Extreme Arrogance
Unfortunately God had to punish His people, Israel. He used the pagan Assyrians to do the work of killing many of the people and bringing destruction to the land. Then, they took the other people into exile. God used them to punish other nations, as well. In the process, Assyrian became very strong, so they could be used by God. It was not because they were so great and powerful on their own. God made them that way to accomplish His purposes. However, they became very arrogant. They claimed to be doing everything in their own power and abilities. This angered God, and He had to confront them through the Prophet, Isaiah, and let them know their foolishness. He did this using some vivid word pictures. (Isaiah 10:15) We need to hear what God said, because the same thing can happen to any nation, group of people, or individual.
When we are so arrogant that we think we have made ourselves intelligent, powerful, or important, we are failing to acknowledge that every ability we have was given to us by God and every blessing came straight from Him. It is not just arrogance, but it is unthankfulness, too. It is like an ax taking over from the one who swings it and starting to chop wood by itself. That is absurd and impossible. The ax is only a tool, and without a strong person supplying the energy, the ax can do nothing. It is like a saw acting more important than the one who is using the saw. No saw can cut by itself. It is even as absurd as a shovel using a person, a ditch digger, to dig holes or a hammer using a carpenter to nail the nails. Both of those pictures are backwards, and again, impossible. I pray that we would never fall into the trap of arrogance. If we do, God will have to bring us down, like He brought the people down at the Tower of Babel. God desires for us to be thankful to Him and give Him credit for all we have. Then, He will give us even more blessings.
#NHBaptistdotorg
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 11-13.
When we are so arrogant that we think we have made ourselves intelligent, powerful, or important, we are failing to acknowledge that every ability we have was given to us by God and every blessing came straight from Him. It is not just arrogance, but it is unthankfulness, too. It is like an ax taking over from the one who swings it and starting to chop wood by itself. That is absurd and impossible. The ax is only a tool, and without a strong person supplying the energy, the ax can do nothing. It is like a saw acting more important than the one who is using the saw. No saw can cut by itself. It is even as absurd as a shovel using a person, a ditch digger, to dig holes or a hammer using a carpenter to nail the nails. Both of those pictures are backwards, and again, impossible. I pray that we would never fall into the trap of arrogance. If we do, God will have to bring us down, like He brought the people down at the Tower of Babel. God desires for us to be thankful to Him and give Him credit for all we have. Then, He will give us even more blessings.
#NHBaptistdotorg
Tomorrow, I intend to read Isaiah 11-13.