“For you are not a God who delights in wickedness; evil may not dwell with you. The boastful shall not stand before your eyes; you hate all evildoers.” (Psalm 5:4)
In Psalm 5:4-5 David wrote some pretty strong words about how our God feels about sin. In the Bible Paul states that God” hates all evildoers”. Yes, God does hate sin and expects us to keep his commandments but because we are human and have a sinful nature we are unable to keep from sinning. Does this mean that all hope is lost? No! In this Psalm David is praying against his enemies, he is feeling hopeless at this point but is at peace with God. In trying to keep the commandments we must remember that our actions matter and always to pray. The good pray the wicked don’t. Prayer is God hearing us. This verse encourages prayer. If we know our reason to ask for prayer we may look to God to favor it. If we know that our reason for our prayer is wrong, we cannot ask God to look down in favor of it.
None of us can keep the law found in the Bible. As Martin Luther explains in the Small Catechism it is our sinful nature that makes it impossible from keeping God’s commandments perfectly. Law is to there to teach us to try not to sin and keep the world in order. It is through Jesus that we have the Gospel. It is through Jesus that we are saved because of his death, that we have forgiveness of our sins. Jesus took our sins away and gave us the gift of eternal life.
Each day brings new challenges for all of us but each day gives us new hope to strive to be better. Start and end each day with prayer.
Deacon Lynn Waldeck