And Moses and Aaron came in unto Pharaoh, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me? Let My people go, that they may serve Me. Exodus 10:3
If we turn to Isaiah 14, we read the account of the fall from Heaven of that greatest of the angels, Lucifer, son of the morning. His fall to the ground, and eventually to hell is because of his statement, ‘I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the Most High’ – Isaiah 14:14. His crime, in a single word, is pride. The first sin of our first parents was the same; Adam and his wife wanted to be like God in knowing good and evil. Thomas Aquinas declared pride to be the beginning of all sin, because it elevates the self above God. A study of all the worst people in history reveals a similar pattern: they all wanted to be greater than anyone else. And there is far more pride in our own hearts than we realize.
The question that God had to Pharaoh was ‘How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me?’ We know the answer; Pharaoh died still refusing to humble himself before God. Pharaoh was not alone in that. Pride kept the antediluvians from seeking the shelter of Noah’s ark. And pride has kept earth’s billions, down through the millennia, from the salvation that God offers to sinners. Speaking personally, pride kept us in our sins until the Holy Spirit broke that pride and brought us to repentance. Sadly, our salvation has not yet purged all the pride of our hearts.
Do we dare to let God ask us the same question He had for Pharaoh: How long wilt thou refuse to humble thyself before Me? Even the most spiritual Christians you know will confess to a struggle with making Christ the Lord of every aspect of their lives. Are all our plans and long-term decisions made with His will in mind? Do the places we go, the companions we keep, the interests we pursue reflect what the Lord wants more than what we want?
In what ways are we refusing to humble ourselves before the Lord today? Take time to answer that question. -Jim MacIntosh
Here is the link to the video of this message: https://youtu.be/TdTAe38GgIM