Sin and those who participate therein anger Lord. In the days of Noah, sin grieved the Lord so badly that it repented God that he had made man on the earth.
The people of God are to be a people full of the love of God, and as such, they should place the utmost value upon the lives of the innocent.
It is extremely important for everyone to have a functioning conscience. According to Romans 2:15, the conscience works in man to either accuse or else excuse his thoughts. His thoughts further affect his actions. The more often a conscience is ignored, the sooner it loses its capability to work upon man. The same holds true for any conscience defiled by sin. In John chapter 8, as the Lord dealt with the scribes and Pharisees, the desired inner workings of the conscience can be seen. In this instance, the religious leaders brought a woman before the Lord, accusing her of sin. In response, the Saviour suggested that he that was without sin should be the first to cast a stone in judgment. One by one the consciences of the religious leaders convicted them as they turned and walked away.
The Bible says that vanity is meaningless and empty, yet men love vanity. It fills their imaginations (Psalm 2:1), their thoughts (Psalm 94:11), and their speech (Psalm 144:8, 11). Vanity consumes man so much that he will weary himself for it (Habakkuk 2:13). In comparison to the vanities of this life, most people spend a brief moment in the eternal word of God. Far too many Christians fear to speak God’s righteousness but demonstrate boldness as they speak on behalf of their favorite vanities. As men tend to forget to spend time with the Lord, they spend entire days pondering the vanity to be enjoyed later in the day. Is it any wonder why people need so many “pick-me-up” drinks and drugs as they weary themselves in pursuit of vanity.
The Bible provides several sources of man’s joy, but each source can in some way be directly traced back to the Lord. In today's passage, Psalm 43:4 describes God as the psalmist's “exceeding joy.” According to Psalm 16:11, there is “fulness of joy” in God’s presence. While the Bible indicates that man’s soul can be joyful in the Lord (Psalm 35:9; Isaiah 61:10), it also associates joy directly to God’s strength (Psalm 21:1). Moreover, God’s word provides a source of joy for the saint (Jeremiah 15:16). In the New Testament, the book of Romans identifies God as the saint’s source of joy, but specifically, this joy comes “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:11). Perhaps men lack the joy of the Lord because they disregard the Lord of their joy.
