The high places and the low

I was reading Micah yesterday and noted in Chapter 1 that God will come down to judge the high places of the earth. God is humble and comes down, and this can be a problem for us if we're pushing up, because the high places get trodden on. As James wrote, God resists the proud. I've noticed that it really sucks to encounter the resistance of God, and with pride, that encounter is guaranteed.

Micah cites two examples: Samaria, the capital city of the northern kingdom built by Omri on a high and defensible hill, and Jerusalem, the capital of Judah. Being high and trusted in by their inhabitants has turned out in history to be bad for both.

Psalm 40:4 says, "Blessed is that man who makes the Lord his trust, and does not respect the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies." It is indeed a blessing to escape the bewitchment of the proud. People admire pride, seeing it as courage, and they are drawn to the audacity and insolence of the proud doer, so long as his pride is not directed against them. In fact, I've defiled myself with that kind of admiration from people, and that's an economy I'd best drop out of!