Pride is the absolute worst disease of the spirit in all of creation.
Rather than define what pride is, it’s far more-clear to say what it is
not. It is not a spirit of service and responsibility towards God and
others. It is a spirit of service and responsibility towards self…
Pride cannot be tolerated because it quickly becomes your god. It’s
like a drug. There is no dabbling. You touch it and it takes over. Pride
is the satanic supplement in the nature of created man that causes
every kind of evil and torment… And it’s so extremely dangerous,
you stay entirely clear of it as much as possible, because every one of
us (in our flesh) loves it…
The only cure for it is to not fight it but to overcome it. If you fight
pride, in a way, that itself is prideful. You must ignore it, release it,
like the itch of a mosquito bite…, the moment you scratch it, it gets
worse. So, the only cure for pride is humility… To cheerfully and
joyfully submit myself to God and to others… Proverbs 16:19 says,
“Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil
with the proud.”
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 11 – 12
That’s quite the challenge from God that is so healthy! All of your
works and righteousness, you doing what you think is right…, what
has it gotten it you? Where has it gotten you? I am confident that
there is no one in this room that would go to work tomorrow for
free…, or better yet, what if you had to pay your employer tomorrow
to go to work!? Your life delivers what you have invested. It’s as
simple as that and the will and want of God is for our good, for our
profit!
Perhaps not in terms of money or resources, but I’m also not
necessarily saying not! The point is that our life and who we are will
be a direct result of the wise investments we make or the unwise
investments we make in terms of who’s righteousness we employ.
Ours, or Gods!
And this word for profit in the Hebrew (I can’t make this up) its
“yaal!” Literally pronounced “yaw-al!” HA! God’s like, “YALL!
Come and buy without money and be greatly satisfied!!” You want to
work for no profit that’s on you, but for me, profitlessness is one of
my personal enemies!
Do you know what is profitable? Love. Kindness. Giving someone the
benefit of the doubt. Serving the Lord. Doing for others what you can
do for them. Treating others not how you want to be treated but how
they need you to treat them. Playing the long game. Being willing to
suffer and sacrifice for some sort of desired goal or outcome…
Trusting the Lord is profitable even when I can’t see the end…
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verse 13
How about we trust the Lord and then when I cry out to the Lord, I
call out in hope knowing He will deliver me because it is in Him I
have put my trust. Not my mental trust, like my literal action-oriented
God trusting decisions… That vibe is totally different than what we
just read when we call out to Him in our moment of trouble!
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 14 – 15
God is the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The Creator of all
things. Perfect, holy, just and all mighty. And He makes His company
only with those that are contrite and humble in spirit. Humble we get.
Maybe…
Humility is not considering self-less than others, it’s just simply
considering self-less. What’s important to God is important to you and
anything that challenges that is muted and starved. Hated and hunted
in your heart of hearts. That’s humility. Not the thought or urge to
think differently, this is the resolution and discipline to DO differently.
That’s humility. It’s the strongest of strengths and it is the non-
negotiable of whom God blesses and approves as His people!
But God also uses the characterization of contrite. Contrite gives an
essence of guilt. Of remorse. Of sorry. That we know we have fallen
short, we know we are saved and accepted by grace, AND we are still
sorry. Let me give you another word for contrite. Accountable…
Here are two things that are at the tip top of the list of short order in
the world and in the church. Humility and accountability. Many are
called, few are chosen. Why? This. God makes His place with the
humble and the contrite. Not the humble alone. The humble and the
contrite… These He revives!
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 16 – 18
These verses are difficult and seem out of place. God could perhaps be
talking about one who strays or He could be talking about the nation
of Israel as a whole. Either interpretation is acceptable.
Isaiah Chapter 57 Verses 19 – 21
There is no peace for the wicked. Always searching, always grasping,
never arriving…, going from thing to thing, person to person, problem
to problem, relationship to relationship and like a self-fulfilling
prophecy, always somehow turning out the same, never finding what
they’re looking for... Like a troubled sea… It’s an indictment yes, but
its also an offering that the peace of God is held out and offered to
anyone and everyone…
Peace is far more than the end of war. The word means completeness.
Settled on the inside. Sound in heart and mind. Safe. Content. The
word even means a friend. It is a return to the closest state of original
creation… THAT is profit! You know, war is profitable. The US
defense budget for 2024 is roughly $850B dollars. Lay those dollars
out and count without any breaks and it would take you 26 thousand
years! War is profitable… But did you know, studies have shown,
there’s very little empirical evidence of this, but studies have shown
that peace is far more profitable than war?
Some financial brains have calculated that peace has a 6,000% return
on investment. Why? You stop paying for destruction of valuable
assets, destruction of population, destruction of earning/creating power
(casualties of war), and destruction/stifling of civil innovation. It’s an
interesting idea, the profitability of peace…
But industries would have to change, companies would have to
change, experience in war machine design would be worth much less,
and the concentration of wealth would well…, have to be far less
concentrated…, which the supreme elite would never allow…
But for me, for you…., hey, we will be profitable in this life, no doubt.
We have given our lives to Jesus. We have a form of godliness,
everyone of us…, few will find out that peace is multiplied millions of
times more profitable than war…, but hey…, many are called, few are
chosen.