Things the Potter Hates

Hate

            Many may find it hard to believe that there are things that God hates. We hear about the love of God, but to think that God has the capability to hate is hard for the most spiritually minded person and yet, there are things that God absolutely detests. Proverbs 6:16-19 ⁽¹⁶⁾There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: ⁽¹⁷⁾haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, ⁽¹⁸⁾a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, ⁽¹⁹⁾a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community. (NIV) Let’s break these things down in order to have a better understanding as to why God hates these things.

a.) Haughty eyes – Proverbs 16:18 Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall. (NIV) Pride is something that God absolutely hates. It was what entered Lucifer’s heart from the very beginning and caused his downfall because he wanted to be like God, even though there was not one thing that he could or ever created other than total chaos and destruction. Isaiah 14:12-15 ⁽¹²⁾How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! ⁽¹³⁾ You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. ⁽¹⁴⁾I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” ⁽¹⁵⁾But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit. (NIV)

When pride overtakes a person, they are no longer able to submit to the will of God. They think that they have all the answers and know everything that there is to know about anything. They are so arrogant and puffed up that even if they were in danger of harm, their arrogance would have them to forsake wise counsel. This has often been contributed to what caused the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. Numerous iceberg warnings had been sent, but due to the Titanic being considered and “unsinkable” ship, the warnings were ignored. Many people are on a collision with an iceberg today because they are looking at God’s warnings in the Bible, news, and nature, but are ignoring them due to their over-inflated egos. Psalm 51:17 My sacrifice, O God is a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (NIV)

b.) Lying tongue – Proverbs 12:22 The Lord detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy. (NIV) God hates lies and frowns upon those who do it. From the very beginning, the devil has been using deception to cause man to sin. He tricked Eve in the garden to think that God was being deceptive to her when in fact, he was the one mixing truth with error. Because the devil is the originator of falsehood, God despises anything or anyone that partakes in it. Jesus called the religious leaders of His time the children of the devil because they refused to walk in truth. John 8:44-45 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me? (NIV) God is truth and therefore, He cannot conflict with who He is. This is why He hates dishonesty and expects His children to walk upright in truth in order to resist deception from the enemy. Ephesians 6:13-14 Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place. (NIV)

c.) Hands that shed innocent blood – Jeremiah 7:31 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire – something I did not command nor did it enter my mind. (NIV) God created life and when He made man, He breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul. Man would cease to exist if the breath of life did not exist in him. Cain, Adam and Eve’s firstborn son, committed the first murder in the Bible. He was jealous that his brother, Abel’s offering was acceptable to God and his wasn’t. Genesis 4:6-7 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (NIV) Cain chose not to heed the warning of God and therefore, conspired to kill his brother for he allowed his jealousy to cause him to sin. After luring his brother to the field, Cain attacked Abel and killed him. God did not take lightly what Cain had done and punished him for God hates the shedding of innocent blood. Genesis 4:10-11 The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. Now you are under a curse and driven from the ground, which opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. (NIV)

d.) A heart that devises wicked schemes – Micah 2:1-2 Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it. They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance. (NIV) God does not like it when people plot evil against others. The Potter is a God of love, truth and mercy for this is what He shows to His children. Man, however, has allowed the devil to allow his mind to invent ways to do evil and have therefore angered God in the process. King David found this out all to well when he allowed his lust for another man’s wife to cause him to sin. 2 Samuel 11:2-3 One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” (NIV) God had blessed David to have a very prosperous kingdom. All that David could have ever wanted was given to him. Despite having received wonderful blessings from the Lord, David allowed his greed to overtake him. He wanted the wife of another man and plotted his death in order to have her. God, however, did not allow the deed to go unpunished and even though He forgave David, the sin that he had committed was felt all throughout his household. 2 Samuel 12:11-12 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before Israel.” (NIV)

e.) Feet that are quick to rush into evil – Psalm 21:11 Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed. (NIV) God hates the sight of evil and this is why evil will have its final place in hell. The devil has been inspirational in helping ungodly men to plan wickedness throughout the earth and when Jesus was born, it was no different. The Magi had received word that the Son of God had been born, so they traveled to see Him. Upon their inquiry to find out exactly where He was, King Herod, ruler of the Jews at that time, had heard the news and wanted to find out for himself where this supposed new King of the Jews was to be born as well. Matthew 2:3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. (NIV) Herod felt threatened by the prophecy of a new King of the Jews. He, however, did not understand the prophecy that was given and thought that Jesus had come to rule as King on earth. In an effort to rid himself of what he thought of as future competition, he decided to have a mass slaughter of all the Jewish male babies ages two and under. Matthew 2:16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. (NIV) An angel of God warned Joseph in a dream to leave Bethlehem and go to Egypt until he was told that it was safe to return. King Herod had declared a bloodbath of the innocents and would stop at nothing to ensure that his throne would be safe. Nevertheless, King Herod’s reign came to an end along with his wickedness and finally Joseph, Mary and Jesus were able to return to their homeland. Matthew 2:19-20 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” (NIV)

f.) A false witness who pours out lies – Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. (NIV) God has hated lies from the very beginning when it started with Satan deceiving Eve in the garden. Satan continues to deceive the whole world and will continue to do so to the very end. This, however, stirs up anger in God and the devil will one day have his great reward. Queen Jezebel was married to the wicked King Ahab and the couple was a duo of evil. King Ahab had set his eye on a field that he wanted to have, but the owner of the field, Naboth, did not wish to sell his family’s inheritance. 1 Kings 21:3-4 But Naboth replied, “The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” So Ahab went home, sullen and angry because Naboth the Jezreelite had said, “I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors.” He lay on his bed sulking and refused to eat. (NIV) This attitude that King Ahab had showed his greed and pride. After all, he was the king of the land and could have had any other field that his heart desired. Once Queen Jezebel, his wicked wife heard of his disappointment, she devised a plan to get the field by having men to falsely accuse him of committing blaspheme against God. 1 Kings 21:8-10 ⁽⁸⁾So she wrote letters in Ahab’s name, placed his seal on them to the elders and nobles who lived in Naboth’s city with him. ⁽⁹⁾In those letters she wrote: “Proclaim a day of fasting and seat Naboth in a prominent place among the people. ⁽¹⁰⁾But seat two scoundrels opposite him and have them bring charges that he has cursed both God and the king. Then take him out and stone him to death.” (NIV) Queen Jezebel orchestrated this wicked event that caused an innocent man to die. But this as well as her other wicked deeds did not go unpunished, for in the end God allowed her to have a very untimely death. 2 Kings 9:30-35 ⁽³⁰⁾Then Jehu went to Jezreel. When Jezebel heard about it, she put on eye makeup, arranged her hair and looked out of a window. ⁽³¹⁾As Jehu entered the gate, she asked, “Have you come in peace, you Zimri, you murderer of your master?” ⁽³²⁾He looked up at the window and called out, “Who is on my side? Who?” Two or three eunuchs looked down at him. ⁽³³⁾”Throw her down!” Jehu said. So they threw her down, and some of her blood spattered the wall and the horses as they trampled her underfoot. ⁽³⁴⁾Jehu went in and ate and drank. “Take care of that cursed woman,” he said, “and bury her, for she was a king’s daughter.” ⁽³⁵⁾But when they went out to bury her, they found nothing except her skull, her feet and her hands. (NIV) It never pays to be quick to run to do evil.

g.) A person who stirs up conflict in the community – Leviticus 19:16 “Do not go around spreading slander among your people. “Do not do anything that endangers your neighbor’s life. I am the Lord.” (NIV) God hates busybodies and troublemakers. God is not a God of confusion and therefore, He sets His heart against those who do. Miriam, the sister of Moses found this out when she dared to complain against Moses. Moses had been appointed as leader over the Israelites and God used him in a mighty way to deliver them from the hands of Pharaoh. God had a special relationship with Moses and even though Moses never saw God’s face, he was allowed to be in God’s presence directly as was in the case when he was given the Ten Commandments directly from God himself. Exodus 31:18 When the Lord finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God. (NIV) God had chosen Moses to be the one to lead and give the Children of Israel His words and commands, but Miriam and Aaron opposed him. Miriam and Aaron first complained that Moses had married a Cushite (black woman), which he had done prior to him becoming their leader. Next, they complained that he was not the only one with whom God has spoken to, but had spoken to them as well. Nevertheless, Moses did not think more of himself than he should and was a very humble man. This angered God and was dealt with swiftly. Numbers 12:5-8 ⁽⁵⁾Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, ⁽⁶⁾he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. ⁽⁷⁾But this is not true of my servant Moses, he is faithful in all my house. ⁽⁸⁾With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles, he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (NIV) The brother and sister had indeed angered the Lord and Miriam was struck with leprosy. Moses, however, prayed for his sister to be shown mercy and after seven days, she was healed. 

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