The Blog

Hoping in God’s word (v. 49–50) can be expected to bring the derision of prideful men.  The very act of rejecting God’s word is prideful in the most heinous manner, for it puts man above God as the arbiter of truth and falsity.  So the unregenerate man will reject God’s word, intentionally suppressing what he knows to be true (Romans 1:18–25), and will react against every reminder of God’s word.  This includes a personal disliking of those who make it their business to honor God’s law (2 Corinthians 2:16, Proverbs 29:17), for this reminds him of God’s all-encompassing claims upon every area of life, including upon his own self.  

The flipside of this is that a true love for God causes the believer to be repulsed by wickedness (Proverbs 29:17).  The psalmist says, “Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law” (v. 53).  This is not a personal dislike or hatred.  This is the attitude of the upholder of a righteous law order, that the righteous laws cannot be transgressed without grave consequences.  God works covenantally, and there are consequences for the violation of the legal terms of His covenants, upon the individual and the nation (Deuteronomy 28).