‘These six things the Lord hates, Yes, seven are an abomination to Him: A proud look, A lying tongue, Hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that are swift in running to evil, A false witness who speaks lies, And one who sows discord among brethren.’ Prov 6:16-19
Solomon writes here and calls these seven things an abomination, what is an abomination? Well, abomination means simply a disgusting thing, something far apart from the nature and character of God. It also mean wickedness!
Let’s take a look on these ‘abominations’!
A proud look, pride goes before fall declares the bible. What is the very essence of pride? Lucifer wanted to place his throne above the throne of God, he wanted to be number one! Joseph who when he saw the vision immediately in his ‘pride’ thought he would be number one in his family. He was sold by his brothers, later he acknowledged it was according to Gods will and purpose, and became a slave to Potiphar, he became second after Potiphar, then he ended up in jail wrongly accused! In prison he also became number two after the keeper of the prison. After about 10 years in prison he finally was set free and brought to Pharaoh court to interpret a dream, he did so successfully and again became second after Pharaoh in Egypt! Joseph was always second, never number one. The same in our lives, there will always be a number one and we are to be the second. Jesus is our Lord always number one.
A lying tongue, lying can be so many things but basically it’s a twisted version of the truth, or a part of the truth. One man standing before the judge accused of stabbing a man with a knife was asked by the judge, ‘How did this happen?’ The accused man answered ‘Well, I was walking down the street and from around the corner a man came rushing and just fell on the knife in my hand!’. The judge looked upon the accused man and said ’27 times?’.
Hands shedding innocent blood, with other words I my own find a scape goat to hang my own sins and mistakes upon. I had a coworker many years ago while working in food outlet in Sweden. He was an amazing guy, when I did a good deal with some clients he always somehow managed to make it look like he was behind the deal. When he failed in some area on the other hand he had a skill level of making me look guilty, I was his scape-goat! We are to take responsibility for our own lifes, when failing go to Jesus and repent and if necessary ask our brothers and sisters for forgiveness.
A heart that device wicked plans, Jesus said evil is coming out of hearts, form the inside of us. Before we do evil we think evil, before our hands or mouth moves we meditate upon it in our minds. Our greatest enemy is our own Ego, our fear of being left aside, forgotten about. Our Ego can become very religious and dress in nice religious clothes but under the surface our Ego may still not be crucified with Christ. We are to take up our cross daily and be crucified to this world and the world for us. Paul said ‘I die daily’! And ‘the life which I now live in the flesh I live for the Son of God’! The very essence of our lives is to give glory to God, not 90% to him and 10% to myself, but 100% glory to Him who is alone worthy of glory.
Feet that are swift in running to evil, an easy in doing what is wrong, easiness in sinning and running in the tracks of this world. Love of money and a desire to be rich are great traps for us today in a world who constantly praising wealth as the source of happiness and peace. Money is not evil but when our hearts are set to get money at any price, lying, deceiving and so on we are getting into the ways of this world and need to repent!
A false witness who speaks lies, a false witness is not a real witness. In the 30s Stalin held his famous fake trials using fake witnesses, it was called a ghost trials. When Jesus stood trial before the Sanhedrin false witnesses was used again. A witness is not to speak my heart or opinion in a matter but relate facts and truth. God is a God of truth!
And one who sows discord among brethren, to sow discord among the brethren is often a way of lobbying my own cause. The Spirit of God promotes unity and peace in our relationships. Sin and selfish behavior hinders this process of unity. Grace is a result of a love for truth and applying the truth first and foremost in my own life.
Mats-Jan
Mats-Jan's blog 