bothered by anything that opposes him. Tell him you don’t want to be complacent about evil.