- Jun 29, 2019
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What does God want? He wants what He created in Genesis 1 to flourish. In particular, he wants that man be fruitful and multiply as he says in Verse 28.
In the generations that followed, the leaders had their own ideas of what it takes to be fruitful and to multiply. This created differences which led to wars and conquests. And the stronger among the conquerors were like an artist creating a picture, as they molded what they conquered to their liking. People who lived under worse conditions welcomed these conquerors, like a person with a toothache would welcome a tincture of Anbesol. But like relying on Anbesol, those unfortunates only experienced a temporary fix as some of those conquerors formed nations that were worse than the people had before. And the peoples’ hopelessness turned to resignation.
Resignation doesn’t play well with God, who will rescue those who are in despair. Psalm 34:17- says, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” God has answered that call many a time, saving the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt, and those neglected by the great civilizations headed by leaders who have gone astray. He has saved those who were enslaved in countries like America, and he’s saved those in Europe who were under conceited leaders who ruled with an iron will. He has saved before, and He’ll save again.
What has been the prime motivator behind those leaders who created and presided over evil and destruction? It was their conceitedness. They saw it as being all about them, and the people around them clung to them for their own purposes, anticipating a free ride to what? To the fulfillment of their own conceit, perhaps? Is their conceit useful to those around them?
What is conceit? The dictionary defines it as ‘the state of being too proud of yourself and your actions.’ One could add ‘to the exclusion of everyone else’ at the end of that definition. Conceit is related to pride, to the extent of pride being sinful. Not all pride is sinful if it’s pride one takes in performing God’s Works. God’s Works are meant to ensure that His Creation flourishes; any other works is useless unless it helps to support one’s endeavors for the good Works of God.
The leaders who are conceited seek to fulfill their own place in history, wanting people to remember them as being great. But great for what? For tearing down the structures and mores of civilization that enabled people to flourish? Where is the greatness in that? Where is the greatness in killing people in other countries and demolishing what they created? Why does it ever have to come to that? A leader’s conceit can lead him to believe that, yes, it is a great thing to kill other people and tear down what they created. Reminds one of Proverbs 26:12 which says, “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” In that state of mind, the pursuit of wisdom toward God can be quite elusive.
In the generations that followed, the leaders had their own ideas of what it takes to be fruitful and to multiply. This created differences which led to wars and conquests. And the stronger among the conquerors were like an artist creating a picture, as they molded what they conquered to their liking. People who lived under worse conditions welcomed these conquerors, like a person with a toothache would welcome a tincture of Anbesol. But like relying on Anbesol, those unfortunates only experienced a temporary fix as some of those conquerors formed nations that were worse than the people had before. And the peoples’ hopelessness turned to resignation.
Resignation doesn’t play well with God, who will rescue those who are in despair. Psalm 34:17- says, “When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” God has answered that call many a time, saving the Hebrews enslaved in Egypt, and those neglected by the great civilizations headed by leaders who have gone astray. He has saved those who were enslaved in countries like America, and he’s saved those in Europe who were under conceited leaders who ruled with an iron will. He has saved before, and He’ll save again.
What has been the prime motivator behind those leaders who created and presided over evil and destruction? It was their conceitedness. They saw it as being all about them, and the people around them clung to them for their own purposes, anticipating a free ride to what? To the fulfillment of their own conceit, perhaps? Is their conceit useful to those around them?
What is conceit? The dictionary defines it as ‘the state of being too proud of yourself and your actions.’ One could add ‘to the exclusion of everyone else’ at the end of that definition. Conceit is related to pride, to the extent of pride being sinful. Not all pride is sinful if it’s pride one takes in performing God’s Works. God’s Works are meant to ensure that His Creation flourishes; any other works is useless unless it helps to support one’s endeavors for the good Works of God.
The leaders who are conceited seek to fulfill their own place in history, wanting people to remember them as being great. But great for what? For tearing down the structures and mores of civilization that enabled people to flourish? Where is the greatness in that? Where is the greatness in killing people in other countries and demolishing what they created? Why does it ever have to come to that? A leader’s conceit can lead him to believe that, yes, it is a great thing to kill other people and tear down what they created. Reminds one of Proverbs 26:12 which says, “Do you see a man who is wise in his own eyes? There is more hope for a fool than for him.” In that state of mind, the pursuit of wisdom toward God can be quite elusive.
