There have been times in my young years where I thought that God hated me or at least he was mad at me. As I was researching for this topic I was surprised to find out how many people in the body of Christ think that God hates them, is against them, or at the very least pours out wrath against themselves and others. This not only grieves me, but it also grieves the Holy Spirit. Without Further adieu, allow me to teach you why God doesn't hate you and why he is not against you.
let's start with the question does God hate me? There are many verses that state that God hates a person, but I feel as though those verses are lacking and are in some cases, mistranslated. For instance, Psalm 11:5, "The LORD examines the righteous, but the wicked, those who love violence, he hates with a passion." The actual Hebrew translation says, "Yahweh the righteous tests but the wicked and one who loves violence, he hates his soul." It's important that we understand what a soul is. The Hebrew word is Nephesh, it not only means creation but is more accurately translated as soul meaning mind, will, and emotions. The Greek word Psuche gives us a great understanding of what this means. Strong's defines the soul as the seat of the feelings, desires, affections, aversions (our heart, soul, etc).
One may respond by saying, "Well my soul is who I am as a person." That's not truthful to its core. At face value, it seems like it is who you are but in God's eyes, it is actually only who you identify as and with. Who you are is in the word of God. You are the head and not the tail; you are a child of God; you are a peculiar sort; you are a priest; you are loved; you are righteous, holy and redeemed; you are the salt of the Earth and so much more. You may identify as a sinful person and know that God hates sin, but sin is not your identity when you are in Christ. God hates sin, but he loves you as a human being.
I remember many years back when I met Jesus. Both times I remember the love in his eyes, the warmth of his smile and how I wasn't afraid when I was with him. I looked into his eyes and I saw myself. I didn't see me the way I see me, or me the way the world sees me, I saw me the way Jesus sees me and that was perfect. Jesus only sees us as perfect and exactly the way he created you to be. If your mindset doesn't line up with the way Jesus sees you, then you need to check your perspective and get properly aligned. If you don't then you're going to pull to the left and the right when your path is supposed to be straight and narrow.
Another verse in Psalms 5:5 states, "The arrogant cannot stand in your presence. You hate all who do wrong;" Let's take a look at the Hebrew translation of that verse again, "The boastful shall not stand in your sight; You hate all workers of iniquity." The word for worker is Pa'al. This word translates as worker but the deeper sense of the word means a person who habitually and continuously commits to doing and practicing evil. God hates this kind of person, but thankfully for us as Christians, we do not habitually choose to practice evil or always commit to sinning. There are probably habits that you return to time and time again, but even those things that God hates doesn't make him hate you. Now, if you're worshiping Satan then you are practicing his ways and committing to doing evil then you fit this definition. I would recommend changing your ways before it's too late. God can save anyone, anywhere, anytime.
Now I'd like to point out to you a pattern that occurs in the bible which will inevitably take the blame off of God for the bad things that happen in people's lives and put the blame back on the enemy where it belongs. First of all, we need to understand that all of our spiritual struggles and battles are coming from powers of darkness that are battling against all flesh. "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." Paul emphasizes that all of your struggles are coming from demonic sources. Notice he never points you towards God and says that it is God that is coming against you.
Here's an old Testament verse where God himself says that he is not coming against you. Isaiah 54:15, "Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake." I mean, I don't think it can be any more clear but let's break it down in Hebrew just to be certain. In Hebrew, it says, "Look, They will assemble but not because of me. whoever assembles against you will fall for your sake."
Here we see that God says he is not coming against you. The enemy is coming against you and will come against you, but it is not because of God. The word used for assembling or gather is Guwr which means to sojourn. This indicates that the enemy will only be able to gather against you for a short period of time because sojourn means that it is only temporary, just passing through, a temporary stay. James 4:7 says, "Submit yourselves to God, however, resist the devil and he will flee." Even this verse indicates that the enemy will only be able to attack you for a short period of time. If you simply resist the enemy and remain in the battle then you will win.
The word in Greek used to describe the devil fleeing is Pheugo. It means he will escape from you, he will run from you, he will shun from the battle. The implication here is that you are stronger than the devil and he is afraid of you. He will try to intimidate you and make you think that he already has the victory over you, but if you even resist him a little, like any other bully, he will run away with his Courage the Cowardly Cat's tail between his legs. The truth that we discover in the word of God is that just by subjecting yourself to God's plan for your life and resisting what the enemy is trying to do, by rejecting the attack against you, then you will whip the devil and he will avoid even coming back to the battlefield against you. To shun something means to avoid, evade, eschew, steer clear of, shy away from, fight shy of, recoil from, keep away from, keep one's distance from, give a wide berth to, have nothing to do with, leave alone, not touch. At this point, you should be feeling invincible against the enemy because you are.
Let's not stop there. Now, allow me to show you the times in the bible that people commonly say God was killing someone, or God was attacking someone and reveal the truth behind the matter. I have noticed a pattern in the bible regarding plagues, the slaughter of the children in Egypt and other instances in the bible where attacks are happening. That pattern is that it is actually the enemy of God that is attacking people as a result of unrepentant sin, but that is always the predecessor of God reaching out through the prophets asking the people to repent and come back into his will.
Look at Exodus 12:23, " When the LORD goes through the land to strike down the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the door frame and will pass over that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down." It was not God that even killed the firstborn, it was the destroyer. The Hebrew word used for the destroyer is Ha-Mashit. The 'Ha' indicates that this is a title and not a name, therefore, it is a description. We see the same thing in 'ha' Satan (the accuser), and 'ha' Meshiach (the anointed one). Both of these are titles that describe the nature of the bearer. The title 'Ha-Mashit actually means the corrupt one, the destroyer, the spoiled one, the fallen, the liar. We see this same title used to describe the enemy of God in Isaiah 54:16. " 15 If anyone does attack you, it will not be my doing; whoever attacks you will surrender to you. 16 “See, it is I who created the blacksmith
who fans the coals into flame and forges a weapon fit for its work. And it is I who have created the destroyer to wreak havoc, 17 no weapon forged against you will prevail, and you will refute every tongue that accuses you. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and this is their vindication from me, Declares the Lord."
Since you are redeemed by Christ, then this scripture is for you because as a redeemed one you have become a servant of the Lord. As you see from these verses it is not God that created the weapon that is being used to attack you. It is not God that has attacked you. It is the enemy of God, the Corrupt spoiled one that was originally an angel and has become corrupted. You see in Ezekiel 28 that this same corrupted angel was a covering Cherub of God. Some speculate that this is not referring to Satan, but an actual king, but what King was ever mentioned as having been in the garden and was a cherub angel that covered God's throne?
The word translated as king in Hebrew is Malak. I do feel as though this is a mistranslation in the sense that we typically think of King as a physical human being, but this 'king' is also called a cherub. The same word Malak is the word that also means messenger or angel. Therefore, if we look at this verse understanding that this is actually speaking of an angel it lines up with the description of the fall of Satan that is described by Jesus in Luke 10:8, The fall of Satan in Isaiah 14 (where we learn that Satan's original name was Helel), and with Revelation 12:9 where it says, "And the great dragon was hurled down--that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him.
Actually, if you read the original Greek Vulgate of Revelation 12:9 it says, "and was thrown out the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the adversary, who is called the slanderer, deceiving the whole inhabited world. He was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him." It seems that John didn't want to leave any doubt in your mind that the chief angel that deceived the world was Satan.
I hope you have enjoyed these two posts. Please make sure to stay tuned for part three as we unravel who is really behind all the attacks that the Church so callously accuses God of committing against his people.
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