Lining up your ducks of loves and hates

Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? Psalm 139:21

What you love and what you hate reveal a great deal about your character. Why? Because, simply put, you can’t be for something without being against its opposite. When you love your family, you stand in strong opposition to anything that would threaten it.

Long ago the psalmist wrote, “Do I not hate those who hate you, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you?” (Psalm 139:21). Are you surprised to learn that there are things that God hates? You shouldn’t be. There’s an old expression that goes, “Get your ducks lined up.” It means you are consistent in what you love and hate.

So the question confronts us: “What does God hate?”

First, says Proverbs 8:13, “To fear the Lord is to hate evil.” Immediately you find yourself standing in a small circle because most people today have a passive indifference to wrongdoing.

In the book of Amos there’s an interesting statement as God says He hates their religious feasts (Amos 5:21). Surprised? No, God isn’t a killjoy. He was the one who instituted the great feasts of the Old Testament that included dancing, drinking and celebration. What He opposed was turning them into orgies and debauchery while He was forgotten and pushed aside.

In Malachi we read, “‘I hate divorce...and I hate a man’s covering himself with violence as well as with his garment,’ says the Lord Almighty. So guard yourself in your spirit, and do not break faith” (Malachi 2:16).

If you get your ducks lined up with what God loves and hates, you will find that the number who stand with you may be small, but you will be in the company of the Almighty God Himself.

If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings. Isaiah 58: 9b-12