Does God Hate Me?

God is Love. That is one of the first things we teach our children. We have them memorize verses like John 3:16 and I John 4:8b. We simply tell them that God loves all people, everywhere, always. We sing songs like "Jesus Loves Me" and "Jesus Loves the Little Children". But are we lying to them? Does God really love all people?

This is a delicate subject within some groups of people. They will point to verses like Romans 9:13

¹³ Just as it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

So what can we take from this verse? Does this mean God hated Esau in all time? What was Esau guilty of in order to be hated by God Himself? Before we assume anything too quickly, let's go to the passage Paul is referencing. He is paraphrasing the book of Obadiah. Edom/Esau was the father of the nation of Edom. The reference here in Obadiah is to Esau's descendants harming the children of Jacob, which would be relatives to Edom. God pronounces judgement on the nation of Edom and on Esau as well for this evil deed. (we find this revisited in Malachi 1)

Jacob and Esau are the symbols used by God for the nations of Israel and Edom (the names of Jacob and Esau). The disobedience of Esau, and later his descendants, was abominable in God's eyes. At their birth it was prophesied that Esau would serve Jacob; but only after Esau sold his entire inheritance for some soup and his descendants were pillaging and destroying the family that God had given them, (the Israelites) do we hear from God that He hated them. So the question remains: Did God hate them (Edom) before or after they disobeyed God? Was it because they were disobedient to the call of submission to Israel that they were cursed? (Genesis 12:3) God does promise to curse those who curse Israel and that is what Edom did when they dishonored their brothers, the Israelites. God's wrath was then poured out upon them with a fierce heat.

But what of the verses before this right there in the book of Romans? Romans 9:11-12 tells us much about God's choice of Israel over his brother. God chose Israel from before his birth and Esau was to serve his brother. Note the change from servitude into condemnation. Paul switches seamlessly between the two without explaining any difference. In fact, it may seem that he sees none. So what do we believe? Or does it even matter?

Conclusion

Well, what do we take from this encounter? Do we say there are people God choses to hate and no matter what they do they cannot come to God? No, what we are saying is that there are those that God will use for His purpose even if that means they will be used in a dishonorable way. (II Tim. 2:20) The very next verse here in Second Timothy tells us what we can do to avoid being such vessels of dishonor. We are to cleanse ourselves from all evil and impurity. We need to take care and be obedient so that we may be vessels of honor in God's house. The important difference we need to note is the active choice to follow God's will or not. (Josh. 24:15) And in John we find this passage.

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. -JOHN 1:12-13

So we are indeed first called by God, and when we heed that call and obey the voice of God in our lives we become vessels of honor. If we do not, we cannot be. Remember this simple command of Jesus in Matthew 5:48.

"You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect."