Many Bible verses convey the message of warning. I'm most impressed with what the prophet Samuel warned king Saul: "For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry." (1 Samuel 15: 23). This verse particularly mentioned about arrogance. Chosen by God and anointed by Samuel as a king, Saul was used by God to make a great achievement. But he rejected God in his later days and his rebellion and arrogance prevented him from receiving God's blessings.
Brother and sisters, do you start having feelings of turning away from God like Saul or become inwardly rebellious and arrogant after following the Lord for years? Here are seven Bible verses warning against arrogance. Renew your mind by reflecting on them and make yourself good soil that receives God's word and grace.
Deuteronomy 29:14 - 21 I am making this covenant, with its oath, not only with you who are standing here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God but also with those who are not here today.
You yourselves know how we lived in Egypt and how we passed through the countries on the way here. You saw among them their detestable images and idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold. Make sure there is no man or woman, clan or tribe among you today whose heart turns away from the Lord our God to go and worship the gods of those nations; make sure there is no root among you that produces such bitter poison.
When such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves, thinking, "I will be safe, even though I persist in going my own way," they will bring disaster on the watered land as well as the dry. The Lord will never be willing to forgive them; his wrath and zeal will burn against them. All the curses written in this book will fall on them, and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven. The Lord will single them out from all the tribes of Israel for disaster, according to all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law.
Judges 2:18 - 22 Whenever the Lord raised up a judge for them, he was with the judge and saved them out of the hands of their enemies as long as the judge lived; for the Lord relented because of their groaning under those who oppressed and afflicted them. But when the judge died, the people returned to ways even more corrupt than those of their ancestors, following other gods and serving and worshiping them. They refused to give up their evil practices and stubborn ways.
Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and said, "Because this nation has violated the covenant I ordained for their ancestors and has not listened to me, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations Joshua left when he died. I will use them to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did."
1 Samuel 15:13-23 When Samuel reached him, Saul said, "The Lord bless you! I have carried out the Lord's instructions."
But Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of sheep in my ears? What is this lowing of cattle that I hear?"
Saul answered, "The soldiers brought them from the Amalekites; they spared the best of the sheep and cattle to sacrifice to the Lord your God, but we totally destroyed the rest.""Enough!" Samuel said to Saul. "Let me tell you what the Lord said to me last night."
"Tell me," Saul replied.
Samuel said, "Although you were once small in your own eyes, did you not become the head of the tribes of Israel? The Lord anointed you king over Israel. And he sent you on a mission, saying, 'Go and completely destroy those wicked people, the Amalekites; wage war against them until you have wiped them out.' Why did you not obey the Lord? Why did you pounce on the plunder and do evil in the eyes of the Lord?"
"But I did obey the Lord," Saul said. "I went on the mission the Lord assigned me. I completely destroyed the Amalekites and brought back Agag their king. The soldiers took sheep and cattle from the plunder, the best of what was devoted to God, in order to sacrifice them to the Lord your God at Gilgal."
But Samuel replied:
"Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king."
Isaiah 46:12-13 Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted, you who are now far from my righteousness.
I am bringing my righteousness near, it is not far away; and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion, my splendor to Israel.
Isaiah 48:1-5 "Listen to this, you descendants of Jacob, you who are called by the name of Israel and come from the line of Judah, you who take oaths in the name of the Lord and invoke the God of Israel- but not in truth or righteousness-
you who call yourselves citizens of the holy city and claim to rely on the God of Israel- the Lord Almighty is his name:
I foretold the former things long ago, my mouth announced them and I made them known; then suddenly I acted, and they came to pass.
For I knew how stubborn you were; your neck muscles were iron, your forehead was bronze.
Therefore I told you these things long ago; before they happened I announced them to you so that you could not say,'My images brought them about; my wooden image and metal god ordained them.' "
Jeremiah 16:10-13 "When you tell these people all this and they ask you, 'Why has the Lord decreed such a great disaster against us? What wrong have we done? What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?' then say to them, 'It is because your ancestors forsook me,' declares the Lord, 'and followed other gods and served and worshiped them. They forsook me and did not keep my law. But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors. See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts instead of obeying me. So I will throw you out of this land into a land neither you nor your ancestors have known, and there you will serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.' "
Romans 11:7-10 What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened, 8 as it is written:
"God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day."
And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."
Translated by Karen Luo
