Indeed, it is useless to spread the baited net In the sight of any bird; But they lie in wait for their own blood; They ambush their own lives.  So are the ways of everyone who gains by violence; It takes away the life of its possessors. Proverbs 1:17-19

Why is it unwise to use violence to get what you want in life?  It is because although you may gain in the short term, you will lose bit time in the end.  Too many people live for the short term good - even if it results in harm over time.  This is why the godly father takes time to warn his son against using violence to get what he wants in life.

This dad uses a great picture to explain to his son why violence is not a good alternative to get ahead in life.  He speaks of how it is useless to set a net with bait right in front of the bird that you are wanting to catch.  The bird sees not just the bait, but more importantly the net.  As a result he will have nothing to do with the set up because he knows it is a trap.  This is a lesson from hunting 101 - and one that even those who know nothing about hunting can understand.  But then the father uses this very simple illustration to prove a very important point to his boys.

When someone uses violence to get what he wants, he is not lying in wait for the other person as much as he is lying in wait for his own life.  Sure in the short term he may attack a few people, spill some blood getting what he wants, and get a little gain.  But in the long term he is only setting a trap for himself.  Worse that this he is setting his own trap right in front of his own face - and not realizing it.  He is setting a trap for his own demise and destruction.  It sounds pretty silly that someone can set a trap for themselves and ambush their own lives - but that is exactly what this young man is doing. 

The father then ties this lesson up for his son by telling him that this is what is happening when someone wants to gain by violence.  It may get him something immediately, but it will take away his life when it is all over.  This father is teaching his son something that is absolutely essential to living a life of wisdom.  It is the lesson that the quick way to something is most often the unwise way to it.  This is especially true when this quick way causes us to disregard Scripture - and walk in a way that is contrary to godliness.

Men of bloodshed hate the blameless, But the upright are concerned for his life. Proverbs 29:10

In a sinful and fallen world there is something that provokes the wicked when they see a man of true integrity.  Today's proverb tells us about "men of bloodshed," and how they hate men of integrity. 

Men of bloodshed are those who have shed the blood of humans - they are either very violent men - or most often men who have murdered.  When we think of murderers though, we need to see them in two ways.  There are those who have crossed the line of literally taking someone's life by murdering them.  But there is a second type of which the Scriptures speak that encompasses far more people than one would think.  In Matthew 5 Jesus said these words, "You have heard that the ancients were told, 'YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER ' and 'Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.  But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever says to his brother, 'You good-for-nothing,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever says, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.  (Matthew 5:21-22)

This statement of Jesus shows us that pretty much everyone in the world is guilty of murder.  If we've been angry with a brother or sister - called someone a derogatory name - we are guilty of murder before God.  We are  guilty enough to go into the fiery hell itself.  This is where murder begins, in the mind.  It is what God told Cain before he murdered Abel.  God said to him, "If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?  And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it."  (Genesis 4:7)  Cain's murder of his brother Abel began as a thought - an angry, evil thought - which soon hatched into a heinous, murderous action.  Sin always begins in the mind - and if we do not master it there - it will yield its wicked fruit in our actions. 

Murderous men hate men of character and godliness.  The word hate here is the Hebrew word "sane" which means to hate, to consider another an enemy - to dislike, be hostile to, or to loathe another.  It is the direct antonym of the Hebrew word "anab" which means to love.  John wrote of this very incident between Cain and Abel.  He said, "For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous." (1 John 3:11-12)

This passage in 1 John tells us exactly what our proverb today is trying to tell us.  The murderer hates the godly man.  It should be noted that the word "blameless" does not mean without sin.  It speaks of a person of integrity who desires to live a godly, moral life according to God's Word and God's precepts.  This world does not love such a man - and the more ungodly they are - the more they hate him.  We see this growing every day in our society.  Just look at how Christians are portrayed in our world today - especially in the media.  The hatred of the media elite and the ungodly in positions of power there drips off our television and movie screens.  It is difficult, unless you are watching a movie produced by a Christian, to find positive Christian characters.  This is because when a man's deeds are evil - he hates the people who pursue righteousness. 

Just an aside . . . we see this proverb lived out daily in the moral and cultural battle that is raging in our own nation today.  This is especially true when we see the actions and words of the radical homosexual movement.  The more the homosexual movement gains ascendency in our laws and in the movie and television industry - the more you will see this hatred grow.  The radical homosexual movement absolutely despises biblical Christianity because the Bible is clear that homosexuality is sin.  That will pit them against us - if we choose to remain true to the Word of God and preach the true gospel.  But, our place is not to hate the homosexual - or for that matter anyone who hates us because we hold to biblical truth and morality.  Our place is to love them even if they hate us and do violence to us in their cause to legitimatize what God calls sin.  Remember what this world system did to our Lord - the ultimate blameless man of absolute integrity.  He Himself told us if they hated Him, they would hate us as well.  But we are NEVER to turn to violence to defend ourselves from such attacks.  We must remain true to the gospel and win them by the love of God - and by the grace of His eternal gospel.

The remainder of our proverb today states that the upright are concerned for the lives of the moral and those who walk in integrity.  The literal translation of this would say, "But the upright seek his soul."  We stand with the godly man of integrity - because we see that life is more than just the 70 or so years we spend on this planet.  There is an eternal soul in each man - and that is what we should be most concerned with in life.  There will come a day when the wicked will be loosed in a way that we have not seen before in our nation.  Regardless of our most recent elections, there is not a moral, godly ascendency going on in our nation.  If there was, such moral issues such as abortion, homosexual and heterosexual immorality, decency, and the moral debauchery of our nation would be put on the front burner as the real problems we face as a nation.  As it is - we continue to worship the dollar - and when it finally crashes to the ground, which it will, we will face a country that will rip itself apart because we lack basic morality.  In that day it will be difficult to stand with the "blameless man" in our nation.  In some ways it already is.  Franklin Graham has taken several biblical stands for righteousness and he is more and more being ripped apart in the public square.  We should stand with him and with other men who stand for biblical righteousness.  Even if it becomes increasingly difficult to do so - we need to be concerned with the souls and lives of such men.  For according to this proverb . . . that is wisdom.

There are six things which the LORD hates, Yes, seven which are an abomination to Him: Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood, A heart that devises wicked plans, Feet that run rapidly to evil, A false witness who utters lies, And one who spreads strife among brothers. Proverbs 6:16-19

What does God hate?  This is a good question to ask - because the Lord actually lists for us 7 different things that He hates.  Some think that God doesn't hate anything because He is love.  But when you realize that whereas He loves righteousness and holiness - it means that by nature He must hate the opposite - and that is sin.  This is a good list to remember because it reminds us of at least 7 things we absolutely need to steer clear of in life.  We do this because we do not want to incur God's wrath for loving something He hates.

#1 - God hates Haughty Eyes . . . The proud look is something the Lord really despises.  The eyes, according to Scripture, are the windows of the soul.  When the eyes are filled with a haughty look it is a sure thing that the heart is filled with that same haughtiness or pride.  We remember from the book of James that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  It is no stretch then to say that in hating haughty eyes God truly despises those whose look communicates an arrogance and pride that shows that they have no respect for God and His ways - just an utter disdain of them.

#2 - God hates a Lying Tongue . . . One of the 10 commandments is not to bear false witness.  That means lying is out with God.  He is a God of truth, and He wants us to speak the truth.  When a tongue is a lying tongue, God hates the lies that come from it.  Truth opposes lies at every turn - and we can be assured that God opposes the liar whose lying tongue promotes just the opposite of what God loves and is. 

#3 - God hates Hands that Shed Innocent Blood . . . Here is one that we need to remember.  Innocent blood is murder.  God hates murder.  Once again we find that one of the things God hates is listed in the 10 commandments.  You shall not murder is commandment number five.  Jesus goes further in Matthew chapter 5 when He tells us that even the thoughts and words that are at the core of a murdering heart - God hates.  There is an application of this we also need to remember.  The false god Molech required that his worshippers have their children pass through the fire as a child sacrifice to him.  God hated this worship - and made it clear that the innocent blood shed in this practice would pay dearly for their sin.  I believe we have a similar worship today in the practice of abortion.  This practice is an abomination to God.  We have decided that children (usually conceived due to sexual immorality) are too much of an inconvenience.  Therefore we've devised the most heinous ways of disposing of them.  We burn them alive through saline abortions or puree them within their mother's womb.  And if this is not enough, when we wait too long to decide to dispose of one's conceived immorally, we just birth them partially and kill them in a way that we would NEVER consider for a convicted murderer.  How God hates this shedding of innocent blood. 

#4 - God Hates a Heart that Devises Wicked Plans . . . There are hearts that are thinking of evil - and who begin to plan to do evil.  This is true even of us when we set our hearts on sin and want to do our best to keep it hidden.  But there are those whose plans involve far more than just one man wanting to sin without being caught.  These are those who devise a wicked plan either in business or in the government.  These plans will harm thousands - and possibly millions.  They do not consider that their wicked plans will do this - because they are consumed either by the acquisition of wealth or power.  God hates these people because of how their thinking harms others.

#5 - God Hates Feet that Run Rapidly to Evil . . . Here we have someone who is just itching to run to evil things.  There is no restraint in this one - because when he or she sees evil - they want to run "rapidly" to it.  When a society turns from God - there is a growing stupidity and spiritual deadness that causes them to become insensitive to the warnings of Scripture.  Thus they start to run to evil - rather than stop and think about the harm it will do to them and to others.  When people run rapidly to evil it is also a sign that self is so completely dominant in their thinking that they are deaf to any other voice except the one that is urging them to do what they want.  God hates this because it reveals that a conscience is dead to Him and dead to the warnings of both the Scriptures and the Holy Spirit. 

#6 - God Hates A False Witness Who Utters Lies . . . Here we have what seems to be a second time that lying is mentioned.  This second time though it is mentioned in the context of someone who is a false witness on a matter.  This first time is was just a lying tongue.  The false witness could be someone who speaks lies in a courtroom where the role of perjury comes into play.  This would mean a perversion of justice and God loves justice and righteousness.  It can also mean a false prophet or someone who lies about religious matters - thus causing some to put their faith in a god who is not God at all.  Either way God hates it when someone who lies as a witness on a matter.  They encourage people to make decisions based upon deception and lies.  No wonder He hates these things - because the very first sin was due to the work of the devil as he was a false witness to Eve about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  That lie, that deceit - when believed was the impetus that led to the fall of all of humanity into sin and rebellion against God.

#7 - God Hates One who Spreads Strife Among Brothers . . . The final thing in this list of seven is a person who is causing problems - actually who is spreading strife among the brethren.  This person is one who either learns of strife - or is causing it.  He is not content though we knowing it himself.  He becomes the ultimate evangelist for strife among the brethren.  He wants to see as many people upset and involved in this strife as possible.  It should be no small wonder to us then that God does not say, "Blessed are the strife-makers."  He says just the opposite.  It is the peacemakers who will be called the sons of God.  When God could have magnified the ultimate strife of the universe in sin - He did not.  He chose to make peace through the blood of the cross of Jesus Christ.  Therefore it really should be no shock to us that He also hates those who go the opposite way - and spread strife rather than spread peace among the brothers.  We might need to remember this the next time we have a choice to continue a situation of strife and conflict - when we have an opportunity to bring peace instead.

Seven things God hates . . . it is a very sobering list.  There are some things like murder and wicked plans that we would fully expect to be on this list.  But other things that we tend to minimize tend to shock us here.  Some call lying just telling a little fib - or a white lie.  Others might not see spreading strife by gossipping to be something that is not the best - but certainly something that everyone does.  The fact is that when God calls these things the seven things He hates - we need to remember them - and then learn to hate them in our own lives as well.  That, my dear saints - is wisdom.