READING: Obadiah, Psalms 82, 83
“. . . from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.”
Obadiah 4
Pride has a way of capturing us and convincing us. It “captures” us in the sense that it’s all over us; it almost seeps out from the pours of our skin. It “convinces” us then that we really are that significant. Prideful people will let others know how great they are, and it doesn’t matter what others think. It does matter, though, what God thinks.
The Edomites were a people who lived in a territory of high peaks (as high as 5000+ feet above sea level) and deep ravines. Literally high above others and difficult to get to, they trusted in their perceived invincibility. When God was ready to bring judgment on them through other nations, however, their inaccessibility was no concern for Him: “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD” (Obad. 3-4).
Their pride said, “No one can get us”; the power and reach of God said, “You can’t hide from Me.” They had natural, physical barriers they believed would protect them; God, though, is supernatural. In all their pride, they could not soar so high that God could not bring them down. That’s still the case for all of us, too.
ACTION STEPS:
- Ask a close friend if you ever exhibit pride.
- Ask God to show you where pride lurks in your heart. Confess it as needed.
PRAYER: “Father, I know how easily I can fall into pride. Help me. Guard me.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Jeremiah 45-48
