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When Poetry Veers Left

Here is a portion of what I shared with my church this Sunday. I was talking about how God knows us, using Psalm 139 as my proof.

Rather than question why his life is any of God’s business, David writes thankful words at God’s knowledge. He seems enamored that God would take this effort to know him and he earnestly desires to return that gift. In verse 6, he acknowledges that this kind of knowledge is too lofty, too wonderful for him to grasp.

As we continue through this Psalm, we come to a part that has probably left many pastors wondering what exactly was wrong with David. This warrior-king, one breath away from telling God how precious His thoughts were, continues like this;

O God, if only you would destroy the wicked!
Get out of my life, you murderers!
They blaspheme you;
your enemies misuse your name.
O Lord, shouldn’t I hate those who hate you?
Shouldn’t I despise those who oppose you?
Yes, I hate them with total hatred,
for your enemies are my enemies. ~Psalm 139:19-22

It appears to be a tangent from an otherwise beautiful and poetic song of God’s intimate relationship with man. At first glance, it’s the jarring equivalent of; 

Roses are red, Violets are blue, Die, Scum of the Earth, Die!

But as we consider exactly what David is acknowledging here, it begins to make sense. Just as David is accepting that God knows everything about him, he yearns to be so much like God that he hates what God hates, sin and evil. David is expressing his heart’s unity with the heart of God. Long before Bob Pierce, founder of World Vision, asked God to break his heart for things that break the heart of God, King David was actually broken for the heart of God.
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