19-22 God, if only You would kill the wicked - you bloodthirsty men, stay away from me - who invoke You deceitfully. Your enemies swear by You falsely. Lord, don’t I hate those who hate You, and detest those who rebel against You? I hate them with extreme hatred; I consider them my enemies. 23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my concerns. See if there is any offensive way in me; lead me in the everlasting way. Psalm 139:19-24 Christian Standard Bible

Readers in the UK may’ve seen a slogan the BBC has been using on its football video clips that says 'hate won't win'. It's aimed at tackling the growing problem of players being verbally abused on their social media sites, even for things such as missing a penalty in a vital match. In this matter I agree with the BBC. The sort of hatred we see on social media is wrong and is not a winning formula for life. But does that mean words like the above in Psalm 139 should also be ripped out of the Bible? He says there: “Lord, don’t I hate those who hate You, and detest those who rebel against You? I hate them with extreme hatred.”

The first thing I'd say is that hatred, in itself, is not wrong. The writer of Proverbs tells us that there are things which God hates. He says: “There are six things the Lord hates, seven things He detests: arrogant eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord between brothers” (Proverbs 6:15-19) Psalm 97:10 says: “Let those who love the Lord hate evil.” So there are some actions in the world that we need to hate. What was it in vs 19-22 that caused the writer to hate the people he speaks of?

They were wicked and bloodthirsty, and they despised God and constantly rebelled against His laws. In other words, they rejected all that even the ten commandments taught. So this man's hatred wasn't just because some people differed with him, he hated them because they hated God so much and were so violent. He saw God's enemies as his enemies.

Secondly, I'd notice that this man was writing in Old Testament times when the amazing love of God that would be displayed at Calvary had obviously not yet been revealed. Jesus said to His followers: “You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45)

Those words of Jesus don't mean that God is now 'ok with sin' and we should no longer hate wickedness. The apostle Paul wrote to Christians in Rome: “Your love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9) And in the book of Revelation Jesus Himself says to Christians in the city of Ephesus “You have this in your favour - you hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.” (Revelation 2:6) The Nicolaitans were people who pushed for immoral sexual activity associated with pagan gods.

Thirdly, the prayer of the Psalmist that God would kill the bloodthirsty people of that generation was a prayer for God's judgment on such wickedness. He wasn't asking God to help him to go out and slay them! In the book of Revelation we read of the souls of believers who’d been slaughtered by the ungodly, and they were crying out to God: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you judge the people who belong to this world and avenge our blood for what they have done to us?” (Revelation 6:10) To long for God's justice to be revealed in the world against terrible wickedness is not hate speech. Hate speech is when people express personal vendettas against those they differ with and despise.

But it can be a thin line. In a believer’s hatred of what is evil in God's sight we may begin to hate those who are lost in sin. Perhaps that's why the Psalm writer concluded with the words we read in vs 23-24. We need to constantly ask God to show us where we fall short of living in the way He wants us to live. Our hatred of what is evil mustn't cause us to forget that Jesus died to save such sinners - including us.