Obadiah I: Pride

Obadiah I

Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be utterly despised. 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. (Obadiah 1:2-4 ESV)

 

Pride

 

My pride has been my downfall many times.  I played chess in a championship, sure I would teach the country bumpkins a thing or two.  But after I won my first bout, I fell painfully from my perch.

 

I believed I knew everything about my old 1964 Chevy Panel Truck… mechanically inside and out.  Until my diagnoses failed, my repairs faltered, and the dear old truck had to be trashed.

 

I thought I knew all about God’s grace, good theology, Biblical wisdom, and maturity beyond my years.  Until I fell to sin, deeply, painfully, destructively, and humbly.

 

Pride is at the foundation of every sin.

 

And the Edomites were proud.  They lived on defensible cliffs.  They bordered key trade routes.  Every national effort they attempted, they found success.

 

Until God said, “that’s enough.”

 

Pride leads to a fall.  Pride leads to judgement.  Pride leads to true awareness. 

 

And hopefully, needfully, salvificly, pride leads to Jesus.

 

See your pride, and humbly accept God’s answer to it: Jesus.