What comes to mind when you think of the word abominable? Frankly, if it’s anything other than the word “snowman” I’d be a little surprised. For anyone growing up in the seventies and eighties watching Rudolph at Christmas, abominable means memories of a fun Christmas movie. This is not what the Bible means.
In Proverbs 15, among the many verses providing further wisdom and instruction for living, there are 3 verses referring to the wicked that use the same phrase to describe how the Lord sees them.
And, each one tells us that God finds the wicked abominable.
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is acceptable to him.”
“The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who pursues righteousness.”
“The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord, but gracious words are pure.”
Proverbs 15:8, 9, 26 (ESV)
Should the wicked try to make amends with God, He finds their sacrifice wholly unacceptable. In part, this is because the ways the wicked behave are completely despicable. In fact, God finds the very thoughts of the wicked intolerable. The message here is clear. Everything about the wicked is deplorable, and God wants nothing to do with it.
I have to admit though, there’s something that bothers me a little about one of these verses. What does it mean that God wouldn’t even accept the sacrifice of the wicked. Does this mean that if they authentically repented that God would be unwilling to hear it? Does this mean that God is unwilling to forgive them? On the whole, I think, “No, that’s not what it means.”
It seems to me that the wicked here are not those who would truly repent. This description sounds much more like someone who is going through the motions of sacrifice with none of the real repentance, or said another way, someone who is playing church and putting on the show without any core identity in Christ to back it up. This notion reveals something else important.
The wise don’t have to be perfect.
They just have to be willing to authentically repent when they stumble.
Are you?
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