Love The Lord And Hate Evil

Psalm 97

Lightning, storm clouds, fire, earthquakes.  These are occurrences in nature that often frighten people, which is understandable, as we need to have a proper fear and respect for the power of nature. These occurrences also show the great and terribly awesome power and might of God, as our psalmist tells in our Psalm for this week.

As our unknown psalmist opens, he is calling upon everyone throughout the earth to sing praises to God (vs. 1).  Everyone, everywhere should rejoice, because Yahweh reigns!  God dwells in majesty and in unapproachable holiness (vs. 2 - 6).  Sometimes we forget just how holy God really is, but this psalm should give us a picture.  We cannot come to Him or find Him on our own. God’s holiness and glory are so brilliant no one can stand in His presence. Only thru the Blood of Jesus are we able to approach Him.

People worship all kinds of idols - both the literal idols of false religions, and the idols of our own materialistic desires and ambitions (vs. 7).  What has our highest loyalty?  Those who go after false idols are ignoring or rejecting Jesus. Remember, we will all stand before God one day.  At that time we will see Him in all of His glory and power, just as described in the previous verses.  How foolish to be found on that day worshipping false idols and false gods of any sort!  Jesus Christ will give perfectly righteous judgment on all of the peoples of the word (vs. 8-9).

When one becomes saved, and draws closer to the Lord, loving Him and being filled with His Holy Spirit, our distaste for anything that dishonors Him or displeases Him should grow (vs. 10).  What we need to do is to align our desires with God’s desires.   Do we love what He loves and hate what He hates?  If we are devoted to the Lord, that should be the case.  Those who love God will hate evil.  A believer and follower of Jesus should never admire those whose lives do not please God.  We are not trying to please Him if we do.  We need to hate evil in every form, not just the obvious sins, but also the socially acceptable sins as well.

Verse 10 also states the eternal security of the saved children of God. He preserves our souls, and what He preserves is safe and secure. Once we have given our soul to the Lord, we are safe and secure.  He will not lose a single one.  The Lord guards us just surely as any animal or human parent guards and protects their young.

As our psalmist states throughout his psalm, our God is an awesome, righteous and just God.  As his closing verse (vs. 12) states, “Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name.”