The Great Fall

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18, ESV). 

A couple days ago, I wrote about David and Goliath.  As Goliath repeatedly taunted them, defying the ranks of the Israel, it hit home for David.  For David it was personal, it was more than a Philistine Giant defying the armies of the living God.  For David, Goliath’s rebellious pride and arrogance was a personal attack, not only against the people, but against God Himself.  Goliath thought he was the giant in charge until the day God brought his haughty spirit to a fall. 

The next day I felt God ask, What if the giant is pride? And then I was reminded of this story.  As a kid my mother didn’t always have the best advice.  I remember in elementary school, there was on older girl giving me a hard time on the playground.  She was making comments that she wanted to fight me. To this day, I have no idea why.  As I’m writing this, I’m freshly baffled by whole thing honestly.  Nonetheless, when I came home and told my mom, her advice resembled, aim low towards the feet, so she loses balance and take her down, remember the bigger they are the harder they fall.  Yep that was mom!  Like I said, freshly baffled by the entire situation on all accounts.  Thankfully that day never came, but it was the second part of her advice that echoed in my brain.  The bigger they are, the harder they fall!  

It was the same for Satan.  Isaiah 14, gives us the description of his arrogant pride and desire to be like the Most High, leading him to the ultimate fall. 

¹² “How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn!  How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! ¹³ You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven, above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; ¹⁴ I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.’¹⁵ But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.

I guess we could say the bigger the pride, the harder the fall. 

I looked up the definition of haughty : blatantly and disdainfully proud :  having or showing an attitude of superiority and contempt for people or things perceived to be inferior (Merriam Webster Dictionary).  I think it’s safe to say for many us, we aren’t blatantly or disdainfully proud.  However, all of us have been guilty of thinking we are better than someone else or too good for something.  As I write this, I’m picturing a blinking yellow traffic light and the word CAUTION!  When we have those thoughts, that we are better than someone else, judge certain people better than others, or think we are too good for something, it should be a yellow blinking light in our heart.  Caution we are approaching dangerous thinking that leads to pride! 

Second to the cross, I think one of Jesus’ greatest acts of humility was displayed in washing the disciple’s feet.  Washing someone’s feet was one of the most belittling acts a person could do back then.  Let’s face it, Jesus was better than all of them, He was God, and yet He washed the feet of the disciples, including Judas!  Jesus knew Judas would betray Him and still washed his feet!  Humbling isn’t it!   

Prayer:

Lord keep us from the pride that leads to destruction.  I ask now you would remove any haughty spirit within us and replace it with a humble heart.  I pray we walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have called us, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.  In Jesus Name, Amen. 

Breaking through Emotional Numbness

²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.  ²⁶ And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.  ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. ²⁸ You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God.  ²⁹ And I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses.  And I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you (Ezekiel 36:25-29, ESV). 

Growing up we had a picture that hung in our living room titled, Children Learn What They Live. It read something like this:   

If a child lives with criticism, they learn to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, they learn to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, they learn to be shy.

If a child lives with shame, they learn to feel guilty. 

If a child lives with tolerance, they learn to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement, they learn confidence.

If a child lives with praise, they learn to appreciate.

If a child lives with fairness, they learn justice.

If a child lives with security, they learn to have faith.

If a child lives with approval, they learn to like themselves.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, they learn to find love in this world.  

Very true!  If there was one more I could add it would read, if a child lives with emotional wounds, they learn to shut down.  I was never taught how to deal with unhealthy emotional wounds.  And honestly, it’s usually a topic that is never discussed anyway, right?  We avoid it and many times we’ve been told to just move on from it. Through the years, it had become my defense mechanism.  Seriously, why feel the pain when I can just numb it over. If I didn’t think about it then I didn’t have to feel it, or so I thought.  However, it was still there, just buried deep down and eventually sprouted up in other ways.  One way was building walls around my heart to keep people out, to keep from being wounded again.  Some other ways it surfaced was through depression, anger, resentment, and apathy.  Shutting down became second nature and for many years I wasn’t even aware of it.  

All those years of emotional shut down, time and pressure began forming hardness of heart.  Some years back, I started to realize, not only was I blocking the bad or painful emotions, but good emotions too.  Things like excitement, joy, and even love. 

As you could only imagine, when God began to break through the numbness there followed some major emotional upheaval.  It was difficult to walk through and “feel” the hurt, grief, regret, and pain all over again. I never realized avoiding those emotional wounds could be so damaging to my inner being.  Although numbing it over served as a defense mechanism for many years, God had a different plan. 

Friends, some of you know this well.  You have walked through the breaking of emotional numbness.  And for some, it is the very thing God is addressing right now.  When everything inside of us wants to resist, remember He has a different plan.  A plan of divine intervention to break through the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  

Prayer:

Lord, sprinkle us with the cleansing water of Your Spirit, that we shall be clean from all our uncleanliness, and from all our idols would You cleanse us.  Lord, remove our heart of stone and give us a heart of flesh.  Put Your Spirit within us, and cause us to walk in Your statutes and be careful to obey Your rules; that we would be Your people and You would be our God. In Jesus Name, Amen.