Edition 38 of my Pride study

Thursday, October 6th

Edition 38 of my Pride study

Amos 6:8-14
8 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by himself - the LORD God Almighty declares: "I abhor the pride of Jacob and detest his fortresses; I will deliver up the city and everything in it."

9 If ten men are left in one house, they too will die. 10 And if a relative who is to burn the bodies comes to carry them out of the house and asks anyone still hiding there, "Is anyone with you?" and he says, "No," then he will say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD."

11 For the LORD has given the command, and he will smash the great house into pieces and the small house into bits. 12 Do horses run on the rocky crags? Does one plow there with oxen? But you have turned justice into poison and the fruit of righteousness into bitterness- 13 you who rejoice in the conquest of Lo Debar and say, "Did we not take Karnaim by our own strength?" 14 For the LORD God Almighty declares, "I will stir up a nation against you, O house of Israel, that will oppress you all the way from Lebo Hamath to the valley of the Arabah."

Abhor (verb):

1. To regard with horror or loathing; detest.

Detest (verb):

1. To dislike intensely; abhor.

Oppress (verb):

1. To keep down by severe and unjust use of force or authority.


2. To weigh heavily on.


3. To overwhelm or crush.

If I oppress someone, that is pride. From what I can tell, this scripture is telling me that if I am unjust, unrighteous, and deny the rights of my God, then that is pride. God will humble me like he did the House of Jacob. He will send someone to help me realize what it is I have done. And like a father who loves his son, God wants me to see my sin so that it will benefit me. Paul said that his thorn in his side was not taken away. I think the thorn could simply mean that it is my sin, maybe the sin of my past that lingers in my mouth, to push me on to be a better disciple for my God. It is good to repent of my past, but to forget it? What good would that do me? What good would that do God? If I walk around like Mr. Super Christian, how relatable to others would I be to those who are not Christians? One of my purposes as a disciple is to seek and save the lost and if I walk around like I am better than the next person, how relatable would I be? Self-righteousness is a big sin, big on pride, and it turns justice into poison. It turns righteousness into bitterness. It oppresses the weak and takes away whatever hope they may have. This is what I learned today. A good nugget, I guess. Johnny Out.