“The Pride of Thine Heart”...the Wayfarer 7/26/13

7/26/13
“The Pride of Thine Heart”

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me to the ground?

(Obadiah 1:3)

We turn today, once again to the words of one of the “lesser” prophets for the message necessary to attempt to turn the direction of a nation and its people back to the direction it was intended to follow when initially founded and blessed by our God.

This is a short book, a single chapter, obfuscated and often overlooked which has pertinence to this and many other nations in the climates of today’s politics and philosophical teachings, and the conflict of doctrines and beliefs that will only allow destruction as a result of the division along the lines of those teachings of men taken over the laws given us by God.

“The vision of Obadiah. Thus saith the Lord God concerning Edom; We have heard a rumour from the Lord, and an ambassador  is sent among the heathen,  Arise  ye, and let us rise up against her in battle.

Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen: thou art greatly despised.

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, thou that dwellest in the cleft of the rock, whose habitation is high; that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground?

Though thou exalt thyself as the eagle, and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord.”

(Obadiah 1:1-4)

“Preacher, what in the world do the words of warning given to some place called Edom that is obviously no longer in existence have to do with anyone or anything in our world today?”

This would be the obvious initial reaction to the opening verses of this book given us by this old preacher who was, incidentally studied and quoted by our Savior himself. Bear with me and hopefully this question will answer itself and open eyes and ears to the relevance to our own societies and times.

From the opening verse we glean that the heathen will rise up against a nation that has been made small in the eyes of those who have come to despise it.

That same nation has become so powerful that it can’t even be bothered to acknowledge that disdain and hatred that has developed against it.  It has become a prideful nation, one that thinks itself well defended by its position on the clefts of the rock, whose wealth and prosperity place it on a higher plane than others around it. (Beginning to sound like any of several nations in today’s world?)

This nation has exalted itself among all the peoples of the world, looking down on the poverty and inability of those other nations to prosper as greatly as their own. Their advances have allowed them to set their nest among the stars. (Once more familiar territory to you yet?)

This nation, mentioned, has turned from God, and to its own devices and political and philosophical teachings, ignoring the path given it by God, instead setting its own course toward destruction!

Without temerity I remind the reader of a passage I often quote from the 3^rd Chapter of the Book of Ecclesiastes, and its 15^th verse, “That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God requireth that which is past.”

Obadiah tells us that this nation that has no fears of the abilities of others to bring it down, will in fact be brought down, by no lesser than He, (God) Himself!

“If thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, (how art thou cut off!) would they not have stolen  till they had enough? If the grape-gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes?

How are the things of Esau searched out! How are his hidden things sought up!

All the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border: the men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee, and prevailed against thee: that they eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee: there is none understanding in him.”

(Obadiah 1:5-7)

The thieves among any nation will not stop until they have taken all of the goods from the one stolen from. It is not in their nature to ever be satisfied with taking only the things they might truly need, but instead they take everything, in the knowledge that it may later be sold to provide even more of their wants. The same applies to those would steal the sustenance (grapes) of a nation. Again, what is not consumed will later be sold so why leave anything behind?

All the secret hiding places are carefully researched and found out so that that theft may be as complete as possible.

Those most able to do this research and theft are often those with whom alliances are established, in honesty on the part of one of the partners, but not on the part of both, and may in fact come from within your own nation or family.

These alliances are often established by both parties in the hopes of learning the secrets of the other to later use against them.

These same alliances and false alliances exist not only among nations, but among individuals within our societies as well. Thieves will be thieves, no matter the scale of the theft.

Promises will be made to attain wealth and power, and inevitably broken to the shame and damage of those being promised.

This is often forgotten or ignored when that theft occurs on the grand scale of nations.

We should carefully choose just who we are closest to, and allow into our homes both on the small scale, and the grand scale, the results are no different for either!

Obadiah makes this apparent by speaking of the deception of those men of the confederation who stripped the very food from the nation they had allied with! Additionally these so called confederates had no compassion on this nation spoken of, and had no understanding for its people.

“Shall I not in that day, saith the Lord, even destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of the mount of Esau?

And thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed, to the end that every one of the mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter.

For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off forever.

In the day that thou stoodest on the other side, in the day that the strangers carried away captive  his forces, and foreigners entered into his gates, and cast lots  upon Jerusalem, even thou wast as one of them.

(Obadiah 1:8-11)

Obadiah warns Edom of the fact that its alliances were with those of the heathen, and stood in direct contravention with the chosen people of God, and in contradiction to His will.

This came about because of Esau’s having married outside of his own people and  later taking the customs and alliances of the “heathen”  into which he married instead of following the God of His father and grandfather.

 The nation that he, Esau founded chose to side with other heathen nations against Israel and the laws of God acknowledged only by them.

 Looking at today’s alliances, and the reasoning for them, I find my own nation, as well as others treading the self-same path that this old prophet alluded to in his writing, expecting a different result for having done so!

“But  thou shouldest not  have  looked  on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger; neither shouldest thou  have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.

Thou shouldest not have entered into the gate of my people in the day of their calamity; yea, thou shouldest not have looked on their affliction in the day of their calamity, nor have laid hands on their substance in the day of their calamity;

Neither  shouldest thou  have stood in the crossway, to cut off those of his that did escape; neither shouldest thou have delivered up those of his that did remain in the day of distress,

For the day of the Lord is near upon all the heathen: as thou hast done, it shall be done unto thee: thy reward shall return upon thine own head,”

(Obadiah 12-15)

Obadiah points back to the beginning of Edom’s transgression, of standing with the heathen to the benefit of itself, above that of Israel, Stating that it is for this cause that its people will be brought low. It is for this reason that its people will be judged in accordance with their greed and covetousness that led them to depart form the ways intended for them by God himself.

Each time any nation chooses greed, reckless abandonment of God’s laws, and its own self-interest above that of God, and His chosen people, the cycle that began with Edom must and will repeat itself no matter the name of that nation.

That cycle will inevitably include the exposure of its secrets and eventual thefts of its substance by those it chooses to affiliate with. 

I address not only the nation in which I live. The comparisons to be found in this book with the “nightly news” which assaults my ears on a daily basis, could not be more clear to this old country preacher than they must obviously be, but also to the other prideful, successful nations who also are guilty of the same ignorance and intentional disobedience of the same things going on in Edom as this was written!

“For as ye have drunk upon my holy mountain, so shall the heathen drink continually, yea they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, and they shall be as though they had not been.

But upon mount Zion shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness; and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions.

And the house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and they shall kindle in them, and devour them; and there shall not be any remaining of the house of Esau; for the Lord hath spoken it.

And they of the south shall possess the mount of Esau; and they of the plain the Philistines: and they shall possess the fields of Ephraim, and the fields of Samaria: and Benjamin shall possess Gilead.

And the  captivity of this host of the children of Israel shall possess that of the Canaanites , even  unto Zarephath; in Sepharad shall possess  the cities of the south.

And saviors shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s.

(Obadiah 1:16-21)

There can be no prosperity for any nation that refuses to acknowledge God’s laws and his people.

There can be no alliances that may prosper that neglect those same laws and people.

There can be no compromise made, no pact of peace made, no mutual allegiances that exclude God made, that may prosper.

All nations and all peoples and all individuals must face the eventual judgment of that same God that allowed them to prosper, however briefly, if they depend on their own pride and their own sciences and connivances instead of relying on God and His tenants.

There is only ONE who may make intercession on our behalf before that God and from Whom we may expect that intercession, and He has demanded that we:

Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!

That intercessor was, is, and will always be Christ Jesus, without Whom we have no hope for any society, nor for any people. That hope has to begin on an individual basis, become further expanded throughout the family, community and hopefully the nation, if there is any hope to be found for that nation. It must begin with you, your acceptance of that Same God and of his Intercessor, or it must end in damnation and condemnation for both individual and nation alike!

I close as always, a simple sinner saved by grace through faith in my Lord Jesus, still only a simple soldier in his service, no prophet myself, only one who readily accepts prophecy already given us by those chosen to do so, if we have eyes to see and ears to hear. I pray for others to find that same faith and grace before it is too late for them as individuals, as well as too late to change the path of their nations.

2 Timothy 1:12King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

AMEN and AMEN
the Wayfarer