In reading Psalm 11 today, I was struck by verse 4. It says, “The wicked, in the haughtiness of his countenance, does not seek Him. All his thoughts (or plots) are, ‘There is no God.'”
So what is this menacing thing called Pride? How far reaching are its tentacles of destruction? How many times does the wicked think, continually, “There is no God?”
The following is from Edward Payson (1783-1827), the American Congregational preacher.
The pride of the wicked is the principal reason why they will not seek after the knowledge of God. Pride consists in an unduly exalted opinion of oneself. It is, therefore, impatient of a rival, hates a superior, and cannot endure a master. It is evident that nothing can be more painful to a proud heart that the thoughts of such a being as God. Such a being pride can contemplate only with feelings of dread, aversion, and abhorrence. It must look upon Him as its natural enemy, the great enemy, Whom it has to fear.
Pride plunged Satan from heaven into hell; it banished our first parents from paradise; and it will, in a similar manner, ruin all who indulge in it. Its keeps us in ignorance of God; shuts us out from His favor; prevents us from resembling Him. Beware of pride! Beware lest you indulge it imperceptibility, for it is perhaps, of all sins, the most secret, subtle, and insinuating.
Again, pretty sobering, isn’t it?
