Obad 3   The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks

  

Obadiah was a prophet called to speak God's word to the nation of Edom. These were a people who lived in the hills and who prided themselves on living in places that were impregnable to attack from below. Indeed pride was the right word to describe them. It is a false sense of self that puts one in a higher place than you really are. These people were proud of their invincibility and they used to come down from the hills and pillage Israel. They thought they could get away with it because of their mountain fortresses.

 

However, the Lord has an issue with them, as He does with anyone who is proud and violent. Obadiah's word from the Lord warns that He will come and deal with them. We may think that this small nation has little to do with us, but they act as an example and a warning to us. Pride is a danger that all of us have to combat. It makes us think that we are greater than we are. It makes us feel strong when we are, in fact, weak. It makes us think we are clever when, in fact, we are foolish. It makes us feel impregnable when we are, in fact, very vulnerable.

In reality, in comparison to the Lord, we are indeed weak, foolish and vulnerable. Merely because we might appear stronger and brighter than some around us, we should never let ourselves become deceived into thinking we are better than we actually are. That was one of the problems of the people of Edom, they had become deceived. Beware! 

Class distinctions are built on thinking we are superior to those 'below us'. People with power, money, position and status are the most vulnerable to this particular trap, thinking that our money or power or position makes us impregnable and beyond the reach of the law or of common society, because we are superior to the rest of the world, just like the Edomites. It is pure deception because, before God, it is not true!