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It is characteristic of wicked people that they do not fear God. As David continues to say in Psalm 36, the wicked delight in the very things God warns against and for which He threatens judgment and wrath. The wicked “flatters himself in his own eyes” concerning his sins, because he thinks he’s getting away with something deliciously evil and self-serving (v. 2).
His words and acts are devoid of peace, truth, wisdom, and goodness because he does not fear the Lord (v. 3). He plots his life along a course of wickedness, setting himself in a way that is not good and that embraces all kinds of evil (v. 4). These are the wicked, so marked and identified by their repudiation of God and His ways.
The truly righteous person is just the opposite of this. Those who love the Lord also fear Him, by a divine spiritual mystery and power, holding those two affections in harmonious tension as the very breeding ground of righteousness and good works. And all who thus love and fear the Lord hate evil in all its forms (Ps. 97:10). We don’t much like that word, “hate.”
But it is a perfectly legitimate affection and should be cultivated by every sincere follower of Jesus Christ. We must make certain, however, that this powerful repelling affection is properly focused. We are called to hate evil – anything which is contrary to God’s holiness, righteousness and goodness. And we must sincerely hate it – not just be averse to it – so that we cannot bear the very thought of transgressing against the God Who so graciously has saved us in Jesus Christ.
When we hate evil we will not even so much as dabble in it. Susie can make eggplant for herself as often as she likes, but she knows I hate it and will not so much as put a taste of it to my tongue. If we dabble in sin in any way – in any of our thoughts, words, or deeds – soon enough we will begin to think that, since no one else knows about it, and it’s not really hurting anyone, a little sin can’t be a bad thing. But sin is like a cancer.
One sin leads to another, as Aspah explained (Ps. 73:18) and sin, like Truth, will out. We are not clever enough to be always on guard against the sin we have chosen to harbor in our souls breaking to the surface in some word or deed. Indeed, we cannot even predict how our cherished peccadillo might spread to some other area of our lives, bringing its corruption to otherwise clean and wholesome activities.
Moreover, they who harbor sin in any way will find that their prayers are impeded (Ps. 66:18; Is. 59:1, 2). Not only will God turn a deaf ear to our prayers, but we will delight to seek the Lord in prayer less and less, knowing, as we do, that we’re harboring an attitude or practice displeasing to Him, and concerning which He knows full well.
We must positively nurture a genuine disgust for all things sinful. Sin is what put Jesus on the cross. Sin caused Him infinite sorrow, suffering, and shame. Sin turned the Father’s eyes from His Son and left Him to suffer in utter and complete isolation. Should we not truly hate that which brought such incomparable misery to our beloved Savior, and which provokes the wrath of God against unrepentant sinners?
If we love and fear the Lord we will hate that which He Himself hates. And God hates sin. Period. As we take up the study of God’s Law, specific sins will be revealed to us. We will understand and recognize them, in ourselves and others, and then we can begin to nurture such a disgust for sin that we will in no way take them into or abide them within our souls or lives (Rom. 7:7).
At the same time, as we begin to hate sin we will find that we are gaining and practicing more of the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). To fear the Lord is to love what our heavenly Father loves, hate what He hates, and do what brings Him pleasure. You who love and fear the Lord, hate evil.
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VP Fear of God.