The Proud Man

"God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble." (James 4:6)

We see in this small verse a wonderful and far-reaching truth of the universe that God has created.  In his universe, none may be proud.  None may be proud.

Do you know what it is to have the very God of the heavens who spoke the universe into being who is a blazing fire, a consuming fire (Hebrews 12), do you know what it is to be opposed by him?  Through his forbearance and common grace you may be proud for a short season, but "behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble.  The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the LORD of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch." (Malachi 4:1).

What a terrible thing it is to be opposed by this God!  Earlier in Malachi, he teaches this in saying, "But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?" (Malachi 3:2).

But lucky for us, these curses are for the proud, and that is not us, right?  Those are the ones who don't attend church, or read their Bibles occasionally, or have christian friends, right?

My God, it is not so.  We are the proud.  I am the proud.

Listen to this definition of pride, I forget the source:
Thinking either too highly of yourself or thinking too often of yourself.
In short it is the universe that we center on ourselves.  We make ourselves the functional God of our lives.

Where does this leave us?  God opposes us.  We center our lives on ourselves.  From waking to laying back down our thoughts are consumed with ourselves.  We are the proud.  Where may we hope?

Friends, we may hope firmly in the latter part of the verse.  God gives grace.  He must change us from among the proud to bring us to be numbered among the humble.  He illuminates our eyes, and gives us eyes to see that we must be humble.  He is a holy God and we are a sinful people.  We must be so humble.  He gives us the sight, he gives us life where we once were dead, so that we might see.

Love that Gospel today.  That we are desperately poor, and have even offended a holy God and are deserving of his full wrath.  But one has taken our place.  One has bourn our sins.  One has taken the burden from us and gives us his own.  He has traded our sins for his righteousness.  Through this we may be the humble, who receive the very grace of the God of the highest heavens.

Thank you Lord.  You have done it all.  Continue to change us, and open our eyes to see further and with more clarity the true nature of things.

(Please know this post is more for the proud soul that wrote it than other souls who I invite to read)