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4/3 Reading Portions: Leviticus 6; Psalm 5-6; Proverbs 21; Colossians 4
Psalm 5:5
The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all evildoers.
BOAST
David was not giving his opinion here when he penned the fifth psalm. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the king of Israel wrote absolute truth. Many misunderstand God’s love, eliminating from their reason that it is also His very nature to hate. For God not to hate evil would be bad, unholy, and unjust. He hates evildoers because they are evil. To say, “God hates sin but loves the sinner,” is a deceptive statement. It betrays us into thinking God is inconsistent with His character. Moreover, it denigrates our perspective of sin and sinners. Sin wouldn’t occur except that it is committed by sinners. Evil is the resultant actions, attitudes, and behaviors of those who have evil desires that oppose a good and holy God. The psalmist here gives us insights into the evildoer. Notice the semicolon which connects the evildoer with the boastful person. They are one in the same. Evildoers, or workers of iniquity (KJV), are impenitent sinners, as their boast is in themselves. They are an abomination to YHVH God, as we’ve read recently in Proverbs:
There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to Him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil, a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers. Proverbs 6:16-19
The penitent sinner, however, is one whose boast is in the grace of God who has offered salvation in, by, and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The penitent sinner, through faith in Jesus Christ’s atoning death, victorious resurrection, and exalted ascension, stands before the eyes of God because he or she is washed in the blood of Christ, exonerated by the supreme Substitute, and made “at one” with God by the One who did atone for our sins and evildoing. The penitent sinner does not boast in self, but rather in Christ and His cross:
But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galatians 6:14
Hallelujah! What a Savior!
God forbid that I should boast in
Any thing but Christ, my Lord;
He has saved me from self and sin
And renews my mind with His true word.