BIBLE COMMENTARY/Psalm 97: 10
PSALM 97: 10 – You who love the Lord, hate evil! He preserves the souls of His saints; He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
– It’s easy for Christians to say that we love God, but the ones who acctuall love Him try their best to avoid doing evil or being associate with evil doers (Psalm 26: 5. 141: 4). God commands us to hate all evil things so we should follow His order seriously.
– When we try our best to do that we are called his saints and God will protect and preserve us from bad things and unfortunate circumstances. That’s His promise with the condition that we should hate evil.
– In this life many people want to be protected by God and get blessings from Him, but they don’t actually follow His command of avoiding anything evil. That’s why many of them have been disappointed to see none of God’s blessing come their ways (Isaiah 48: 22, Matthew 7: 23, 1Corinthians 6: 9-10). On the other hand, God will punish all evil doers and their associates (Psalm 34: 16)
– We should understand that doing evil things is to hurt others by all means, except when we honestly say something that others don’t like. God wants us to be truthful in our speaking, therefore even as someone is hurt by hearing the truth we tell them, we rather to be counted as honest people by God than being liars according to His standards (Leviticus 19: 11, Colossians 3: 9).
– So we should ask God for wisdom in order to live wisely among unbelievers.
QUOTED VERSES:
LEVITICUS 19: 11 – You shall not steal, nor deal falsely, nor lie to one another.
PSALM 26: 5 – I have hated the assembly of evildoers, and will not sit with the wicked.
PSALM 34: 16 – The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth.
PSALM 141: 4 – Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with men who work iniquity; And do not let me eat of their delicacies
ISAIAH 48: 22 – There is no peace, says the Lord, for the wicked.
MATTHEW 7: 23 – And then I will declare to them: I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!
1CORINTHIANS 6: 9-10 – Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
COLOSSIANS 3: 9 – Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices.