A Devotional Journey Through the Psalms: Psalm 97

 A Devotional Journey Through the Psalms: Psalm 97
-Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow

You who love the Lord, hate evil!
He preserves the souls of His saints;
He delivers them out of the hand of the wicked.
Light is sown for the righteous,
And gladness for the upright in heart.
Rejoice in the Lord, you righteous,
And give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name (Psalm 97:10-12).
 
Our focus in Psalm 96 was upon the beauty of God’s holiness. In Psalm 97 we are reminded that the beauty of holiness has an enemy—it is the ugliness of evil. Both the love of the Lord and the fear of the Lord (Psalm 97:10 & Proverbs 8:13) will place within our hearts a hatred for evil. Evil is not a friend, it is an enemy of that which is good, righteous, holy and true.
 
Hating evil is not being negative, it’s being righteous; it’s not being unkind, it’s being loving, it’s not being mean to someone, it’s wanting the best for someone. Hating evil is not an Old Testament worldview, it’s a Bible worldview. Included in the prayer Jesus taught us is the request, “Deliver us from evil (and the Evil One).”
 
Nowhere in God’s kingdom is evil celebrated, admired, applauded, approved or desired. The Kingdom work God is doing in us and the Kingdom work Jesus did for us on the cross is to bring us out of darkness into God’s light, to cleanse us and free us from sin, and to bring us from spiritual death into spiritual life.
 
God’s will is to save, guard, nurture and protect our souls from anything that would attempt to steal, kill or destroy us. God preserves the souls of His children. He delivers us out of the hand of wickedness and bathes us in the splendor of His light.
 
Insight: The results of God’s work in us through the cross brings to us a priceless treasure, gladness of heart!
 
Insight: If the enemy has taken hold of us in any area of our lives, the Lord knows how to pry the enemy’s fingers loose and set us free from any stronghold.

#psalms #devotional #devotion #roylessin #meetinginthemeadow
©2026 Roy Lessin, Meeting in the Meadow. Photo by Shannon Bromley. Used with permission, all rights reserved.
 
Restore, Renew and Refresh in the Psalms
Green Pastures. Quiet Waters. Righteous Paths.
meetinginthemeadow.com
BlessedDayCards.com