Presumption? I would not have picked that myself.
Psalm 19:13 Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me: then shall I be upright, and I shall be innocent from the great transgression.
It all begins with self will.
Satan gets his big come down in Isaiah 14:11 ff. This is the key passage where Jews believe for the restoration of their national homeland. The Message is a modern translation and too priceless not to quote in full.
This is where your pomp and fine music led you, Babylon,
to your underworld private chambers,
A king-size mattress of maggots for repose
and a quilt of crawling worms for warmth.
12 What a comedown this, O Babylon!
Daystar! Son of Dawn!
Flat on your face in the underworld mud,
you, famous for flattening nations!
13-14 You said to yourself,
“I’ll climb to heaven.
I’ll set my throne
over the stars of God.
I’ll run the assembly of angels
that meets on sacred Mount Zaphon.
I’ll climb to the top of the clouds.
I’ll take over as King of the Universe!”
15-17 But you didn’t make it, did you?
Instead of climbing up, you came down—
Down with the underground dead,
down to the abyss of the Pit.
People will stare and muse:
“Can this be the one
Who terrorized earth and its kingdoms,
turned earth to a moonscape,
Wasted its cities,
shut up his prisoners to a living death?”
18-20 Other kings get a decent burial,
honored with eulogies and placed in a tomb.
But you’re dumped in a ditch unburied,
like a stray dog or cat,
Covered with rotting bodies,
murdered and indigent corpses.
Your dead body desecrated, mutilated—
no state funeral for you!
You’ve left your land in ruins,
left a legacy of massacre.
The progeny of your evil life
will never be named. Oblivion!
21 Get a place ready to slaughter the sons of the wicked
and wipe out their father’s line.
Unthinkable that they should own a square foot of land
or desecrate the face of the world with their cities!
22-23 “I will confront them”—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—“and strip Babylon of name and survivors, children and grandchildren.” God’s Decree. “I’ll make it a worthless swamp and give it as a prize to the hedgehog. And then I’ll bulldoze it out of existence.” Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
The sin of Adam and Eve was their self-will.
The fruit business was just part of the test. Why does God test us? Simple. He knows what we are made of, but we do not.
The test is to let us know where we stand and what is in our heart.
When we finally see our need, our lack and the solution, repentance follows.
Years ago I stayed with a 99 year old woman who had no diseases but she needed care. She had plenty of money, no children, and lived in a paid for house but her heart was consumed with evil. She thought I was stealing her clothing – size 5; I was a size 18. But when evil fills the heart facts do not matter.
She complained about everyone and everything. Apparently she had never been tested. It occurred to me that God did not want to send her to hell so here she was, waiting for death, in a world of conflict, rejection and misery all brought on by her own empty life.
It reminded me of the funeral director who said there was only one woman whose corpse on which he could not manage to create a smile. She too lived to a very old age, and her caregiver said she never saw in her life the slightest kindness or love.
Behind this road to hell is the presumption that God is supposed to make your life easy, fun, rich, and successful. It is not. Whatever brief time we have on earth is to prepare for the eternal life we all have – no matter where that will be. It is our decision. Our will.
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