Abomination?

God and His laws, is the answer! There is no doubt of that. As difficult as it can be at times, strive to hold fast to them. And if you should fall, pick yourself right back up, ask forgiveness and move on. So, let me ask you, how much truth do you find here?

Your Prayers?

By T. M. Moore, The Colson Center For Christian Worldview
Published Date: October 30, 2010

Abominations (6)
If one turns away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.
Proverbs 28:9

For many Christians, pointing out the abominations that abound in our society has become something of a spectator sport. We’re quick to point the finger at adulterers, homosexuals, corrupt businessmen, and tax cheats. We denounce with righteous indignation those who pursue practices which God describes as abominable and worthy of His wrath. But we’d better be careful here. Because it’s just possible that many of us are practicing a form of abomination which is, in the eyes of God, as heinous and detestable as any moral outrage we might choose to denounce. I’m talking about our prayers.


Scripture teaches that God has problems with the prayers of His people from time to time. Sometimes He’s actually angry at their prayers, as when they have become so compromised and shallow that they make themselves a taunt and laughing-stock among their unbelieving neighbors (Ps. 80:4-6). At other times He won’t listen to our prayers at all, particularly if we are holding on to some sin, refusing to repent and follow the path of righteousness (Ps. 66:18).

But is it really possible that God is not simply angry at our prayers or turns a deaf ear to them, but that He actually regards our prayers as in the same category as the kinds of abominations we have considered thus far? This is clearly the teaching of our text: God finds abominable the prayers of those who leave off hearing and obeying His Law.

Many Christians these days are hurling abominations in the face of God every time they look to Him in prayer. This is because the Law of God is held in such low esteem on the part of contemporary Christians. One well-known evangelical theologian has written that, “the Christian has no relationship to Law”, and for the Christian “the law is a dead and a useless thing.”

Many Christians are doubtless happy to hear that. Whenever I speak or write about the Law of God, I invariably hear from someone that “we’re not under Law, we’re under grace,” and, therefore, we don’t have to pay attention to the Law of God. Most Christians cannot name all the Ten Commandments in their proper order, and all but a few have any sense at all of what to do with the ancient civil laws of Israel – even though it is clear that Jesus and the Apostles regarded these as still in effect.

The neglect by the Christian community of the Law of God is the greatest scandal of our day. Yet, on top of this inexcusable neglect, our prayers go up day by day, not as sweet incense to the Lord, but as an abominable stench before His holy throne. God tells us in His Word that the truly righteous person meditates in the Law of God day by day, hides the Law of God in his heart, walks the path of God’s commandments like Jesus did, and teaches others to do the same (Ps. 1; Ps. 119:9-11; 1 Jn. 2:1-6: Matt. 5:17-19).

The Law of God is holy and righteous and good. But today’s Christians do not study the Law, do not teach it to one another, and do not insist that this holy and righteous and good standard of truth and justice should be part of the public policy of the land in which we live. Consequently, our prayers – and all you have to do is hear God’s Word on this – our prayers are an abominable stench in the nostrils of God.

Brothers and sisters, here is a call for repentance. Here is a call for you to add to your spiritual disciplines daily reading and meditation in the Commandments of God and the civil statues that accompany them. Here is a call, not to be saved by God’s Law, but to begin working out our salvation in those good works for which we have been redeemed, good works ordained from of old, as Paul puts it (Eph. 2:8-10). Here is a call, beloved, for purifying our prayers by turning again to the Law of God as the moral, spiritual, and ethical foundation for all our walk with Him.

Stand With God, Stand For Liberty, And Prepare To Fight For Both!