detestable things – Moment to Moment (Bible blog)

Abhorrent to God. Abhorrent to us?

You saw their abhorrent images and idols made of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which were among them. (Deuteronomy 29:17)

Being in Japan, it’s easy for me to “get used to” all the idols and altars that are around.

But it struck me today that God never “gets used to” them, anymore than he did in Moses’ day. These things were and are abhorrent to him.

But then my next thought was, “What other things do I take for granted that God finds abhorrent?”

My first thought went to the kinds of things showing on Amazon Prime.

Not all of it is bad, of course. But there are definitely things there that would have been abhorrent to us 10-20 years ago.

Nowadays, though, it’s easy to take the attitude of “that’s the way the world is now.”

But God’s attitude never changes. These things are still abhorrent to him. And they should be to us.

And so my prayer today was, “Father, let me never become insensitive to what you find abhorrent. Help me to see things as you do.”

What we bring into our homes

Do not bring any detestable thing into your house, or you will be set apart for destruction like it.

You are to abhor and detest it utterly because it is set apart for destruction. (Deuteronomy 7:26)

Those words really resonated with me this morning.

How often do I bring detestable things into my home?

For me, the thing I need to be most careful about “bringing in” is what I watch on the internet. Or what kinds of things I read. Or what podcasts I listen to.

God brought to mind a podcast I was listening to just yesterday. It was mostly fine, but there was about a five-minute stretch of coarse joking.

I wasn’t entertained at all, but for some reason, I didn’t shut it off either. Probably because it never occurred to me how much God detested it.

I think next time, I’ll either have to skip forward or shut it off altogether. Because anything God detests, I need to too. These are things are set apart for destruction.

We are a holy people, belonging to the Lord. God has chosen us to be his special possession. (6)

So with grateful hearts, let us live that way, and not “bring into our homes” anything God detests.