Obadiah 2-4 – “Behold, I will make you small among the nations; you shall be greatly despised. 3 The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who dwell in the clefts of the rock, whose habitation is high; you who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’  4 Though you ascend as high as the eagle, and though you set your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down,” says the LORD.”  NKJV

The prophet Obadiah was speaking of God’s judgment on Edom but this could apply to any nation or person if those conditions exist in the heart.  Pride is one thing that God seems to despise greatly and a condition that almost assuredly guarantees a fall.   Remember the warning in Proverbs 16:18-19 – “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. 19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.”  NKJV 

The prophet declared that God was going to make the nation small among the nations.  A powerful nation would be relegated to second or third-tier status because of Pride and Deception.  Their heart had become so prideful that they were saying, “Who will bring me down?”   The prophet told them that God had seen what they are doing and no matter how great they thought they were or had been they were coming down!   That could be applied to our nation or any nation and any heart and life.  What was the key ingredient in Lucifer’s fall?  Pride!

What do we have that cannot be traced back to God?  What abilities do we possess that did not originate with God?  Our very breath is dependent upon the willingness of God to allow us another moment.  It is like someone playing the organ and as long as the fingers are on the keys there is sound but when the finger is lifted the sound dies away.  If God were ever to remove His finger from our lives we would be no more so instead of Pride we should walk in Humility realizing that it is all Because of Him and not Because of us!

It is in Him that we live and move and have our being!  It is Christ in us the Hope of Glory.  It is by grace that we are saved, through faith and not of ourselves.  It is not based on what we do but who He is.  So if you recognize even the smallest speck of pride in your life run to the Cross and cry out to God to deliver you!

May God be with you as you go through your day!