Cliff-Dwellers

Driving Mr. Bill’s truck, in contrast to my car, is quite different: the higher ride gives a sense of safety – a “king of the road” feeling.  God had choice words for the Edomites – descendants of Esau – who opposed Israel and fortified themselves in the mountainous regions surrounding the Dead Sea: “The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rock, in your lofty dwelling, who say in your heart, ‘Who will bring me down to the ground?’ Though you soar aloft like the eagle, though your nest is set among the stars, from there I will bring you down, declares the LORD.” (Obadiah 1:3-4). The heights and clefts of their dwellings gave the Edomites a false and foolish sense of security.  Are we not also given to an Edomite way-of-thinking?  In arrogant self-pride, we live apart from the decrees of God. Perhaps one of the most notoriously foolish thoughts is that we can live righteously without study and prayer as well as worship and fellowship inside the Body of Christ (His Church).  We must not wink or sign at God’s words, “I will bring you down,” but rather be wise to His warning: “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7). With love, Almighty God warns us of such destructive thinking-and-living. History confirms things did not end well for the Edomites – they were “as though they had not been” (V.16) – extinct, no more. “It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God.” (Hebrews 10:31).  Are you living as a cliff-dweller, resting in a false sense of security and peace?  There’s no Cleft so high as Jehovah God, no Rock so secure as Christ.  Make sure He is The Cleft and The Rock in which you live.