God is our righteous Judge (v. 4-6)

 

I like David's logic in these verses. Oh, you need a refresher? OK, here they are!

For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness;
No evil dwells with You.
5 The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes;
You hate all who do iniquity.
6 You destroy those who speak falsehood;
The Lord abhors the man of bloodshed and deceit.

David's reasoning here is that since his enemies are so very evil, then God, Who is righteous, will act on his behalf. David goes through the list of God's righteousness to comfort and encourage himself with the truth that God will right every wrong.

David says that God does not take pleasure in sin. Well, of course He doesn't. But what does David actually mean?  It was an ancient figure of speech that simply meant "He hates it." 

He doesn't throw up His hands and say, "Well, humans will be humans!"

Or chuckle benevolently and say, "When will they EVER learn?"

No way. God stands apart from it, David says. And the Bible warns us repeatedly that God will condemn all unrepentant sinners. The hard part, the part that we humans don't like, is that if we think our good deeds will outweigh our bad ones, and get us into heaven, well, no. It doesn't work that way. Just. One. Single. Sin. Just one will bar us from heaven, unless we trust in Jesus as our Savior.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23)

Peter told us this about Jesus:

And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved. (Acts 4:12)

We often hear people say "God hates the sin, but loves the sinner." And that is very true. He loves all of us so much! Enough that He left the glories of heaven and allowed Himself to be crucified; He was killed in our place, undeservedly, the One Who knew NO SIN.  

But wait!

David just said God hates the sinners he listed in those verses. What gives?

I read a commentary that noted Calvin's take on that: he explained what seems like a contradiction. He says that we need the verses about God's hatred of sinners so that we will be overwhelmed with just how offensive our sin is to a holy God. Calvin points back hundreds of years to Augustine, who explains that in a sense, God loved us even while He hated us. He hated our sin and rebellion, but He loved us in Christ before the foundation of the world. It is terrifically difficult to understand, at least for me. But I guess I do see Calvin's point -- some sinners are so arrogant, and so unrepentant, that to hear that God loves them is really nonsense to them.  Perhaps they need to hear that they are the objects of God's wrath. Perhaps they need to have it hammered home, that it's their sin and guilt that caused the Lord to go to the cross. Perhaps they need to be told of the awful coming judgment.
I can see that if a person is broken and overwhelmed by their sin, they are more aware of the greatness of God's love in Christ. It is meaningful then to us, to be told of His grace and His mercy.

Does that make sense to those reading? Let me know if you think I'm off my rocker, ok? (Grin)

So, David encourages himself that God will come to his aid, by listing the holiness of God and His hatred of sin. Logically, God will bring justice for David, and for His people.

In verse seven, though, David reminds himself (and us) that trusting in human righteousness is no way to approach God:

But I, by your great love,
    can come into your house;
in reverence I bow down
    toward your holy temple. (v. 7)

We can only come into the presence of God by His grace. We trust in Christ and we walk in obedience. 

And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it. (II John 1:6)

We have no righteousness of ourselves - we must stay in Christ's righteousness and walk with Him:

and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  (Philippians 3:9)

Before we condemn our attackers, we must examine ourselves. Are we walking in obedience?

Oh, they are wicked!

What about me? Am I applying the Bible to myself and obeying Christ?

They are boastful! Hateful! They are dishonest! 

What about me?

I can appeal to God as David did, and seek His face to bring justice, but I must also examine my own heart:

For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but the doing of the good is not. (Romans 7:18)

Excuse me, if you will. I need to apply some bandaids to my toes that got stepped on! It's difficult. I know. But He will guide us. And He will give us rest.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”