I think I’ve said it before here, but I’ll say it again: life’s circumstance has a way of creating a filter for processing the word of God. You can read the same passage year after year and never have it hit you between the eyes. But then, one year, with different things going on, something you’ve skimmed over in the past with little thought suddenly jumps off the page and demands some meditation and thought. Such is the case with a familiar reading this morning in Proverbs 6.

The LORD hates six things;
in fact, seven are detestable to Him:
arrogant eyes, a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that plots wicked schemes,
feet eager to run to evil,
a lying witness who gives false testimony,
and one who stirs up trouble among brothers.

(Proverbs 6:16-19 CSB)

Six . . . no, seven things the LORD hates. Six . . . no, seven things the LORD is inclined to set Himself in opposition to. Six . . . no, seven things. And I take it that the seventh thing is a thing to be particularly noted.

So, what are these six . . . no, seven things? Pride and lying and murder. No surprise there. Hearts that plot evil, feet that run toward evil, and those who would perjure themselves to perpetuate evil. Yup. Get it. Check, check, and check. One who stirs up trouble among brothers. Huh?

Someone who sows discord among brothers (ESV)? That’s the seventh thing? That’s the emphasized thing? That’s the thing above the other things? The thing it looks like we are supposed to not miss. The LORD hates “a troublemaker in the family” (MSG)? Apparently.

Liars and murderers and perjurers, oh my! Now that has a logical ring to it. But liars and murderers and family fracturers, oh my? Honestly, it hits me as somewhat shocking. Like one-of-these-things-is-not-like-the-other shocking.

I know from Psalm 133 that, from the perspective of the Divine, it is “good and pleasant when brothers live together in harmony.” So good, in fact, that “there the LORD has appointed the blessing.” But that it would be odious to the LORD of heaven — just as pride, lying, murder, and perjury are repulsive — that someone would work to fracture that harmony within a family takes a bit of noodling to really grasp.

Something which seems to be too common within the family of God on earth is something so abhorrent before the eyes of the King of heaven. How we need to recognize and deal with our troublemaking within the family. It’s not just one of the six things God hates, it’s the seventh!

So whaddya’ supposed to do when you do something that the LORD hates?

We confess. We repent. And He forgives.

For, the debt of sin owed for the six things — no, the seven things the LORD hates — has been paid in full at the cross of Calvary. Our seventh thing can be the same thing that captures our hearts afresh with the great thing of God’s abounding grace. Recognizing the seventh thing becomes the latest thing that allows us to experience the faithful thing of the Savior’s love.

. . . and the grace of our Lord overflowed, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners” ​— ​and I am the worst of them.

(1Timothy 1:14-15 CSB)

Christ Jesus saves and continues to save sinners. Even liars and murderers and family fracturers. Oh my!

By His infinite grace. For His eternal glory.