Hatred That Reveals Love

Psalm 139:19,20

    What a contrast David makes in the last part of Psalm 139!   He had spoken of the preciousness of God's thoughts unto him. Now in verses 19 and 20 he declares what God will do to the wicked. He writes, "Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men. For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy name in vain." Or as our versification has it (PRC Psalter):

    The wicked Thou wilt surely slay,
    From me let sinners turn away;
    They speak against Thy name divine,
    I count God's enemies as mine.

    This clearly reveals that by God's precious thoughts David has in mind the salvation God has prepared in Christ. This David saw in the bloody sacrifices in the temple. He reveals no fear of punishment upon his own sins which the everywhere present God, Who sees and hears all, knows. He knows himself as one whose sins are blotted out. And he wants nothing to do with those who speak wickedly against God and take His name in vain. He counts God's enemies his enemies. All this reveals that God has begun the work of salvation in him, for he has been born again with a new life that loves God.

    What David reveals here is that gospel truth which God preached to Adam and Eve the day they became God's enemies. He promised them that He would bring forth a people that hated sin and those who walk in sin. He promised them in Genesis 3:15 that He would "slay the wicked," for Christ, The Seed of the Woman, would crush the serpent's head and the heads of those who are not delivered from his power.

    The question is whether we can say that with David. Do we want sinners to depart from us? Or do we enjoy them in their sinful ways? Do we feel at home with them, like their company, seek them rather than say to them, "Depart from me"? If we do, then we consider their thoughts and actions more precious than God's. Hatred of the world reveals love of God. Love of the world reveals hatred of God. God's love makes us love Him and hate the world and all its sins.

Read: Jude
Psalter versification: #383:4

Meditations on the Heidelberg Catechism

Song for Meditation: Psalter #266
Why not sing along??

Through the Bible in One Year
Read today:
Job 8-10 ; Job 11:1-20 
1 Corinthians 15:1-28 
Psalm 38:1-22 
Proverbs 21:28-29 
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Quote for Reflection:

    “Election is the unchangeable purpose of God, whereby, before the foundation of the world,  he hath out of mere grace, according to the sovereign good pleasure of his own will, chosen, from the whole human race, which had fallen through their own fault, from their primitive state of rectitude, into sin and destruction, a certain number of persons to redemption in Christ,  whom he from eternity appointed the Mediator and Head of the elect, and the foundation of Salvation.      

       This elect number, though by nature neither better nor more deserving than the others, but with them involved in one common misery, God hath decreed to give to Christ, to be saved by him, and effectually to call and draw them to his communion  by his Word and Spirit, to bestow upon them true faith, justification and sanctification; and having powerfully preserved them in the fellowship of his Son, finally, to glorify them for the demonstration of his mercy, and for the praise of his glorious grace; as it is written:"According as he hath chosen us in him, before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, and without blame before him in love; having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved," Ephesians 1:4,5,6 .   And elsewhere: "Whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified," Romans 8:30 ”    Canons of Dordt, Head 1 Article 7