The Judgment That Falls on the Proud

Leaders living in plenty drink wine from the vessels of the temple and anoint themselves with precious oils. They claim to make instruments as David did, yet theirs is the drunken humming of men who all but mock God, nothing like the faith of David, who praised him with his whole heart.

They had no fear of judgment because they thought their own power formidable. Forgetting that their prosperity had been the grace of God, they grew proud, as though they had won it by their own merit; they went on to serve foreign gods and gave no thought even to the peril facing the nation. Even the poor envied such a life and followed after it, until the whole people had fallen into corruption together.

Before pouring out his wrath, God first told them to go and see the downfall of other cities and learn from it, but they would not listen, and in the end they were brought down by an earthquake and the Assyrian invasion. The peace enjoyed today is likewise not the fruit of one’s own strength but the grace of God, and the moment this is forgotten and the credit claimed for oneself, the hedge of protection is taken away. The promise that whoever seeks God, and keeps on seeking him, will live still stands; it must be held fast through upright living and sincere faith.