"The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'"
-- Obadiah 3
In his book, Obadiah warns the Edomites that the pride of their hearts has deceived them. In the recent past, they had boasted at their might and at Israel's recent defeat by an enemy nation. Edom prided itself in being hidden and well-fortified in the mountains around Judah. But here, the LORD says through Obadiah that the pride of their hearts has deceived them. They trusted in themselves instead of in God. Because of this, they had a false sense of security. This resulted in the destruction of Edom in the years following Obadiah's vision.
How often do we trust in our own abilities instead of in Jesus? When we do, we deceive ourselves with the pride of our hearts. We fool ourselves! Just like the Edomites relied on their rocky fortifications, we rely on our emotions, our good deeds, our reason, you name it! Our pride deceives us. But Jesus delivers us from our pride. "Deliverers will go up on Mount Zion to govern the mountains of Esau. And the kingdom will be the LORD's" (Obadiah 21). Jesus is our deliverer, and heaven is his kingdom. And because he has delivered us from our deceitful sin, we will dwell in this kingdom as well.
-- Jonathan
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