Obadiah: When Our Strengths Are Our Weaknesses

by HICKLING, P.L. | Category: Minor Prophets? Major Issues! | Oct 2006

It is true of nearly everyone that his strengths are directly related to his weaknesses; think on the one hand of the speaker who will always give a superb address, but needs three months notice for it, and on the other of the man who will speak at half an hour’s notice, but always does things at the last minute! Closer to home, think of yourself; you can probably put your finger on something - I can! Self-confident people are frequently admired, because they are often successful and free of the miserable feelings of inferiority that plague those who feel that they are failures. Yet the fact that it is self-confidence carries the seeds of disaster. When self-esteem becomes excessive it becomes pride, and pride is at the root of sin - it says ‘me first’.

This is portrayed in the book of Obadiah, the shortest book in the Old Testament. It relates to the nation of Edom, which was descended from Jacob’s brother Esau, a man full of self-confidence, but who valued the material more than the spiritual - the epitome of the ‘fleshly’, rather than the spiritual attitude. Edom lived in the mountainous territory to the south of Israel, and they were confident that no-one could dislodge them. One of their strongholds was the rocky defile of Sela, later built up by the Nabateans as Petra, Burgon’s rose-red city - ‘half as old as time’.(1) However, God warned them that their self-sufficiency was self deceit: ‘The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, "Who will bring me down to the ground?" Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.’(2) Similarly, the Edomites were proud of their intellect; their security enabled them to delight in clever sayings and to flaunt their wisdom. Yet God was to bring this down too: ‘Will I not on that day, declares the LORD, destroy the wise men out of Edom, and understanding out of Mount Esau?’ (3)

Don’t Edom’s attitudes seem familiar in later history? At the height of the British Empire Kipling, seeing the danger, wrote

For heathen heart that puts her trust

In reeking tube and iron shard -

All valiant dust that builds on dust,

And guarding, calls not Thee to guard -

For frantic boast and foolish word,

Thy mercy on Thy people, Lord! (4)

The message to Edom reaches out to us all. Are we so proud of what we have and what men can do that we feel completely self-sufficient? This is self-delusion, as complete as Edom’s, for our most fundamental needs cannot be met by possessions and knowledge. Things can be taken away suddenly, as we have seen recently in the Twin Towers attack and the tsunami, and, for example, nuclear physics can bring Chernobyl, as well as cheaper energy. Human character is no better than it ever was; it will only be improved if God changes it, and He will do this by His own means. He says, ‘"I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart." ... For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. ... we preach Christ crucified ... the power of God and the wisdom of God.’ (5) This was ‘folly’ by men’s standard, of course. In fact, the death of the Christ instead of us was the only way in which we could be brought back to God. There’s no room for pride here; the Christian believer has to admit that Christ did for him what he could not do for himself. As a consequence, the words ‘proud’ and ‘Christian’ are incompatible. Having said this, of course, it is perfectly proper to take ‘pride’ - i.e. to find satisfaction - say in a job well done.

The conclusion of all this is that self-confidence is misplaced confidence; boasting about our wealth or intelligence is not only vulgar, but it also betrays a lack of real confidence in God. ‘Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.’(6)

References: (Scriptures from English Standard Version)

(1)Burgon, J., William Petra (2)Obad.3,4 (3)Obad.8 (4)Kipling, R., Recessional (5)1 Cor.1:19-24 (6)Prov.16:18

HICKLING, P.L. | Oct 2006
Minor Prophets? Major Issues!