haughty – Page 2 – Praying Pint

12.w. “But I will leave within you the meek and humble”

Zephaniah 3:9 “Then I will purify the lips of the peoples, that all of them may call on the name of the Lord and serve him shoulder to shoulder. From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, my scattered people, will bring me offerings. On that day you, Jerusalem, will not be put to shame for all the wrongs you have done to me, because I will remove from you your arrogant boasters. Never again will you be haughty on my holy hill. But I will leave within you the meek and humble. The remnant of Israel will trust in the name of the Lord. They will do no wrong; they will tell no lies. A deceitful tongue will not be found in their mouths. They will eat and lie down and no one will make them afraid.”

Jeremiah 7:9-12   Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,  and then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’—only to go on doing all these abominations?

Ezekiel 7:24     I will bring the worst of the nations to take possession of their houses. I will put an end to the pride of the strong, and their holy places shall be profaned.

Ezekiel 24:21    ‘Say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will profane my sanctuary, the pride of your power, the delight of your eyes, and the yearning of your soul, and your sons and your daughters whom you left behind shall fall by the sword.

Zephaniah makes it very clear there will be a time of judgment for the prideful, arrogant, haughty, self-important, smug, puffed up, and condescending people. These will be removed and will no longer be influencing others. They are gone. Their final place is in torment in hell. By Zephaniah’s warning/proclamation people throughout time have had chance after chance through the grace of God to turn away from their defiance and denial of God. Some do, but many millions more do not. The promise of peace and rest, grace and mercy, forgiveness, and salvation is not enough for them to turn away from the path in life they have chosen. Defiance and denial do not negate the judgment coming but certainly do cement their eternal destiny. The humble and meek will be with Jesus Christ. Those who by faith surrender their eternal destiny into the hands of Jesus Christ will be with Him. They have repented of their sin and trusted in Jesus Christ. They humbly seek and desire His Word to guide, protect, encourage, and give them the wisdom to see the world’s lies, temptations, and enticements so that they live honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ this side of eternity. A time is coming, much sooner than we think, where we will be face to face with Jesus Christ our Redeemer, Savior, and King. The time of salvation is now, before judgment, not after. Do not delay in finding true peace rest, and eternal salvation through faith in Him.

8.r. “I warn you, as I warned you before”

Revelation 21:8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Romans 1:29 They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. Though they know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.

1 Corinthians 6:9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

Galatians 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

While John’s list is similar to those of Paul, it’s important to note that John begins with “cowards” and “unbelievers.” This appears to be an indirect appeal to all professing believers facing times of testing. John makes no distinction between those who deny Jesus under persecution and those who openly embrace pagan vices. Jurgen Roloff again writes, “In an effort to challenge the reliance of the addressees on their safe possession of salvation, John again makes it clear that, because of the magnitude of the promise received, the danger is all the more serious of being disobedient and faithless to Jesus. Whoever succumbs to it does not belong to those who stand in the Look of Life and is therefore fundamentally like God’s enemies, who stand in his judgment” (p. 238). This is not to suggest that the elect will fall away; rather it seems to be an affirmation that those who merely profess Christianity may expect to be exposed under the withering heat of persecution so that their true nature as unbelievers is made clear.

Phillips, Rob. The Searcher’s Guide to the Apocalypse:

7.p. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them.

Revelation 13:1 And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. And the beast that I saw was like a leopard; its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great authority. One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal wound was healed, and the whole earth marveled as they followed the beast. And they worshiped the dragon, for he had given his authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast, saying, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?”

And the beast was given a mouth uttering haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty-two months. It opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear: If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes; if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

Think of all of the ruthless, charismatic, cruel, and cultic rulers there have been over the course of history. Some of these are recent and some more distant. One thing is for sure they despise God and think of themselves as “god-like”. The antichrist will rise to power through Satan and he will be worshiped by the masses. He will persecute those Christians who have come to the knowledge of Jesus Christ during the tribulation period. He will kill many but he will also take great pleasure in tormenting them physically, financially, and mentally. He will do supernatural things so that multitudes of people we flock to Him. He will have a way of convincing people to follow Him and allow how he is treating Christians.

This will not be a time you would want to live through and most definitely would not want this to be what opens your heart to the message of Jesus Christ. Now is the time to repent and come to Him. Now is the time of salvation. Now is the time to live for Him. Seek and desire Him more than the things that are keeping yours for giving Him your whole heart, mind, and soul.

95. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge

1 Samuel 2:12 Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord. The custom of the priests with the people was that when any man offered sacrifice, the priest’s servant would come, while the meat was boiling, with a three-pronged fork in his hand, and he would thrust it into the pan or kettle or cauldron or pot. All that the fork brought up the priest would take for himself. This is what they did at Shiloh to all the Israelites who came there. Moreover, before the fat was burned, the priest’s servant would come and say to the man who was sacrificing, “Give meat for the priest to roast, for he will not accept boiled meat from you but only raw.” And if the man said to him, “Let them burn the fat first, and then take as much as you wish,” he would say, “No, you must give it now, and if not, I will take it by force.” Thus the sin of the young men was very great in the sight of the Lord, for the men treated the offering of the Lord with contempt.

Hosea 4:6-9     My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.  The more they increased, the more they sinned against me; I will change their glory into shame.  They feed on the sin of my people; they are greedy for their iniquity.  And it shall be like people, like priest; I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.

Romans 1:21    For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened.

Romans 1:28-30    And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.  They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips,  slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,

R.C. Sproul You see the crisis in both the church and the world. Our leaders lack a moral compass. A new barbarism ricochets through pop culture. An entrenched post-Christian secularism and statism dominate Europe where the Reformation once reigned. People around the world have forgotten who God is, so they’ve forgotten who they are and how they must live.

People look for solutions in a crisis. They turn to politics, programs, or gimmicks. They may retreat, or, crumbling before the challenge, they live compromised lives. Such is the way of the world we live in and should not be the way of those who believe.

s it possible that our seeking, desiring, and wanting to humbly honor and serve God has stopped? Is it possible that we have become seekers of self-interests, self-satisfaction, self-sufficiency, self-helped, self-loved, self-made, and self-serving? As Christians is it possible to stop seeking God and have growth in our life? Is it possible that in our seeking and receiving forgiveness, new birth in Jesus Christ, finding peace and rest for our soul we have come to a place in our life where seeking to know Jesus more has stopped other than to find resolve to some trial or trouble facing us?

Life will always offer something to fill our lives apart from giving our whole heart, mind, and soul to honoring, serving, following, and obeying Jesus. Stay in His word. Desire His word. Seek to know and serve Him each minute of each day.

56. So that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Deuteronomy 28:47 Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things.

Nehemiah 9:35     Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works.

1 Timothy 6:17-19    As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.  They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share,  thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

Deuteronomy 12:8   “You shall not do according to all that we are doing here today, everyone doing whatever is right in his own eyes,

Deuteronomy 32:13-15     He made him ride on the high places of the land, and he ate the produce of the field, and he suckled him with honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock.  Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of Bashan and goats, with the very finest of the wheat— and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.  “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.

When are you closest to God? What times in your life were you seeking Him earnestly? I would be accurate if I said it was in a very troubling, sad, confusing, frustrating time in your life. Doesn’t it seem like we run to Him only when we need His refuge, strength, power, courage, forgiveness, and healing but we aren’t quick to run to Him to give honor, glory, praise, and to worship Him?

In times of quiet, health, comfort, prosperity, and freedom there is a high probability to neglect and be complacent with His word. Challenge this statement if you want but it is surely true. If His word is not actively being desired and cherished then it is being set aside because of a perceived lack of need of it.

Remember God will not be mocked – if your life is sowing seeds of self-interest above humbly serving, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying God, God will give you the desires of your heart which will never satisfy, never fulfill, never bring joy, peace or comfort.

2. The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people

Genesis 41:29  There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

1 Samuel 5:6    The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.

Isaiah 24:20    The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it,

Exodus 9:3   behold, the hand of the LORD will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.

Psalms 32:4    For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Acts 13:11    And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.

Isaiah 5:7-30     For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!  Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.  The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.  For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”  Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!  They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands.  Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.  Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her.  Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.  But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.  Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.  Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,  who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!  Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink,  who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!  Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.  Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.  He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come!  None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken;  their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.  Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue.  They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.

Is their a living God, sovereign over all, who judges mankind and at times places His mighty hand heavily upon them? Is there a living God that sees all thoughts and intents and actions of mankind? Is there a living God that warns man? Yes there is and it is not good to turn deaf ear to His warnings. We easily claim His blessings and promises but rarely think of His warnings and discipline. His warnings are out of love to keep us from doing harm to our soul and that which does not honor and glorify Him. Pride, lust, greed and placing something other than God first in our life are all warned against. When warnings are not taken to heart, or the heart and ears are hardened to not hear His warnings, and repentance and returning to Him is desired, the hand of God will be upon us.

This side of eternity it is a good thing to have the hand of God upon us and lovingly trying to turn us away from our wrong paths in life. It is a very sad and dreadful day when we pass from this life into eternity without taking heed to His warnings.

Tomorrow I will start to post excerpts from a sermon Johnathan Edwards gave July 8, 1741; “In the hands of an angry God”

Pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease

“Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD. Do I not fill heaven and earth? declares the LORD.”

Genenis 13:1 So Abram went up from Egypt, he and his wife and all that he had, and Lot with him, into the Negeb. Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. And he journeyed on from the Negeb as far as Bethel to the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and Ai, to the place where he had made an altar at the first. And there Abram called upon the name of the LORD. And Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them dwelling together; for their possessions were so great that they could not dwell together, and there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and the herdsmen of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were dwelling in the land. Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen, for we are kinsmen. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” And Lot lifted up his eyes and saw that the Jordan Valley was well watered everywhere like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar. (This was before the LORD destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.) So Lot chose for himself all the Jordan Valley, and Lot journeyed east. Thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the valley and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the men of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the LORD.

Genesis 18:20 Then the LORD said, “Because the outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is great and their sin is very grave,

Isaiah 1:9 If the LORD of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomorrah.

Isaiah 3:9 For the look on their faces bears witness against them; they proclaim their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! For they have brought evil on themselves.

Ezekiel 16:46-50 And your elder sister is Samaria, who lived with her daughters to the north of you; and your younger sister, who lived to the south of you, is Sodom with her daughters. Not only did you walk in their ways and do according to their abominations; within a very little time you were more corrupt than they in all your ways. As I live, declares the Lord GOD, your sister Sodom and her daughters have not done as you and your daughters have done. Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. They were haughty and did an abomination before me. So I removed them, when I saw it.

Matthew 11:23-24 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

2 Peter 2:6-8 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);

The path Lot chose was place he likened to “the garden of the LORD” and why not, well watered and established. Abraham chose whatever Lot did not. I imagine, if we are given a choice, we will pick the path that seems more pleasing.

Either path is right but what lies ahead can be a bit deceiving. Looks, as they say, are deceiving. Who would think a land of prosperity, abundance of food, and prosperous ease would lead to anyone having pride rather than thankfulness.

I wonder how much our culture resembles the life styles, thoughts, actions of Sodom. I question the liberal application of morals and adoption of them by many – How close are we to that of Sodom? Are we half way there or surpassing?

Oh, God heal our nation, draw us back to where You and Your word are guiding and directing our thoughts. Place barriers in our paths that might otherwise lead us away from thinking and desiring You. Light a fire in our soul and fill us with your Spirit, anew. Open our eyes and ears to see and hear what is right and acceptable in Your sight. Soften our heart to those in need, fill us with courage to stand up for that which is right in Your eyes. Teach us to be humble, thankful, generous, king and loving so that our lives honor and glorify You alone.

Reread this last paragraph with “Me” instead of our or us.

So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits

“man breathes his last, and where is he?”

Psalms 103:15 As for man, his days are like grass; he flourishes like a flower of the field; for the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place knows it no more.

Psalms 90:5-6 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers.

Isaiah 40:6-8 A voice says, “Cry!” And I said, “What shall I cry?” All flesh is grass, and all its beauty is like the flower of the field. The grass withers, the flower fades when the breath of the LORD blows on it; surely the people are grass. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.

James 1:10-11 and the rich in his humiliation, because like a flower of the grass he will pass away. For the sun rises with its scorching heat and withers the grass; its flower falls, and its beauty perishes. So also will the rich man fade away in the midst of his pursuits.

Job 14:1-3 “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble. He comes out like a flower and withers; he flees like a shadow and continues not.

Job 20:9 The eye that saw him will see him no more, nor will his place any more behold him.

1 Timothy 6:17 As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.

1 John 2:17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

James 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

What do we strive for? What is it that we are trying to obtain? What is our end game? I imagine: some sort of recognition, enough money to live without worry, health, sound mind, known for some skill or accomplishment, beauty, know for something tangible that we own, know for something we have written or said…etc. When you think about this and the scripture above, how important is it really? All of the time we spend alive in this body is but a flower that blooms and then is gone. We have little wisdom understanding eternity (time without end) and this side of eternity (time with end). Do you think it is possible that our end game is only focused on this side of eternity? What should our end game focus be: honoring, glorifying, serving, following, obeying, proclaiming, believing, trusting, relying on, clinging to, loving, praising, worshiping, listening to, and meditating on, God. Our endgame should include wanting others to pass from death to life rather than death to judgement and damnation. Jesus Christ is our savior, redeemer, and is coming again to gather His own into forever presence with Him. I love the hymn that has a verse: Turn your eyes to Jesus, look full into His wonderful face, and the things of this world will grow strangely dim, in the light of his glory and grace.