What Pride Does

“Your arrogant heart has deceived you, you who live in clefts of the rock in your home on the heights, who say to yourself…”
Obadiah 1:3

I am sure that you have never struggled with pride; I am sure that you have never found yourself in a position where arrogance clouded your view of the people and situations around you. Ok, so we have all had this struggle at one time or another. The verse I started with today describes what happens to us when we get an arrogant attitude. We become deceived and begin to believe things about ourselves that are not true. The people in this verse were the Edomites, and they thought that they were untouchable because of the security of the place they lived. They felt they could do whatever they wanted and treat people unjustly because of their own security. How wrong they turned out to be. (God judged them and basically wiped them off the face of the earth.)
It is easy for the same thing to happen to us. We can become self-assured, secure, and certain that we have it all together and know best, looking down on others because they are not as put together as we are. The Bible has a lot to say about how God sees pride and his response to that attitude. Here are a few of the things he has to say. “Everyone with a proud heart is detestable to the Lord; be assured, he will not go unpunished.’ ‘Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall.” “When arrogance comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom.” (Proverbs 11:2; 16:5, 18 CSB) Please remember as you go through your week our pride does not go unnoticed by God; be assured He will deal with it. It would be far better to humble ourselves before God than to be humbled by God.

-Pastor Tim