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Many people like to read a book from front to back and wouldn’t think of starting at the end of the story. But when it comes to the Walk of Life knowing the end of the story is extremely helpful for persevering through the ups and downs. For those who are downtrodden, especially at the hands of arrogant people, it’s especially good to know that God is completely aware and will have the final word on it all.
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To give an example from Isaiah 2,
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The proud look of man will be abased
And the loftiness of man will be humbled,
And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.
For the Lord of hosts will have a day of reckoning
Against everyone who is proud and lofty
And against everyone who is lifted up,
That he may be abased. (Isaiah 2:11-12).
The pride of man will be humbled
And the loftiness of men will be abased;
And the Lord alone will be exalted in that day, (Isaiah 2:17)…..
In that day men will cast away to the moles and the bats
Their idols of silver and their idols of gold,
Which they made for themselves to worship,
21 In order to go into the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs
Before the terror of the Lord and the splendor of His majesty,
When He arises to make the earth tremble. (Isaiah 2:20-21).
Isaiah’s conclusion is to stop worrying about what people think, since their true standing will be revealed in the end.
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Stop regarding man, whose breath of life is in his nostrils;
For why should he be esteemed? (Isaiah 2:22)
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There are many similar passages, for example:
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“For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. Malachi 4:1
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I will punish the world for its evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; I will put an end to the pomp of the arrogant, and lay low the pompous pride of the ruthless. Isaiah 13:11
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In the middle of our day to day grind of dealing with people with insolent pride, it is occasionally helpful to step back and see the end of the story. In the end, God will put every proud and haughty person into their proper place, and will show that He alone deserves to be exalted.
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Having a proper view now of that future state of affairs can give us the perspective needed to see the proud and haughty narcissist as they really are – and through that to give us a measure of freedom from the control they seek over us.
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