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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
Reflect
Every school year I look forward to teaching my students a number of texts. One of my favorites is the play, “The Diary of Anne Frank,” which is based on “Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl.” There’s so much that we can learn from reading the simple (but not quite so simple) writings of a teenage girl who lived the last two years of her life hiding in an attic apartment in Amsterdam.
Anne’s last diary entry was August 1, 1944 — just three days before she and the others in the annex were discovered and arrested. They all were subsequently shipped to various concentration camps where they perished, save for Anne’s father, who ensured that her diary was eventually published. That last entry spoke of her life being a series of contradictions, especially as she felt she hid the real Anne inside and presented a different version of herself that she believed others wanted to see. Most of us can probably identify with that.
Here’s an interesting (and sad) thought: a girl hiding from the Nazis in an attic while also hiding who she really is from the others in the attic, all while those same Nazis were trying to hide their true intentions from the world. It’s crazy to think that at the same time Hitler’s forces were warring against the world, they were also working even harder to exterminate an entire race of people. To them, Anne Frank — a teenage girl — was the enemy. That, to me, is pure insanity. It’s pure evil.
It’s hard for people to understand why a loving God would allow evil — especially the kind of evil that flourished in Nazi Germany — to exist in His world. But that evil is our fault — it’s the result of our sinful nature, and it’s the ultimate consequence of living in opposition to God. He even says how much He hates sin, but He does allow us to choose the directions we will follow.
In today’s scripture, Solomon reminds us that, “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.” That, to me, is a description of Hitler and his regime. They saw themselves as genetically superior. They lied — to each other and to the world. They shed innocent blood. They devised the most wicked plan of all history — the Nazi Final Solution. They ran straight into the heart of evil, using false witnesses to doom those who they hated and those who opposed them. And they used this hatred to turn neighbor against neighbor.
What do we take away from this? God hates evil, and if we truly love Him, we have to hate the same things that He does. And if you hear anyone say that the Bible is used to sow hatred, that’s true. People — including the Nazis — used certain parts of the Bible to justify their evil plans. That’s why it’s so important for us to take the entire Bible in context and not pluck specific scriptures to justify our prejudices or personal agendas. We have to remember that the heart of God is love, and that in that love He sacrificed even His own Son in an attempt to reconcile mankind to Himself.
These are trying times, and we’re likely to see and hear people twist and turn the words of God to suit their selfish purposes. Stay close to the Lord. Worship Him. Read His words. Make His heart your own. In that way, you will more clearly discern and oppose evil when you encounter it in all of its hideous forms.
Reflection copyright © 2024 Doug DeBolt.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
