Psalms 11:5

Psalm 11 is attributed to King David and was likely written during a period of genuine personal danger — possibly when his enemies were threatening him and his advisors were urging him to flee and hide. The psalm is David's refusal to run, grounded in his trust in God as a righteous judge. In verse 5, David reflects on God's active moral engagement with the world: God examines the righteous — tests them, knows them intimately — and has a strong aversion to those who love violence. The word "hates" here is deliberate and strong. In a world where violent, powerful people often appeared to face no consequences, this was a radical and necessary claim.

God, you are not neutral — you see violence and cruelty and you are genuinely moved by it. Thank you for being that kind of just. Examine me too, and find in me something worth redeeming: a heart that hates what you hate and loves what you love. Amen.

The word "hates" in the Bible makes modern readers squirm. We prefer a God of endless warmth — generous, untroubled by what we do, fundamentally unbothered. Psalm 11 won't cooperate with that picture. God, looking down from his holy temple at the full range of human behavior, "hates" — the Hebrew is not soft — those who love violence. Not people who stumble or lose their temper or make terrible mistakes. People who love it. Who build their identity around dominating others. Who find something like satisfaction in cruelty. David wrote this as a man in real danger from those kinds of people, and he needed to know — desperately, not theoretically — that God was not neutral about it. There's a strange comfort in a God who hates evil, and there's also a challenge in it. Because the verse also says God examines the righteous — meaning he's paying close attention to you too, not only to the people who hurt you. That examination isn't meant to terrorize, but it is meant to sober. You can't appeal to God's hatred of violence while quietly nursing contempt, or savoring someone else's public humiliation, or celebrating cruelty when it happens to people you happen to dislike. God's moral vision runs all the way through. What is he finding when he examines you?