Tuesday, February 5, 2008 @ 12:56 PM
Psalm 36: Pride Before The Fall.

1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.

2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.

3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course
and does not reject what is wrong.

5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find ^[b] refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!

Ever heard of this famous saying:
Pride goes before a fall?

Or in the unabridged version from the bible,
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.

I am sure for those of you who are fans of some soccer teams (eg. mine is Manchester United in the English Premier League), you should have witnessed before, freak and unexpected results.
Like when the team that's at the top of the league visits the bottom team, we would expect them to win comfortably, if not a threshing.
Then they seem to have stepped on banana skin, didnt raise their game as compared to facing stronger opponents, and lost instead.

How could this happen?
Discounting the fact that the bottom team could be fighting for survival and went all out to frustrate the top team, it could be that the top team was too complacent.
There was lack of respect for the opponents, too much pride in themselves to the point of being conceited.

Now, isnt being confident in yourself a good thing?
Yes, but not to the extent that you overrate yourself and become arrogant.

In the same way, this is a parallel illustration to the root of sin.
Original sin (the root meaning) means that we think we are so good that we can just go our own way and do our own things, without regard or need for God.

1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.

2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.

So much so that it blinded the person to his own flaws, shortcomings and sin.

Let's not be like the proud man who walks to his own destruction.
Let's humble ourselves before God, be teachable and learn from the Holy Spirit, because
"For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light."

Labels: Journey Through Psalms

Tuesday, February 5, 2008 @ 12:56 PM
Psalm 36: Pride Before The Fall.

1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.

2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.

3 The words of his mouth are wicked and deceitful;
he has ceased to be wise and to do good.

4 Even on his bed he plots evil;
he commits himself to a sinful course
and does not reject what is wrong.

5 Your love, O LORD, reaches to the heavens,
your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find ^[b] refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.

10 Continue your love to those who know you,
your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,
nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—
thrown down, not able to rise!

Ever heard of this famous saying:
Pride goes before a fall?

Or in the unabridged version from the bible,
Proverbs 16:18
Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.

I am sure for those of you who are fans of some soccer teams (eg. mine is Manchester United in the English Premier League), you should have witnessed before, freak and unexpected results.
Like when the team that's at the top of the league visits the bottom team, we would expect them to win comfortably, if not a threshing.
Then they seem to have stepped on banana skin, didnt raise their game as compared to facing stronger opponents, and lost instead.

How could this happen?
Discounting the fact that the bottom team could be fighting for survival and went all out to frustrate the top team, it could be that the top team was too complacent.
There was lack of respect for the opponents, too much pride in themselves to the point of being conceited.

Now, isnt being confident in yourself a good thing?
Yes, but not to the extent that you overrate yourself and become arrogant.

In the same way, this is a parallel illustration to the root of sin.
Original sin (the root meaning) means that we think we are so good that we can just go our own way and do our own things, without regard or need for God.

1 An oracle is within my heart
concerning the sinfulness of the wicked:
There is no fear of God
before his eyes.

2 For in his own eyes he flatters himself
too much to detect or hate his sin.

So much so that it blinded the person to his own flaws, shortcomings and sin.

Let's not be like the proud man who walks to his own destruction.
Let's humble ourselves before God, be teachable and learn from the Holy Spirit, because
"For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light."

Labels: Journey Through Psalms