April 13, 2021
Worship in WORD
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Ps 31 For the director of music. A psalm of David. 5 Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth. 6 I hate those who cling to worthless idols; I trust in
the Lord. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in your love, for you saw my
affliction and knew the anguish of my soul. 8 You have not handed me over to
the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place. NIV |
Ps 31 For the choir director: A psalm of David. 5 I entrust my spirit into your hand. Rescue me, LORD,
for you are a faithful God. 6 I hate those who worship worthless idols. I trust in the Lord.
7 I will be glad and rejoice in your unfailing love, for you have seen my
troubles, and you care about the anguish of my soul. 8 You have not handed me
over to my enemies but have set me in a safe place. Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996,
2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House
Publishers. All rights reserved. |
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Ps 31 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of
David 5 Into thine hand I commit my
spirit: thou hast redeemed me, O LORD God of truth. 6 I have hated them that regard
lying vanities: but I trust in the LORD. 7 I will be glad and rejoice in thy
mercy: for thou hast considered my trouble; thou hast known my soul in
adversities; 8 And hast not shut me up into the
hand of the enemy: thou hast set my feet in a large room. KJV |
Ps 31 Into Your Hand I Commit My
Spirit To the choirmaster. A Psalm
of David. 5 Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God. 6 I hate those who pay
regard to worthless idols, but I trust in the Lord. 7 I will rejoice and be
glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have
known the distress of my soul, 8 and you have not delivered me into the hand
of the enemy; you have set my feet in a broad place. ESV |
I. Hope – vv. 1-8
A. Verse 1: Action
B. Verse 2: Appeal
C. Verses 3 & 4: Acknowledge
D. Verse 5: Abandon
E. Verse 6: Abhor
F. Verses 7 & 8: Acclaim!
II. Help! – vv. 9-20
III. Hail – vv. 21-22
IV. Heart – vv. 23-24
E. Abhor – v. 6
If you have been keeping up
with my blog, you might have noticed this about my outline. I have been dwelling
for some time under the heading of “Hope.” It covers verses 1-8. However, up
until now, my subpoints just covered verses 1-5. I cannot remember why that is
so. Perhaps I only could think of things that started with an “A” to cover the
first five verses at the time. Whatever the reason, I think these last two
subpoints adequately describe David's tone and actions in summing up this first
portion dealing with his hope.
I have already expounded on the
content of verse 6 as it pertains to the preceding verses. Especially verse 5,
where David calls the LORD “the God of truth.” There I contrasted God’s character
as truth and faithfulness with the idols that David’s enemies worshipped. Those
false gods were characterized as worthless lying deities.
Now I want to focus on the word
“hate” David uses in verse six that some may find objectionable. Not that they
find the word hate, in itself, is offensive. What they find troubling is David’s
object of hatred. David’s object of hatred was the people who worshiped the
false gods. If the target of his hatred were the “worthless idols,” there would
probably be no objection. However, David does not say that. Instead, he said,
“I hate those who cling to worthless idols,
but I trust in the LORD. (NIV ‘84)”
However, I don’t think this
should cause us to reject this sentiment as “sub-Christian” or “Old Testament
inferior ethics” as some do. The word “hate,” like the word “love,” has various
shades and intensities of meaning. I don’t think I have to waste time
illustrating this because you all know this is true. I have approached this
subject before*. In fact, I spent three journal entries on the topic back in March
of 2017. I will leave the links to them below. If you don’t have the time to
read all of them or prefer not to 😁, then I would suggest
reading the third link.
* Here
are the links
https://journal4christ.blogspot.com/2017/07/love-hate-part-1.html
https://journal4christ.blogspot.com/2017/07/love-hate-part-ii.html
https://journal4christ.blogspot.com/2017/07/love-hate-part-iii.html
Worship
in Witness:
I think David loved the Lord so
much that he abhorred being around those who practiced idolatry (but see my
discussions on hatred in the links above). An idolatry that was not only false, but
involved depraved immorality such as prostitution, orgies, and child
sacrifice. All these things brought
dishonor to the true God which David worshiped. Hate, therefore, is a hatred of
all that God hates. This hate not only extends to the sin but the sinner
themselves. His wrath is stored up against all the wicked and unrepentant. We
are not to involve ourselves in their practices (Ps. 16:4; Josh. 23:7; 1
Cor. 15:33) nor have extended fellowship with
them (2 Cor. 6:14-17; Eph. 5:11). Nevertheless, we are also to love them as God loves them
in His common grace:
He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Matt 5:45-46 NIV
We are to hate them in the
sense of abhorring the sin they practice and in knowing their destiny apart
from the Lord. We agree with God that His wrath and judgment are right and just
(but leave vengeance and judgment in His all-wise and righteous hands). We do
not involve ourselves with them and join in their sinful practices nor attend
the places they frequent (if at all possible), nor are we to revel in their sin.
We are to love them enough to
hate them for what they are and do apart from Christ. This kind of love/hate
leads us to pray for their salvation and seeks to do them good. There is no
tension between love and hate when understood in this way. So let us “hate the
sin and love the sinner.” But let us also hate the sinner enough to love them
in a way that might lead them into the kingdom and save them from the wrath of
God, which we all deserve apart from Christ.
Ø I have included a helpful article below in my notes and
quotes section. It probably explains it much better than I have. This is a complex
subject to discuss because of the dichotomy that exists today between these two
words. It is difficult to explain because of the subjective feelings we attach
to each of these words - feelings that shape our thoughts that may not be biblical.
Worship
in Promise, Poetry, Prayer, and Praise:
Do I Love You, Lord?
Do
I love You, Lord?
Is
it You, I worship
And
the world abhor?
Do I love You, Lord?
Or
is there an idol
That
I hold more vital?
Do
I love You, Lord?
Your
word, do I keep
Do
I feed Your sheep?
Father,
You
are my refuge and my fortress—the One whom I trust. As I examine myself and my
love for You, reveal any snares I am trapped in and deliver me. Lead me in Your
way, oh God of truth. Please help me to yield to Your will as Your Son did on
the cross. May I die to me and rise in Thee. Victorious over my enemies. Those
lying idols, who seek to entice my eyes, take hold of my heart, manacle my
mind, and shackle my spirit. In Christ's name, amen.
Savior,
Lead Me
Author:
Frank M. Davis
Tune:
[Savior, lead me lest I stray] (Davis)
Published
in 263 hymnals
1)
Savior, lead me lest I stray,
Gently
lead me all the way;
I
am safe when by Thy side,
I
would in Thy love abide.
Refrain:
Lead
me, lead me, Savior,
lead
me, lest I stray;
Gently
down the stream of time,
Lead
me, Savior, all the way.
2)
Thou the refuge of my soul,
When
life's stormy billows roll;
I
am safe when by Thy side,
All
my hopes on Thee rely. [Refrain]
3)
Savior, lead me, then at last,
When
the storm of life is past;
To
the land of endless day,
Where
all tears are wiped away. [Refrain]
Lyrics: https://hymnary.org/text/savior_lead_me_lest_i_stray#tune
Video: https://youtu.be/yMe0Ryg_W8w
Some Further Notes & Quotes:
Article by
Jonathan Parnell
Pastor,
Minneapolis, Minnesota
That is what he said, as Matthew recounts his words from the Sermon on the Mount:
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’” (Matthew 5:43–44, emphasis added)
And when Jesus said “love,” we should be clear that he didn’t mean hollow good will, or some bland benevolence, or a flakey niceness that hopes our enemies stop being so cruel. Jesus never talks about love that way. A category for love like that — the anything-goes, pat-on-the-head, can’t-we-all-just-get-along kind of love — is a phenomenon peculiar to our own day. When Jesus says to love our enemies, he means that we love them with a lay-your-life-down type of love — the type that comes from the heart and desires the other’s good, and sacrifices for it, when no one else but God is watching.
And it’s the type of love that includes hate.
The Hate of Love
In fact, if the love is real, it must include hate. We’ve seen or experienced something like this before, though it might be more complex than we first thought. Love that rightfully includes hate needs to navigate between the two ditches of unhelpful generality and selfishness in disguise.
In other words, to only say that we must “love the sinner but hate their sin” oversimplifies things, glossing over the inseparable connection at work in the evildoer and his evil. At the same time, to only hate the sin because of how it affects us is actually superficial virtue, not love. But real love, and therefore rightful hate, sails beyond these docks to drop anchor an extra mile down.
On one hand, righteous hatred is expected because evil acts are morally repugnant and offensive to God (Psalm 97:10). Evil belittles God’s holiness and evidences that his name is not hallowed. We hate evil because it is wrong. But on the other hand, if this hatred is part of loving our enemies, we must hate the evil of our enemies because of what the evil means for them.
With Them in View
Expounding Jesus’s love command, John Piper writes that we cannot claim to truly love someone while being indifferent toward what destroys them. If we love our enemies, then we must hate the evil of our enemies that makes them so. That evil — the evil for which they are culpable and liable for eternal punishment — is therefore at odds with love’s interest in their eternal good. “We do not hate God’s judgment. That is just and wise. But we do hate the evil that leads a person to oppose God and incur his judgment” (What Jesus Demands from the World, 224).
To be sure, our enemies aren’t mere victims of evil’s tyrannical force, and we don’t parse individuals away from their actions. ISIS does evil and is evil — and our love for them means we hate both. We hate that they are blinded by darkness, that they are trapped by Satan’s schemes, that they are following the course of this world and ignorant of it all (Ephesians 2:2; 4:18).
But that hate, if we are obeying Jesus, means that we hate them not only because of their disgusting injustice, but for what that injustice means for their souls. Piper explains, “There is a kind of hate for the sinner (viewed as morally corrupt and hostile to God) that may coexist with pity and even a desire for his salvation” (222).
Love for our enemies means, fundamentally, that we hate our enemies for wholeheartedly joining in the evil that will ultimately cause their damnation (John 5:29). That is the kind of hate — the kind of love — that might look on them and say, in the spirit of our Savior, Father, forgive them for being so oblivious to what they’re doing. Open their eyes.
Jonathan Parnell (@jonathanparnell) is the lead pastor of Cities Church in Minneapolis–St. Paul, where he lives with his wife, Melissa, and their seven children. He is the author of Mercy for
Today: A Daily Prayer from Psalm 51.
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/do-you-love-your-enemies-enough-to-hate-them
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