Wednesday, July 24, 2024

ABOUT PRIDE AND PREJUDICE

We all have been there; done that. We all have made mistakes and regretted that we have. If there is no regret, but only the desire to protect oneself from public scrutiny, oftentimes a cover-up ensues. I hate to make mistakes but worse yet, I hate to be found out.

I am not unique at all; I think that others do suffer the same pride.

In my dealings over the years, as far as anyone knows, I seldom made mistakes. Why is that? It was not that I did not make mistakes, but I made the mistakes right without anyone even knowing that they were made.

I was imperfect but retained my integrity because I made my mistakes right. I did right for the wrong reasons but in the end things ended well. The only thing about that was that I worked hard to protect my impeccable record which I knew was peccare; that I had come short of perfection. In other words, I was “prideful,” not only me, but that is the nature of mankind due to original sin.

Nobody likes to be wrong. If they are, then they disappoint themselves.

Kings usually have too much pride, but even they are there by the grace of God. One of the best kings ever swallowed his pride:

Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah. (2 Chron 32:26)

Notwithstanding what? “Hezekiah rendered not again according to the benefit done unto him” (2 Chron 32:25). Hezekiah did many good things to win the battle against his enemies but in the end, despite Hezekiah’s perfect planning, God saved both him and the Jews.

In the first part of chapter 32 is a list of all the things that Hezekiah did. Then, there is the one thing that God did that surpassed all the good things Hezekiah had done. It was God that saved them, but history wrote that Hezekiah was nearly perfect and most of the credit did go to Hezekiah.

In the end, what did Hezekiah need? Humbling, and the one act of God humbled the king. He avoided the wrath of God because He in his heart knew that it was not his works that saved them but the grace of God!

Mankind has a terrible disease: “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts” (Psalm 10:4).

Paul wrote, “Whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31). Apparently, Hezekiah, for a while anyway, got the glory, but in the end, it was the Glory of God that saved them. He missed the mark, but caught himself in time; indeed, he had come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:23).

People like to hear how well they are doing. I enjoy that myself, but without God my good things are nothing. They are as filthy rags to God (Isa 64:6).

I write what I believe are well-composed treatises but is it me that writes wisdom; not if I believe the words of the song, “Yet not I but through Christ in me.”

Every time that I write, I fear that the wicked one in me might come out and that I will make theological mistakes and such. I will only be perfected once I am glorified at death to be like Christ. Until then I will have imperfections regardless of how hard I try, to wit: “If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His Word is not in us” (1 John 1:10). His Word says that we all have sinned. I admit that I have sinned and still do sin, but by grace, if I remain in Christ, it is not counted as sin.

Hezekiah was “humbled.” Hezekiah was literally brought low. Outwardly he was a king but inwardly he knew that he was not. He realized that only God is King and that he was only king by the mercies of God; then God had mercy on both him and his people.

What if Hezekiah had had a triumphal parade like the Roman Caesars would do? Like Vespasian, years later, that would have given himself the credit. Hezekiah knew that it was not his good works that had triumphed but the works of the invisible God.

For me, I endeavor to write only what I believe God as revealed to me. The readers may get angry with some of my commentaries, but they are not mine. Sometimes, my bias does sneak through, and often I do err. We all do, and even as I write, I catch and correct my own errors. I do that for two reasons: (1) to retain some degree of credibility and (2) so that others can get to know God better. It is not to misrepresent God nor present myself better than what I am.

At one time, I thought that my religious leaders were sin-free. Was I mistaken! Even pious Mr. Howard, from my youth, struggled with pride just as we all do. That remains our genetic weak spot (called “stronghold”) because that comes with our birth. We are not glorious beings who do not err, but inglorious bastard sons (in a genetic sense) of “our father the Devil” (John 8:44). We have the same countenance, unless it is resolved by rebirth, that Lucifer has.

Our “countenance” from the psalm is how we appear to others; it is whether our faces display anger or not.

The literal meaning of the Hebrew word for countenance is “nostrils.” What makes mankind different than the gorillas so much that we are accused of being their kind? Our nostrils. Gorillas reveal anger by the flare of their nostrils. The nostrils reveal the thoughts inside the beast within us. When we think of an angry man, we often reveal their anger in pictures by flared nostrils. Indeed, anger makes humans like beasts.

A true hypocrite can appear tame just by retaining a good composure. The Pharisees were known for spouting off scripture like a water gun spraying victims in the face. Many of the victims were deluged with scripture all the while the vilest of the Pharisees were doing nothing more than waging war on those who sinned just like themselves!

I am indeed hard on myself, but I know the source of my shortcomings. I was born this way just as King David when he admitted to that in Psalm 51:5. God expects me to be perfect, knowing all the while that I will fail. He gives me credit for the willingness to hit the mark although generally, I miss it. He is patient with me.

What do gorillas do when they show their pride? They stand tall and beat their own chests. Perhaps Hezekiah realized that he too was capable of that as well, so with that thought, he was humbled — he was brought low to the ground just as gorillas are wont to be most of the time.

The countenances of some individuals are deceptive. Lucifer presented himself as the “bringer of light” all the while he brought the “darkness” of sin.

Isaiah, referring to Lucifer’s pride, said, “Your pomp is brought down to the grave” (Isa 14:11). It was his pride — his arrogance to be God.

“Pride goes before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Prov 16:18).

We just saw that with President Biden! He certainly has an haughty spirit (arrogance) and just when things looked good, he fell.

He dug his own grave, so to speak. He deserved what he got because he was so arrogant, even without merit. Biden’s fate was because he was an angry man whose expectations were for everyone think and do like him. When most of us think of Biden, we think of an angry old man who to his peers appeared as a warm-hearted generous elderly person who should be respected.

Biden knew his capabilities and resigned. It took many years to expose such arrogance.

However, this commentary is not about him. It is about us all. We all have too much pride, but God, in the end, will humble us for being so pompous.

It is okay to correct your mistakes but not at the expense of God nor others. That is the basis of the Greatest Commandment.

Most people, if they admit it, are conditioned. We each know our own fallibilities and project our failures onto someone else. We are indeed as little children that must be remolded.

What do little children do when confronted with a wrong? Well, Joey did this, or Mary did that. Pointing out the wrongs of others does not atone for our own wrongs. They are not “Christs” who take on our sins for remission, but that is the way we act. Because others cheat or steal, for instance, is not justification for us to cheat and steal. As an example, because the government is poor stewards of our money does not make it right to cheat on taxes.

What stands between God and man? Pride! The Serpent got it right: “You shall be as gods” (Gen 3:5). Now all the while we judge others to Hell, we forget our own pomposity! We are all Pharisees in the eyes of God unless we are humbled. What did Jesus call them? Vipers” – serpents — because although they wanted others to do good, they were beyond that themselves, as if they were gods.

Mankind overly estimates themselves. I do as well! None are immune from thinking of themselves too highly. Unless we are born again, we are of the wicked one just like Cain (1 John 3:12).

Our problem is our countenances; we present ourselves as perfect all the while hating our imperfections. The obvious way to alleviate that gap is to project our failures onto others. Have you ever noticed that the fifth phase of a failing project is to blame others?

Using Biden as the example again; that arrogant old guy has blamed all his failures on the previous administration. What happened to him? He suffered the wrath of even those he thought loved him. Now he has turned on them, ignoring all his own failures. That is the classic case of anger projection.

It is not only Biden that does that; it is common to us all unless God overcomes that for us, and he will do that: “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He shall lift you up” (Jas 4:10). Hezekiah did that and the Lord lifted him; He was revealed as a great king, not because he did all those things, but because he humbled himself!


"Hezekiah's Passover;" Pinterest

 

 

 

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