Proverbs 15:8

Proverbs 15:8 "The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD: but the prayer of the upright is his delight."

Over the course of the Book of Proverbs, Solomon paints a lot of pictures illustrating the beauty of virtue as well as the ugliness of wickedness.  Some of those pictures are elegant and complicated.  Some of those pictures require a lot of thought and concentration to see the hidden meaning in them.  Other pictures are painted with broad brushes and bold colors.  These pictures present obvious truths that are designed to be blunt.  They are painted and written this way for the sake of the young or newly converted mind.  These are the proverbs that no one can afford to miss or misunderstand.  This proverb is one of those paintings with clear contrasts and loud themes.

First, let us notice the two different types of people and how one defines the other.  On one side of the canvas are the wicked and on the other side are the upright.  Solomon could have put the righteous, the holy or the obedient in contrast to the wicked but he didn't.  He chose the upright and with Divinely-inspired intention for that word best defines the wicked within the context of sacrifices.  Because the wicked are contrasted with the upright, God would have us to see that wickedness is not defined by great sin or extreme evil like murder or rape.  Wickedness can be and is anything that isn't upright.  Wickedness is anything that isn't totally compliant and obedient to God's law.  A person can be mostly compliant but still be wicked because of a little disobedience.  Paying 75% of our taxes is mostly compliant but because it is not fully compliant, the IRS still considers it illegal and ultimately, criminal.  Showing up to work 80% of the time is mostly compliant but because it is not fully compliant, your employer still considers it a violation of company policy and grounds for termination.  Staying sexually faithful to your spouse for 364 days a year is mostly compliant to your vows but because it is not fully compliant, your spouse considers that one day of infidelity as unfaithful and grounds for divorce.  A child who slouches in their seat at dinner is where he is supposed to be but he is not sitting as he is supposed to sit.  A wise parent will command that child to sit up straight, or "upright."  That child may sit up straighter when being reproved but unless he is sitting up as straight as his parents wants him to, he is still disappointing and ultimately, disobeying his parent.  Doing what we think is right does not make us right.  Being what we deem moral does not make us moral.  Only being and doing precisely what God commands makes us upright.  Anything else than pure obedience to God, regardless of how we feel, renders us wicked.

Wickedness is not measured by the presence of great sin; it is measured by the presence of any sin.  All are sinners but not all are wicked because not all protect and preserve their sin.  The upright aren't upright all the time but when they bend over in sin, they quickly stand upright through the repentance of that sin.  The wicked hang on to their sin and refuse to give it up.  Hanging onto a lie makes a person wicked.  Refusing to give up some evil vise or unholy habit renders a person wicked.  Living with sin without any intention to give it up deems a person wicked.  A person choosing to live bitter towards another person is a wicked person.  A man or woman who will not forgive another man or woman is in God's eyes disobedient and wicked.  We almost always think "the wicked" is someone else.  When we read about "the wicked" in Scripture, we almost always think about the criminal in jail, the drug dealer on the streets, the mobster in the room above the bar or the creep running the Ponzi scheme.  Not standing straight, morally-speaking, when God instructs us to, is the definition of wicked.

 The choice of wording is far from random or insignificant.  The context of the proverb, or the subject of the painting, is religious in nature.  One person is sacrificing while another is praying.  If "the wicked" are extremely bad people, we should find it odd to see them offering sacrifices in this painting.  If "the wicked" are the worst of the worst, we should be surprised to see them offering an animal sacrifice or a sacrifice of fruit, grain or wine to God.  Therein is the reason for contrasting "wicked" with "upright."  Wickedness is easy to obtain for it only requires an unwillingness to be totally and fully compliant to God.  To go from upright to wicked only requires a refusal to sit up totally straight; it only needs the unwillingness to give up some sin whether big or small.  For that reason, the Temple Mount in Solomon's Day and the Houses of God in our day are full of religious but wicked people.

In Solomon's Day, mostly but not totally compliant people offered sacrifices all the time.  In our day, mostly but not totally compliant people offer sacrifices all the time as well.  In his day, men held on to sin but still made sacrifices to God.  In our day, men hold onto sin but still serve in ministry.  This is something that Solomon chose to boldly confront and he did so by calling it an ABOMINATION to God.  According to this wise king, sacrificing our time or our money for the work of God is an abomination to Him if we're holding on to sin when God tells us to give it up.  Sacrificing our talent and resources to God in ministry is an abomination to Him if we're intentionally harboring bitterness or unforgiveness in our hearts.  He hates it when we think we're honoring Him with our substance or presence while hanging onto something He loathes.  By the way, we're no different.  What wife wants flowers from a husband who refuses to get rid of his mistress?  What husband wants a nice dinner from a wife who refuses to stop getting drunk?  What employer accepts a Christmas gift from an employee he knows is stealing from his company?  When we refuse to give up some evil in our life in obedience to God and "stand upright," any level of sacrifice is offensive to Him.

On the contrary, the mere conversation of the upright is a great delight to God.  Solomon doesn't contrast the sacrifice of the wicked with the sacrifice of the upright.  He doesn't compare the ministry of the wicked with the ministry of upright.  Instead, he paints the picture of the person harboring hatred in his heart but involved in some ministry next to the person who is right with God simply talking to God.  God has no respect for the time, money or talent spent by the hateful person but He has nothing but delight in the compliant person.  God is not impressed with what we give TO Him if we won't give up sin FOR Him.  God would rather just hear the simple and spontaneous words of a person who obeys Him than receive great treasure and time from a person who won't obey Him.  Sacrifice does not mean nearly as much to God as obedience.  Letting go of stuff or even of time doesn't mean nearly as much to God as letting go of sin.

Saul learned this truth the hard way and he remains the Bible's best example of this proverb.  Early in his reign as king of Israel, he received the clear command to execute justice on the Amalekites.  Centuries earlier, the Amalekites slaughtered the weak and faint Israelites while wandering in the wilderness in a brutal and unprovoked fashion.  God gave them enough time to repent of that heinous sin but because they didn't, justice was to be served.  The king went to battle with the direct order to wipe Amalek off the map, from human to animal.  Despite knowing what God ordered him to do, King Saul won the war but kept the best of the people and of the animals.  When confronted by the prophet Samuel, he claimed to have saved the best of the animals to offer sacrifices to God.  Saul sincerely thought he obeyed God as he said, "I have performed the commandment of the LORD" (1 Samuel 15:13).  Samuel's response has echoed throughout history in the pages of Scripture when he said to Saul, "Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king" (1 Samuel 15:22-23).  Saul was 75-80%, maybe even 90% compliant to God.  He was sitting up but because he wasn't sitting straight up, God rightly viewed him as wicked.  It grieved God and it cost Saul his job.

 This proverb is a bold one confronting our level of compliance and obedience to God.  It is meant to pull the blanket off of our lives to see if we're hiding anything from God.  It is meant to help us see the heart of God so that we don't fool ourselves into thinking that religious activity can somehow overcompensate for our disobedience.  God cares more about our compliance than our service.  God cares more about our obedience than our offerings.  He cares more about us giving up our sin for Him than giving up our silver for Him.  He would rather just hear the voice of an obedient person than see the sacrifice of a disobedient person.