A Lingering Stench

This year, I'm sharing my "Treasures" of my study of my "Ponder the Morsels" book. I've picked 31 Psalms to study throughout 2013. Today I studied Psalm 11. Here is what I learned.

For the Lord is [rigidly] righteous, He loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold His face, or He beholds the upright. Psalm 11:7 (AMP)

God’s business is putting things right; he loves getting the lines straight, Setting us straight. Once we’re standing tall, we can look him straight in the eye. Psalm 11:7 (MSG)

That God may give grace without glory is intelligible; but to admit a man to communion with him in glory without grace, is not intelligible. It is not agreeable to God's holiness to make any inhabitant of heaven, and converse freely with him in a way of intimate love, without such a qualification of grace: "The righteous Lord loveth righteousness; his countenance doth behold the upright; he looks upon him with a smiling eye, and therefore he cannot favourably look upon an unrighteous person; so that this necessity is not founded only in the command of God that we should be renewed, but in the very nature of the thing, because God, in regard of his holiness, cannot converse with an impure creature. God must change his nature, or the sinner's nature must be changed. There can be no friendly communion between two of different natures without the change of one of them into the likeness of the other. Wolves and sheep, darkness and light, can never agree. God cannot love a sinner as a sinner, because he hates impurity by a necessity of nature as well as a choice of will. It is as impossible for him to love it as to cease to be holy. Stephen Charnock

I was watching the skunks play outside last night. They are cute little things. Scampering around playing tag with each other. They made me laugh. However a short time later, my apartment was filled with the stench of skunk! Something had scared the little guys and they sprayed.. it was so strong it stung my eyes. At that point and time, I did not think the skunks were so cute. 

As God watches me go about my day do I please Him? Does enjoy watching what I’m doing? Or does His smile turn to disgust as I choose sin? Every action, every thought, every word, every attitude is a choice. I have the choice to choose righteousness or I have the choice to choose sin. 

Thankfully, God is gracious and merciful and a forgiving God. The stench of sin can only be removed by accepting His forgiveness. 

To create a positive day, I need to choose God’s righteousness so that I can look Him straight in the eye-for the only other option is choosing sin—which simply produces a lingering stench.