AMOS 6:8-14 THERE IS ONLY ONE ROCK

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.”

During the Cold War years, television viewers were treated to the same spectacle every May 1st. The scene was the main street of Moscow, in front of the Kremlin where all the military might of the Soviet Union was paraded before government officials and the world for review. Rank upon rank of high-stepping soldiers, herds of tanks, flocks of mobile missiles and schools of artillery snaked their way through the streets. In the reviewing stand we were shown images of men in bemedaled uniform overcoats that failed to conceal their pride-inflated chests. Yet, when the Soviet Union dissolved, where were all those military assets?

Pride is ultimately an illusion based on self-satisfaction and the feeling of superiority. It is the attitude that says because of who we are and what we have, we need not fear any adversary. At the same time, we also do not need or even consider God. In short, we ignore Whose we are. The problem with pride is not the things that we possess, but that we allow those things to eclipse our dependency on God.

The psychologist, Larry Crabbe has written about the universal human need for security. Crabbe defines security as follows:

A convinced awareness of being unconditionally and totally loved without needing to change in order to win love, loved by a love that is freely given, that cannot be earned and therefore cannot be lost (The Marriage Builder, p.29).

Such a perfect love comes only from God whose essential nature is love. Ultimately, our security can only come from God. Anything or anyone other than God will not only disappoint but lead to bitterness and failure. Such a substitution is also destructive to our relationship with God, for when we replace God with anyone or anything the replacement entity becomes an idol. Humility is the acknowledgment of our proper relationship relative to God while pride is the distortion of thinking we are independent of God.

Lord save me from the illusion of self-satisfaction and sufficiency that blind me to my need of you and the glorious relationship you would have with me. Amen.