1707 The Secret Scale

BIG Life Devotional | Daily Devotional for Women

When you ask God to search your heart and show you what needs to change, don’t be surprised when you discover what looks good on the outside has been rotten on the inside. It’s so easy for us to dress ourselves up and play pretend nice, but God isn’t impressed by our show. God knows why you do what you do. He knows the real script behind the play. And he wants to go to work on your heart … not out of punishment, but out of divine love.

My friend, God cannot lavish his unspeakable goodness on his girl when her heart isn’t right. It’s like giving the car keys to a 6 year old and telling her you want her to enjoy driving the highway early. You would be creating that wreck by giving her what she isn’t ready for. And it’s the same with us. God knows he can’t give us anything we’re not really ready for without creating devastation in our lives. If our hearts aren’t right, we’re not ready for the blessings.

The enemy of your soul is who we call Satan. Not Satan with horns and a pitchfork. Satan was the most beautiful of all the angels. Scripture says he had a seal of perfection. He was exquisite, adorned with every precious stone. He was ordained and anointed as the mighty angelic guardian. God’s unspeakable goodness had been poured out on his creation in this high angel.

But something terrible happened. Something went wrong. All of this beauty and all of this power caused Satan’s angelic heart to become twisted and total devastation was the result. Satan’s sin was pride. He began to think he was better than God. He elevated himself above everyone else and assumed a righteous position of superiority. And as Proverbs 16:38 says, “Pride goes before destruction.”

But this pride didn’t stop with the fall of Satan. The destruction continues. I believe what God wants to do today is to check our hearts. Has something gotten twisted in us? Is something dangerous growing inside while we put on a pretty face and play pretend nice?

Proverbs 6: 16-19:
There are six things the Lord hates –
no seven things he detests:
haughty eyes,
a lying tongue,
hands that kill the innocent,
a heart that plots evil,
feet that race to do wrong,
a false witness who pours out lies,
a person who sows discord.

What caught my attention here was the sudden change in count. “Six things the Lord hates, NO SEVEN things he detests.” Was Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, confused or conflicted when he wrote this? No. Actually, dig deeper and you will find this was a style of writing to reflect that the final added statement was the result of the previous statements. The first 6: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies – those all result in number 7, a person sowing discord. Discord – problems between people.

Well, we seem to have an abundance of that today, don’t we? Problems between people. And let’s be real clear, GOD DETESTS THIS! The problem you have with other people, God’s not happy about it. The way you talk about them, the way you treat them, the way you look at them … God says NO!

What causes these problems between people? Look back at the list. It’s easy to dismiss ourselves assuming it doesn’t apply to us. I don’t kill anyone. I’m not plotting evil. But, what about the very first one on the list: Those haughty eyes.

Haughty eyes are prideful eyes. Yes, pride. The sin of Satan.

Eyes that look down and say, “I’m better than you.” Eyes that judge. Eyes that arrogantly declare yourself as prettier, more successful, smarter, more talented, better, right, or above someone else in any way. GOD HATES THOSE HAUGHTY EYES because this is the beginning of destruction.

If we were being honest, behind our sweet gestures and kind replies, aren’t we secretly looking down on others all the time? Aren’t we constantly weighing ourselves against them on some secret scale, and when we are measured to be better than them in some way we feel better about ourselves? Seems innocent enough. I mean who are we hurting with our secret little scale of comparison?

Let me tell you who we are hurting … EVERYONE, INCLUDING OURSELVES. God knows where this leads. He’s seen it before in his creation of an angel given the seal of perfection.

I don’t know if maybe you’re just generally beautiful and you are complimented all the time on your looks – or maybe you’re a really talented singer or artist or athlete or baker and you continually receive praise for your performance – or maybe you are really wise and you see things others don’t see and understand things on a deeper level. This is your strength, but understand it can also become your weakness. This can be the weak spot where the enemy of your soul twists your heart. This is where your eyes become haughty and over time you are better than someone else.

This is how pride begins. And pride comes before destruction.

God’s been at work on my heart to remove a secret sense that I’m better, or I’m right when they’re wrong. Pride has grown behind a facade that looks so darn nice. And God so lovingly wants to pluck that crap out.

Yes, he’s seen the destruction pride brings in the heart of his beautiful creation. Satan was the most beautiful. He was a perfect angel (literally). And if pride could cause him to fall, trust me, pride could get us too!

Lord, search my heart. Where have I elevated myself to a position of being better than someone else? Where have I assumed that I am right and therefore they are wrong. Find my secret scale where I’m continually measuring everyone else against myself, and destroy it!

When the secret scale is gone, then you can receive God’s immeasurable goodness. But as long as you’re measuring, you’re not ready for the immeasurable.

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