Psalm 45:7 Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
My wife and I were married almost thirty years ago. It was a joyous day, a day of celebration where we celebrated our love one for another. It was a day where I was not thinking about hatred, anger, or anything I would fight against. Psalm 45 is a song or poem in honor of a bride and bridegroom. It’s a royal wedding and ultimately it shows us Jesus Christ. It is a messianic psalm. Yet, it is interesting because in verse 7 the Bible presents both love and hatred in this song of a wedding.
It says, “Thou lovest righteousness [speaking ultimately of the Messiah], and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” So, there is love, which you would expect from a wedding song, but there is also a hatred. It is not a hatred of people, but a hatred of wickedness. Some people may smirk at that and say it is just a cover to hate people. No, you love righteousness, the Bible says of the Messiah, and you hate wickedness.
On the day of my wedding I became responsible for a lot of things, one of which was the safety of my bride. I will tell you that I have a visceral hatred for anything that would harm my wife. Do I live my life hating everything that is any threat? Well, yes, I do. It is not because of some intrinsic hatred, although the Lord knows I am a sinner and we all come by the wrong emotions naturally. But, it is a matter of love, and because I love my wife, I hate anything and everything that would harm her. It is not hating people, the Bible says, it is hating wickedness.
This is important because sometimes someone we love may be engaged in something that God hates. In this case the answer is not to hate this person; it is to love them. Loving them means doing what is right by helping them to see the truth and to do the right thing. We need God’s wisdom to do that. We cannot make anyone do the right thing. We cannot even make ourselves do the right thing. We need God’s grace for that. I am simply saying that if I really love someone, I am not going to allow them to continue in self-destructive behavior. I’m not going to allow them to continue in sin, be involved in things that will harm them, and destroy their relationship with God and their happiness.
So, there is a balance here, and there is no balance to a love of righteousness without an equal hatred of wickedness. It is worthy of note that this balance produces gladness. By the way, this concept is found throughout the Bible. For instance, in Hebrews 1 God is quoting this psalm. Speaking of the Messiah, the Son, He says, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity.” In Romans 12:9 it says, “Let love be without dissimulation.” That is a big word that means that my love should be genuine, not fabricated or hypocritical. Then it explains that by saying, “Abhor [hate] that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.” Again, in Psalm 97:10 it says, “Ye that love the LORD, hate evil.” I can say that I love God all I want, but if I love and enjoy what God hates, can I honestly say I am living a life where I am loving God with my actions? No! That is not honest.
In Amos 5:15 the prophet says, “Hate the evil, and love the good.” He talks about doing what is right to other people that God may do right and be gracious to those to whom He is speaking. Zechariah 8:17, speaking for God, says, “Let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbor; and love no false oath.” So, to love falsehood is to hate your neighbor. It continues, “For all these are things that I hate, saith the LORD.” I cannot hate my neighbor and say I love God. First John says “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
In Proverbs 17:15 it says, “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the LORD.” They are utterly contemptible to a God who will not do what is right. We are living in a day where evil is called good and good is called evil. It has literally been turned on its head. God would have us to live the love of Jesus Christ Who sacrificed Himself for the sins of my heart and the sins of the world. If I am to be like this Christ, there is not a balance to a love of righteousness without an equal hatred of wickedness.
In your life today, this balance produces gladness. “Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.”