Kali had to travel 2 miles to the nearest river for clean water.  Every morning under the African sun she would take a yoke upon her shoulders to carry the two clay jars to the river.  She would fill the jars in the flowing current, hoist them back up onto the yoke, and the yoke onto her shoulders.  The trip home took twice as long due to the added weight.  But her family relied on her, and so she went.

The people began to notice a funny thing about the girls who went for water.  Over time, they began to smile more.  They sang more often as they walked and seemed more at peace with the world.  Kali’s father noticed as well, but was too distracted by Kali’s jars.  One of them had a large crack down the side so that as she walked, she lost water.  Not only that, but the weight on her shoulders became more and more uneven as she trod, making the trip more painful and difficult with each step.  Her father said, “Kali, dear.  Let me get you another jar for the trip.”  But Kali refused and her father obliged her.  Day after day she would return with enough water, but not all she could carry.  Day after day her back hurt a little more and her walk was a little slower.

Finally, her father asked one of Kali’s friends, herself a water bearer for her family, “How can you sing and be happy when your friend Kali is hurting more and more?”  Kali’s friend replied, “I sing for Kali, because she has done a marvelous thing.  You see, as the broken jar spills water along the side of the path, it waters the ground and now we have a beautiful flower garden to see and smell every day when we go for water.  The flowers bring us peace and joy, and make our lives easier.  This is why Kali will not change her pot and suffers… it is for us.”

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”

“There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil,a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.”

There are a few lists like this in scripture, but it was a common way of poetic writing in this culture at this time. Let’s look at them individually.

haughty eyes – arrogance is inappropriate before God (and where are we not before God?) because God calls us to be humble, recognizing that we are not the King of our own lives.  Much sin in this world has come from people arrogantly putting themselves before God.

a lying tongue – today’s sermon is all about Truth.  Check it out at here.

hands that shed innocent blood – from bullying to unjust legal systems to murderers, this is a pretty wide net.  God hates injustice because He Himself is justice.

a heart that devises wicked schemes – schemes take a lot of work to devise, so while some sins slip into our lives accidentally, this is a fully intentional attempt to be wicked.

feet that are quick to rush into evil – those with a desire, an addiction if you will, to get involved in evil things are unrepentant and therefore desire no mercy.

a false witness who pours out lies – this is bigger than someone who lies for their own benefit.  This is one who foils justice and law by bringing lies into the courtroom, the very place where justice is to be meted out.

The reason for the “six things… seven” formula is to point to the seventh of the list as the ultimate of them all. In this case, though God hates the 6 listed first, He hates the seventh the most.

a person who stirs up conflict in the community – God is a God of order, and so hates conflict between His children.  While the church is often quick to point out others who are engaging in the first six of these sins, it is far more regularly within the church itself that the seventh appears, and it is the most hated by God.  We need to think about that as a community and work for unity and peace, not conflict.