Mensa Otabil - God Abhors Iniquity
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In Psalm 5:4-5 David declares God’s holy hatred for sin—He takes no pleasure in wickedness, evil cannot dwell with Him, the boastful cannot stand in His sight, and He hates all workers of iniquity—reminding us to examine our hearts before approaching God’s presence.
Approaching a Holy God
Psalm 5, and we’re looking at verses 4 and 5. «You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You. The boastful shall not stand in Your sight. You hate all workers of iniquity.» David’s opening statements in this prayer in Psalm 5, from verse 1 onwards, talk about how he would approach the presence of God. Then he discusses how he directs his prayer to the Lord.
God Takes a Strong Stance Against Evil
Now he’s talking about the nature of God, and he’s affirming that God hates sin, and just as there are people who can go before God’s presence, there are also others who cannot go before God’s presence. So, God does not just allow anything and anyone to come before His presence. God is not neutral about sin. He takes a strong stance against evil.
Why God’s Mercy Doesn’t Mean Tolerance
That’s important for us because, you know, many times people think they can live any way they want, do whatever they please, and still worship God, go to church, and pray, and God will hear them. Because God is merciful, and He’s kind. He’s merciful, He’s kind, He’s loving. But He also tells us what He hates.
Accept His Love—Reject What He Hates
So if God tells you, «I love you, but I hate this,» I think it’s in your own interest to accept His love and depart from what He hates. So David talks about what God hates, and there are four things that he says God hates.
1. God Takes No Pleasure in Wickedness
The first is that God does not take pleasure in wickedness. That means God does not enjoy seeing people do wicked things to other people. He does not enjoy it. He doesn’t embrace it. So when people are acting wickedly, whether we are acting wickedly at home as husbands or wives, parents, children, or as people who work in an office or in a nation, wherever we are, if we’re acting to truly destroy somebody else, God doesn’t take pleasure in that, and you cannot then come and arrange your prayer before God. It doesn’t work that way.
2. Evil Cannot Dwell with God
Secondly, God does not dwell with evil. He does not give protection or covering to evil. When something is evil, God will expose it. God will not say you are such a favorite of His that if you do evil things, He will cover it, as some earthly people would do. God does not dwell with evil. The word used «dwell» there means to tabernacle or to cover. He does not cover evil. He does not embrace evil. He exposes it.
3. The Boastful Get No Audience
Third, God does not live with the boastful. He does not entertain the boastful. He does not listen to the boastful. In fact, when you get it from the Hebrew, it means God does not give audience to the boastful. So if you are a boastful person and you are coming to God’s presence, He will not receive you because He resists the proud.
Pride Blocks Your Prayer
He resists the proud. So when you enter God’s presence, and you’re so boastful and full of yourself, believing in your own rights, and believing that what you have done is good enough for God to listen to you, counting all the things you’ve done, «God, you know, I gave you this and I did that, and I’m a good person, and I give that, and I do that,» God says no because He does not allow the boastful into His courts.
4. God Hates All Workers of Iniquity
Finally, David says that God hates all workers of iniquity. This is an omnibus statement, meaning He includes everything. Everything that is wrong, it’s evil, it’s iniquity; all manner of sins, God doesn’t like it.
Prepare Your Heart Before Prayer
So when we come before God in prayer and we’re arranging our prayers before the Lord, we must also be mindful of what He doesn’t like and whom He doesn’t want in His presence so that we prepare our hearts rightly to enter the presence of God. When we come right into the presence of God, He will honor His word in our lives.
Not Everyone Is Welcome As-Is
So God here shows us clearly, contrary to the world’s belief that anything and everybody is acceptable to God, there are some things that are not acceptable to God. So when you come in prayer, check your heart and check your attitudes.
Let’s Pray Together
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, keep me away from evil. Purge my heart from pride and deception. Cleanse me and make me whole in Jesus' name.» Amen.