Book of Obadiah - Vs. 1-9 | Parenthetical on Pride (09/25/2022)

You all hear me okay? Wow, it's actually a lot louder than I thought. How are you guys doing?

I'm excited to get into some of this stuff this morning, but once again we'll need to do a little bit of review because it's been a couple months since we were in Obadiah, and so I'm going to kind of recap the first nine verses, which is as far as we've gone, and we'll go from there.

Dad, you want to turn this mic down just a little bit? It seems loud from up here anyway. So if you guys want to turn to Obadiah really quick, again

I'm just going to kind of read through the first nine verses that we've already covered, and then we're going to kind of pick it up from there.

So Obadiah, starting with verse one, the vision of Obadiah, thus saith the

Lord God concerning Edom. We have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent among the heathen.

Arise ye, and let us rise up against her in battle. Behold, I have made thee small among the heathen.

Thou art greatly despised. The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee. Thou hast dwellest in the cliffs of the rock whose habitation is high.

That saith in his heart, who shall bring me down to the ground? Okay, so right off the bat, that was kind of the focal point of the first section of Obadiah, which is all about Edom's pride, which was essentially kind of the beginning of the domino effect for what we'll be getting into today and throughout the rest of that little book.

So their pride, that was where it began. Their pride was so unbearable.

It was that that eventually caused the fall, their fall as a nation that we're going to be, we're getting closer and closer to covering.

And of course, to contrast that, the Lord talks about, or Obadiah rather is prophesying how the

Lord is not only going to remove them as a nation, but humiliate them while he does it.

So that's kind of a contrast there with the amount of pride that they were exhibiting as a nation. Verse four says, thou, though thou exalt thyself as the eagle and though thou set thy nest among the stars, thence will

I bring thee down, saith the Lord. So he just, the Lord just answered their question that they asked in verse three, who will bring us down?

And the Lord says, I will bring you down. So what's interesting is we obviously know this spirit of pride that the

Edomites were harboring to such a degree. We know that that spirit is still, you know, still around today.

I mean, that aspect of this story, as old as this story is, that aspect of it certainly, it wasn't new then and it's still around with us today.

And the Lord is about to take this kind of battle into his own hands. And we're going to learn a little bit more as we get into today's verses of the background behind why the

Edomites were, or how the Edomites were such a, you know, enemy of the

Israelites. We already know the backstory a little bit. We talked about that a couple of months ago, but it's going to kind of, we're going to kind of flesh that out a little bit more in a little bit.

But point being is this particular battle the Lord is taking on against the pride within the hearts of man, that is something that he has been doing literally since before we even know, like before we even understand where the timeline starts.

Because while the first mention of sin was Adam and Eve in the

Isaiah when Lucifer, you know, was prideful and said,

I will be like the most high. I will exalt myself with the sides of the north. So the first sin ever was pride.

And so this is something that the Lord has been battling with literally since, again, before we can even really understand, because we don't have a timeline for when that particular thing took place in heaven.

Again, Isaiah 14, 12 through 14 talks about when Lucifer was showcasing his pride for the first time.

And so in verse four, when the Lord says, I will bring thee down. Again, this is a battle that he's been fighting for a long time, and he's going to continue fighting it all the way up until the very end.

Verse five says, if thieves came to thee, if robbers by night, how art thou cut off? Would they not have stolen till they had enough?

If the grape gatherers came to thee, would they not leave some grapes? How are the things of Esau searched out?

How are his hidden things sought up? So one of the things that the Edomites prided themselves on the most was their material wealth.

They had a very strategic geographical location, but they also, and they were very prideful of that, but they also prided themselves on the material wealth.

So here the Lord makes a point to ensure that everything is taken from other nations, even their most hidden treasures that they had for, you know, that they valued the most above all other things.

Verse seven says, all the men of thy confederacy have brought thee even to the border. The men that were at peace with thee have deceived thee and prevailed against thee.

They that eat thy bread have laid a wound under thee. There is none understanding in him.

So the Edomites went from feeling pretty invincible to being put in a position where their own allies turned on them and began to attack the very vulnerabilities that they were very aware of because they're, you know, who knows it could have been their relationship and trading or whatever it may be.

I mean they were allies, so they most likely knew where the Edomites were most vulnerable obviously more so than their actual enemies would be, but now their allies have turned against them as well.

Verse eight says, shall I not in that day say the Lord even destroyed the wise men out of Edom and understanding out of the

Mount of Esau? So again the Lord here is making a particular point to not only destroy their wise men, but he also removed all the understanding altogether from the

Edomites collectively as a whole nation. So they had no strategic ability, they had no one to turn to for help, their wise men were gone.

It was at this point, you know, this is a prophecy of what is to come for the Edomites, but when they get to that point it's just total chaos.

And then verse nine which is where we left off last time says, and thy mighty men, O Teman, shall be dismayed to the end that every one of the

Mount of Esau may be cut off by slaughter. So obviously it's going to be a pretty crazy end for this nation that deliberately over time and time again did the opposite of the

Lord's commands, as we're going to find out pretty soon, had a very harsh relationship with their own brethren, that being the

Israelites, and they just did it for centuries to the point where now the

Lord again has taken the battle in his own hands and it's going to end in a great slaughter for this nation. So everything will be gone, the

Edomites' geographical advantage that they prided themselves on won't save them, their wise men are gone, so that can't save them, their warriors are going to be in total dismay, and they're getting pretty close to meeting their end, which again is going to be pretty crazy.

So with that being said, we're going to pick up at verse 10, but before we do, so the first section of Obadiah, those first nine verses, is really is really diving into the pride that was within the hearts of the

Edomites, and that to some degree was why I started a little study in the first place, was because of the parallels between them and, again, it's the same spirit, same spirit that was within them when this was taking place like 800

BC or whenever it was, that same spirit is within the heathen today, that our our physical enemies today, and so those parallels is why

I started reading through this in the first place, was just like, you know, this is pretty interesting stuff, because one, it's a very explicit example of how far pride can go, but it's also a really explicit example of what the

Lord thinks about it, how he deals with it. So really quick before we pick it up in verse 10, I kind of wanted to just talk about the concept of pride for a second, because as we move on, this will be the most appropriate point to talk about this.

So what is pride exactly? I asked you guys this question about two and a half months ago, so let's just do a refresher here.

What do you guys, like, when you guys hear the word pride or used in a sentence, you know,

I am proud of xyz, what do you guys think? Like, what's the first thing that comes to mind?

Sure, well, and for me, it's easy for me to immediately go there as well, you know, more of the selfish, taking the selfish angle, but at the same time, we know,

I mean, I'll just speak for myself, I can't think of how many countless times where I put it in a positive context, where I wasn't necessarily talking about me specifically.

Maybe it's my kids, maybe it's someone in my family, you know, like saying, like,

I'm proud of my kids' accomplishments in this area. So what do you guys think about that?

Like, in that context, is it still kind of a selfish connotation or?

Sure, yeah, that's a good point. So to Pop Pop's point, even if it's not you directly, if it's your kids, for example, or maybe your siblings or your parents or friends of yours, if they do something that makes you literally come out and say,

I am proud of that person for xyz, one of the reasons why you may be feeling that is because you had some form of influence on that person, maybe even what led to that accomplishment.

They are now, you know, having a good time showcasing that you feel proud of.

So I agree with that, Pop Pop. One of the things we talked about last time was the biblical definition of pride and the modern -day definition of pride are totally different.

Now, in this passage, the passage of Obadiah, the first time that word pride is used, it's used in verse three, and it's the

Hebrew word, I'll try to pronounce it, Zodon, I think is how you pronounce it. And it literally means pride or insolence or presumptuousness or arrogance.

So obviously, those are not character traits any of us want to have in any context, right? And so it's like, well, okay, but why is pride used in such a positive context today?

Or why does pride carry this virtuous connotation today? And when we were starting this study, we're right on the tail end of pride month at the end of June.

And so, like, it's just pride is everywhere. Like, the word pride is everywhere, and everyone is delving into it in a way that as if it's the greatest virtue of all time.

Yeah, Mimi. Right.

Yes. And you think, again, it's the exact same spirit, right? Think about the

Edomites. Most of what they prided themselves on was their perceived advantage over God's people.

And they made a point to do the exact opposite of what the

Israelites were trying to do, which was, of course, following the Lord. And the

Edomites had some understanding of this, because their lineage goes back, of course, to Esau and Jacob, whose father was

Isaac. So I feel like the Edomites had some understanding of who the real creator was, and why the

Israelites were striving for that relationship so much. And yet, they still blatant disregard for it, to your point.

And they, to the point where they were proud of that. And so you're saying that even today, a lot of that pride that's coming out, even though it's cast in this positive connotation, really, it's people being proud of their own sin.

Right. Right.

Yeah. It's absolutely unavoidable. I mean, that is talked about in the

Old Testament, but it's certainly reaffirmed in the New Testament. To your point, his law was written in the hearts of man, and Romans tells us that his very creation is enough of a witness that no one will be held without excuse.

And so they do know what's going on, and they're still proud of it, and they're still putting it on display.

So again, the Biblical or the Hebrew idea or concept of being proud or pride is certainly something that, you know, character traits, we wouldn't want to take part in ourselves.

Again, insolence, presumptuousness, arrogance. The modern day definition of it, the

Oxford Dictionary defines pride is this. It says, a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired.

So my first thought when I was looking at that is, there you go. You know, we have the Biblical definition, which was like pretty simple.

Just pride is not a good thing. Certainly not a virtue. It's presumptuous. It's arrogance.

It's insolence. And yet, you know, with the way language has changed, humanity has turned what was a sin for centuries into something to put on full display.

But then I was thinking, and this goes back to Pop -Pop's point, even the modern day definition is totally narcissistic.

I mean, to exhibit pride is to have a deep satisfaction, deep pleasure in your own accomplishments.

So it still has a selfish root to it. And selfishness, of course, you know, makes following the very imperatives that Dad has been talking about, you know, good

Christian living, very hard. So it doesn't really matter whether you want to look at the Biblical definition of pride or the

Oxford definition, the definition that people would use today.

Either way, if you were talking about like pure just Christian living and loving your neighbor as yourself, putting others before yourself, and so many other fruits of the spirit that, you know, could easily be the results of selflessness rather than selfishness, then pride is something that we want to all together avoid for the most part, as far as I can tell.

I mean, what do you think, Pop -Pop, you ever thought? Right.

I've seen it. Right. Right. Virtues.

I totally agree. And I mean, a lot of what's been said so far, I would agree with.

And what I've said is, you know, kind of my personal thoughts on it. But I also wanted to see,

I want to go a little bit deeper. And I asked you guys a couple of months ago, so you've had plenty of time to do your homework.

Are there any places in the Bible where pride or being proud is used in a way that's not used in a way that's not used in a way that's not used in a way that's not used?

Oh, yeah, go ahead, David. Sorry. Yeah. Some of his accomplishments.

I'm sure. And so if you pretend that he's not showing you are not as some form of.

Well, he has the ability and the right. Yes, and I 100 % agree into that,

I would say all of that is true and it can be true without inserting the concept of pride at all.

And if you look at that Hebrews passage, I have it. But if you look at it, it'd be interesting to see that we're not ashamed what with the

Greek comes out on there. You might take a peek at that, Dave, because that could be interesting. Because essentially, we talked about this a couple months ago,

I'll go ahead and I'll go ahead and say it again. Kyle and I were talking, and it was right after we had done the first little section of what we die here.

And we were like, and I was literally just thinking out loud and was like, man, you know, how many times have

I said I'm proud of my kids? But is that the right language to use? Because my intent might totally be fine.

But is that the right word to use? And so we're just sitting there talking. We're like, well, what in the New Testament, Jesus is baptized by the

Holy Spirit. I'm sorry, by John the Baptist, the Holy Spirit descends, and he's about to begin his ministry. What did

God the Father say? Did he say, I am proud of my son? And he said, I'm well pleased in that word, when you look when you kind of look at the

Greek behind that word, there is still a sense of pleasure and satisfaction, but it has nothing to do with one's own self, like the modern definition of pridest.

It has everything to do with just the thing that is before you, being pleased with the thing, being satisfied with the thing that is before you.

There's, yeah. Right.

Okay, so it's about being in a position, an honorable position, based on your work and your character traits, that's still different than, again, kind of our perception of pride, or the concept of pride and how we would think of that.

He's still God. Well, and to your point, even if he was proud, it's

God in his own works, but even in this context, I feel like, like you said, it's being in a position, an honorable position, is kind of what not being ashamed means.

To me, that's still kind of beyond being a point of being prideful or having deep pleasure in your own works.

It's about your character, in this case, God's character in his work, and because of these things, it brings honor to himself.

Yeah, pop up. Sure. Yeah, that's a better way of articulating, for sure.

Being in a position of honor is where others around you are lifting you up, rather than you exhibiting some kind of character trait where you're lifting yourself up, making the point of it.

So yeah, I mean, that's a great one, Dave, because again, it just makes you start trying to refine the language a little bit.

Everything you said, I 100 % agree with, and I think it's true, even if you leave our perception of pride or proud out of it altogether, because again, it's not like all of a sudden, someone says they're proud of their kid, and I'm like,

I'm going to start judging them, because you used the wrong word. The intent is there.

The intent is great. It's just that because at some point in our language, that word had been commandeered by people that wanted to change it from being a sin to being a virtue, that has stuck.

And so, you know, it's one of those, sorry, I heard myself for a second. It's one of those things where, like, everything that Dave said is true, and but really, it's the father having honor in his work, not necessarily being proud of in his work, perhaps.

Sure. We are pleased with their accomplishments, like God said, but that is very much, you know, reaffirming kind of what

Mimi said, which is there are kind of two sides of that coin. One is when people are using that term, you know, in modern day language, they are for sure wanting to carry kind of a rebellious side of it, where we are intentionally butting up against the tenets of, you know,

God's word. But on the flip side of the coin, everyone else, including all of us in this room,

I'll certainly speak for myself, will use it in that positive context of, proud of my kids, or whatever it may be.

And really, it's just, okay, that the intent is fine, and the intent is great.

It's just, is it the proper language? I don't know. It's one of those things where, like, Dad and Brother Otis used to always talk about wanting to just get, like, they talked about removing words from their vocabulary all the time, that were just not necessarily biblical.

And it's not like you're trying to get yourself up on a high horse and be like, well,

I use all the right words, kind of thing. It's just one of those things where it can edify you.

If you are striving to refine your, the language that we use today to be as biblical as possible, it's not about trying to be holier than thou.

It's just simply about growing, I would say, your relationship with the Lord, but also just really honing in on the word.

I mean, really makes you, it makes the thoughtfulness aspect of it very active.

Say that again. Sure. Right. Sure.

Right. When you're active, exactly. If you're trying to focus on the language, focus on the words that you're using, it's making you actively think about what you're doing as well, brings in the concept that Dad talks about pretty often, thinking about what you're thinking about.

And that's only, that's only going to help you with that walk and striving to go as long as you can without sitting, right?

Which is our ultimate goal. What time is it, Dave? 1042.

Okay. Well, we're not going to get into the lesson at all, but maybe we can finish this little section here.

So I found a couple, I found a couple of passages where maybe pride or proud is used in a positive context.

You want to hear them? Okay. So the first one is, oh, first of all, so in the, in the

KJV, at least the English word pride is used 49 times across both

Old and New Testaments. The English word proud is used, uh, 48 times. So the question is, are either of those words, and these are the

English words, right? So like, for example, in, in Obadiah, it's the Hebrew word, uh, what was it?

Forgot. I said it. I said it a minute ago. There's several Hebrew words where pride or proud is translated.

Oh, it's right in front of me. It's Zidon. So, so you have these Hebrew words, you have these Greek words where the

English translators brought out the word pride or proud from that. So we're focusing on, okay, the passages where the

English word pride or proud is used roughly a hundred times, a little bit less than a hundred times throughout the

Bible. And the question is, is it ever used in a positive context? Well, let's go to Job chapter 41 really quick.

And I'm going to read the whole thing really kind of fast just to get the context here, because this is, this is really neat to me.

I don't know if it'll be as neat to everyone else, but we'll see. Uh, the, the voice, uh, the verses of, um, of focus here are verses 15 and verses 34.

But just for the context, I'm going to read the whole thing because this is pretty cool. So right off the bat, pay really close attention to verse one, because the entire chapter is talking about what is mentioned in verse one.

This is God talking to Job about his awesome works. This is good.

This is really interesting because this goes back to what Dave was just talking about, Dave. So a minute ago in the

Hebrews passages, God talked about himself, uh, in his works, not being ashamed in his works.

Well, here's one of his works right here, but listen to this. This is so interesting. Canst thou draw out

Leviathan with a hook? Okay. What is Leviathan? Dad?

Oh, he's talking to Paul Davis back there. Um, well, we don't really know, but a lot of, there's, you know, some convincing studies done that deduce that it may have been a dinosaur of some kind.

This is a really powerful creature. A lot of, uh, of Christian paleontologists would agree with that.

Dad, Leviathan, don't you think that was probably some kind of just massive, it's a massive creature, obviously, probably a dinosaur, some kind of creature that is not around today, right?

So this is, this is a very powerful animal. Um, and God is using, this is an example for Job talking about like, is this, can you, is this something that you could have done essentially?

So, canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook, or his tongue with a cord which thou let us down?

Canst thou put a hook into his nose or bore his jaw through with a thorn? Will he make many supplications unto thee?

Will he speak soft words unto thee? Will he make a covenant with thee? Will thou take him for a servant forever?

Will thou play with him as with a bird? This is just great, amazing stuff.

Well, or will thou bind him for thy maidens? Shall the companions make a banquet of him? Shall they part him among the merchants?

Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears? Lay thy hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.

Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? None is so fierce that dares stir him up.

Who then is able to stand before me? Who hath prevented me that I should repay him?

Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.

Who can discover the face of his garment? Or who can come to him with his double, with his double bridle?

Who can open the doors of his face? His teeth are terrible round about, his scales are his pride.

Shut up together as with a closed seal. One is so near to another that no air can come between them.

They are joined one to another, they stick together, and they cannot be sundered. By his kneesings a light death shine, and his eyes are like eyelids of the morning.

Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. Out of his nostrils go a smoke, as out of seething pot or cauldron.

His breath kindle with coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth, and his neck remaineth straight, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

The flakes of his flesh are joined together, they are firm in themselves, they cannot be moved. His heart is as firm as stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.

When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid, by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold, the spear, the dart, nor the paper, he esteemed iron, he esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood, the arrow cannot make him flee.

Slingstones are turned with him into stubble, darts are counted as stubble, he laugheth, shaketh spear, sharp stones are under him, he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire, he maketh the deep to to boil like a pot, he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment, he maketh the path to shine before him, one would think the deep to be hoary.

Upon earth there is not his, there is not his like who is made without fear, and then it finishes here, he beholdeth all things, he is king over all the children of pride.

So I wanted to read the whole thing mainly because I think that chapter is awesome, but it does give some interesting context for these the two times this word is used.

So in verse 15 it says his scales are his pride, shut up together is with the close seal.

So first of all let's look at the Hebrew word here because it's a different Hebrew word than what's in Obadiah.

It's the Hebrew word ga 'avah, I think that's how you pronounce it, and it's a little bit different, obviously pride, but the two, the two definitions that are different from the one in Obadiah is it could translate to majesty or a rising up.

So first of all what do you guys think? Well think about the fact that his scales are his pride, this creature is exhibits pride in just his being, like the the awesomeness that is this creature.

What do you guys think about that? Is that positive? In other words, like yeah, just is it, what do you think about the fact that this creature is exhibiting pride in the way he was created, and what does that really equate to, if that is true?

Yeah, Mimi. Well you're taking it really deep now,

Mimi, because you're personifying Leviathan, which is beyond even what I had gone, as far as I had gone, but that's interesting.

So before I continue, I want to talk about that because to Mimi's point, she's essentially using

Leviathan here is possibly a picture that something we can fall prey to, that being if we're in a position where we are feeling particularly,

I don't know, powerful or perhaps safe, think about the Edomites for a second. They had a extremely geographical strategic advantage.

They lived where Petra now is, so I mean Petra is considered like, yeah, impenetrable.

That's where they were living, and so they had a geographical location that's very strategic. They had tons of material wealth.

They had a very strong army. They had tons of wise men, so what Mimi is saying here is perhaps

Leviathan could be used as a picture of when you are in that position, you can easily fall prey to being proud of those things.

I think that's great that you pulled that out of that. What I'm thinking here when I was reading this is I think perhaps this could, you could say this word pride is used in a positive context here, and again, it's kind of indirectly going back to what

Dave was talking about earlier, so what's happening here is God is talking to Job about his greatness, right?

Goes back to something we did a couple weeks ago. God is turning Job completely away from his tribulations, from his troubles, and totally putting the focus back on him and his greatness.

That's all that God was doing. He wasn't answering why these things were happening to Job. He wasn't answering the question of why the bad things happen to good people.

All he was doing was taking the focus away from all that and putting it right back on himself, and one of the ways in which he did that was right here in chapter 41, talking about this creature, and he points out that this awesome creature that I have made, and he's of course asking

Job rhetorically, you know, could you have done this? Could you tame this beast? Could you walk with this beast?

Play with this beast? And he points out that the way in which he created this creature, that creature is proud of those characteristics, so it's almost like in a roundabout way, this creature is proud of itself, and another point that I'll make really quick is this is a little different, because we're talking about the animal kingdom here, not the human race.

The animal kingdom is not held to the same standards that we are, and they are fallen.

I don't, I guess, I don't think they, I mean, animals don't sin, but they are living in a fallen race.

I don't say fallen race. They're living in a fallen world, and so the fact that Leviathan was proud of the characteristics that God put upon him, if anything, is just simply, it's simply an example of God's greatness.

It comes right back to him. Now, Dave's point earlier was, well, if God, if God was proud of his works, he has every right to be, because he's

God, and his works are perfect. Well, right here, he's pointing out that he created this creature to such a magnificent, to such a majestic degree, that this creature is proud of his power, of those things that he exhibits, and remember, this

Hebrew word, gaaba, here, it could be translated into, to give the connotation of this majestic, of being majestic, as well as being, of being proud.

What are you saying, Papa? Well, here's the difference.

This creature was created in a certain way in which it was proud of itself, because of how awesome

God created it. God can put us in a position where we're feeling awesome, as well, where we maybe are exhibiting a form of majesty, if you will, you know, living at the highest, the highest degree.

The difference is that we are held to a higher standard than, than these creatures are, right?

We can be put in a position where we know better than to be proud, or to be prideful of that position we're in.

Rather, we need to be giving the fact that we're in that position totally back to God, putting, sending all the glory back to him.

So, we're held to that stand, whereas the creature doesn't know better, so it's just there. It's proud of the power of its scales, and it's, you know, all of the different things that it talked about.

Yes, Dad. I think that would be a good way.

Yes, I, I think that's a good modern definition of essentially what the

Hebrew words are telling us, anyway. It's arrogance. It's presumptuousness. It's insolence. It's putting, it's putting all the focus on yourself.

So, yes, it's taking the powerful position that you put in.

So, to Pop Pop's point, the Edomites had all of this awesome stuff. It was the Lord that put them there.

I mean, it was through, Dad, don't you think that Esau and his lineage was blessed simply because they came from Isaac to a degree?

So, the Edomites were blessed because of their lineage, but they weren't the ones that put themselves there.

So, they had every opportunity to put the, give the glory back to the one that put them in that position, and yet they refused to do it to such a degree that, as we'll get to at this point next week in Baccanoba Diet, they'll be destroyed for it.

So, yes, Dad, it's, it's putting, the definition of pride is observing the glory and then attributing it to the wrong place, rather than God to yourself.

Goes back to Pop Pop's thought this morning. It's just narcissism. Did you have another thought?

Yeah, we do have a mic set up. Hopefully, it's picking up everyone, but yeah, basically what Dad said was a good definition of pride would be what

I, you know, what I just said, the taking the glory, observing the glory, and attributing it to the wrong place, the wrong person.

Yeah, go ahead. So, giving the glory to anyone,

I think, whether it's a parent or, you know, you can be mindful from your kids, and you're like, who's the father, who's the, you know, the father of the son.

Sure. You didn't acknowledge, wow, the sense of all the dedication, the references, the spiritual upbringing, and all just connecting it, and you can see that God was rewarded, and there did not need some type of place of,

I had so much care for all the other people, and now you didn't even notice it at all. Well, I'm glad.

It's almost unavoidable, for me anyway. Yeah. Well, it's, yeah, it's not fulfilling, and that's the problem.

It's a repetitive cycle. Sure. Well, that's an interesting thought in and of itself, is typically we attribute the word pride to, like, positive self -focus, whereas, really, it could be, it could be negative self -focus as well.

In other words, you are thinking about yourself to such a degree, it's causing you to be self -conscious, perhaps cause anxiety that's unneeded, perhaps just put you in a position where you're only thinking about yourself in that moment.

Perhaps that's not how we would typically apply the word, but it's self -focused all the same.

Now, one word that you use, I'm glad you did, Ash, is you mentioned that you can look at your kids and you have joy in this accomplishment, so I'm glad you said that, because going back to the word that God, when

God said, and whom I'm well -pleased, that that word is, it's a joyful satisfaction.

So, it's, it's, there is certainly appropriate to have, to be joyfully satisfied in what our kids are doing, at least if, if, at least if we can use the father in that context as an example.

But it's still different, because it is not in any way putting the focus on, on them or yourself.

It's, it's the fact that you can have joy in the position the Lord puts you in. So, as long as, as long as the glory is going back to Him, that's, that's really the fine line that you're bouncing back and forth on.

Yeah, Ash, you want to finish your thought? Oh, yeah.

Sure. No, I get what you're saying.

Yeah, and just in case the, in case, just in case everyone listening online didn't hear that, it is, it is, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it

This is a great thing, something that Dave covered in, I, I think, I don't remember if it was Bible study or maybe even in Devo way back when.

Dave's point was one of the, kind of a litmus test for, for whether or not someone is, is exhibiting fruits of the

Spirit is the things they're doing and where they're putting the glory going to God or to themselves or anywhere other than God, like anywhere other than God.

And if it's going to God, then that is a great example. Dave, maybe you can, was that, is that, am

I explaining it good enough? It's, it's a great way of kind of, of seeing those fruits.

I'm having trouble articulating it, but seeing those fruits play out, essentially, those fruits of the Spirit. Yeah, Pop Pop.

Yeah. Yeah.

Right. Right.

The joy can still be there. That's the cool part is the joy can be there. The being married can be there.

And so you can have the same, you can experience the same, you know, euphoria that we're trying to experience through being proud of our accomplishments or kids or whatever it may be.

We can experience that, but even to a greater degree, simply by recognizing that, wow, what my kid just did is because of a skillset that the very

Creator gave that little person to exhibit. Or if it's yourself, the Lord just allowed me to do that or, or caused me to do that, planned for me to do that, whatever it may be.

Yeah. Yeah. And then, and then you reap rewards that are also from Him. It's nuts. And it goes back to, to, again,

Dad's idea. It's the first family business. I mean, he wants to do his work with and through us.

So what's the time now, Dave? It's probably 11, isn't it? 1103. Okay. Well, we got through one page, but let me end with this really fast.

And then, and then we'll, we'll pick this up because there's still another, another passage or possibly perhaps just using the positive context.

We'll get to that, I guess, next week. But verse 34, remember it says in Job, it says, he beholdeth all things.

He is king over all the children of pride. Still talking about Leviathan? That Hebrew word,

I can't even pronounce it. I'm not going to even try, but it literally means majestic wild beasts. So those children of the, being the king of the children of pride, he is king of all of the most majestic beasts out there.

So again, it just points back to how awesome this creature was that God created. And it makes total sense that that is why

God was using him as the example to showcase his greatness in that passage. So with all that being said,

Dave, can you dismiss us in prayer, please? Thank you so much.