Psalm 119:78

Psalm 119:78

The sins of the arrogant

It would be so helpful to know the back story to this Psalm. Who are the arrogant? What are the afflictions that the author suffers from? What are the wrongs that he has been unjustly accused of? Our earlier thoughts about the arrogant begin in verse 21 where we discussed the people who are a law unto themselves, who care nothing for anyone but themselves and who spend their whole lives building their personal wealth and reputations at the expense of others. 

There is another category of “the arrogant” and it’s a category that many of us meet almost daily. It’s those people who have invented their own religion or version of Christianity. They have their own personal view of God, their own understanding of the Gospel and their individual views of right and wrong. They hand-pick the bits of the Bible that they believe are true or not and anyone who clings tenaciously to the ancient truths is treated with contempt. 

In the past week I have come into contact with a Christian teacher who completely dismisses the book of Revelation and who claims that AD70 was the end of the Jewish nation and is thus the year of Christ’s second coming. The following day my wife was involved in a long, and at times heated, conversation with a group of ladies one of whom claimed to believe in God, but He is a God who has no right to tell her what to do! Another close contact of ours claims to be a Christian but never reads God’s Word, never goes to church, never prays and has strong personal opinions about politics, morals, injustices etc and looks down on anyone who disagrees. Are these not the arrogant? And isn’t our culture full of such people? They claim an allegiance with our God but want nothing to do with His law. They have devised their own religion to fit their own opinions and beliefs.

Let us be like the psalmist and make the precepts of our God the foundations of our faith. His precepts are His rules, commands and values that only the obedient will follow. These are the words of God that the humble will diligently consider and then live by. We accept that He knows best and that every word from Him is to be treasured and upheld. Hallelujah!

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