Psalm 11:5b “But the wicked and the one who loves violence, His [God’s] soul hates.”

[Here is one of those seeming paradoxes of the Bible: God loves all yet hates the wicked. Here are three possible understandings among several, all of them true:

–He hates what they do, but loves them as His creatures;

–He loves them, but when they refuse to come under His protection by surrendering to Christ, they fall under His hatred for sin;

–or here He is speaking of Satan and his hoard of demons.

The certainty is that, in God’s character there are no contradictions: He hates sin and will punish it yet found an extremely excruciating and expensive one way to redeem sinners within this context.

Psalm 11:6 “Upon the wicked He will rain coals; Fire and brimstone and a burning wind shall be the portion of their cup.”

[As part of your plan to eliminate evil, you, Lord God, will in your justice justly punish rebellious evil doers–those who refuse your gracious forgiveness and instead love violence, those who hate what is good, those who refuse to believe you and accept Truth.

This is what you did in Sodom and Gomorrah, what you did in Canaan to those who rejected you, and what you will do to all those who refuse your offer of goodness and grace. There can be no justice without the punishment of evil.]

Help us, Lord, to walk in your way and help others avoid the judgment to come.