It is a proud thought.

 

 

 

 

"The wicked, in the pride of his face, says, 'God will not see it'; in all his thoughts, there is no God." (Psalm 10:4)

 

 

The Lord knows all our thoughts. He knows even when we have evil thoughts in our hearts (Matthew 9:4). He knows when we focus on human matters and not on the things of God (Mark 8:33). The Lord also knows when our thoughts are empty (Psalm 94:11). Especially, our Lord clearly knows the proud thoughts in our hearts (Luke 1:51). So, what are the proud thoughts in our hearts?

 

First, the proud thought in our heart is "There is no God."

Let's look again at Psalm 10:4: “The wicked, in the pride of his face, says, 'God will not see it'; in all his thoughts, there is no God.” Of course, as those who have been justified by faith in Jesus, we are not the wicked. However, we still often, according to the instincts of our old nature, think proudly like the wicked. That proud thought is the thought that “there is no God.” In other words, when we are proud, there is no room for God in our thoughts (Psalm 10:4). And when we are proud, we do not seek God (Psalm 10:4). In fact, we do not feel the need to seek Him. Yet, when we succeed in whatever we do (Psalm 10:5, Modern Korean Bible), our hearts become even more filled with greed and selfish desire. We boast of the desires of our hearts and increase our greed (Psalm 10:3). And we betray and despise God (Psalm 10:3). Thus, in our proud thoughts, there is no room for God (Psalm 10:4). This is the foolishness of our pride.

Look at Psalm 14:1a: “The fool says in his heart, 'There is no God.'” In the foolish thoughts of the proud, there is no God.

If we are living with the thought that “there is no God”, then we are being proud. If we act with greed and selfishness with the thought that there is no God, then we are being proud. To think that “there is no God” is a proud thought. We must abandon this proud thought. God exists. God is real. Our God is the living God. This is the humble thought. We must live with this thought before God.

 

Second, the proud thought in our heart is: “I will never be shaken, and I will not be moved by any hardship.”

Please look at Psalm 10:6: “The wicked say, ‘I will never be shaken; I will never face trouble’” (Modern Bible). If, with the proud thought that there is no God in our hearts, we do not seek God and proceed with our work, when things succeed (verses 4-5), we cannot help but become more and more arrogant. We fail to recognize that God's judgment is waiting for us, and instead, we think to ourselves, "Our way is always firm" (verse 5). In the midst of this pride, we tell ourselves, "I will never be shaken, and I will not face trouble under any circumstances" (verse 6). We think to ourselves that we will "live a life free from pain, in good health, without facing difficulties or suffering from illness like others" (Psalm 73:4-5, Modern Bible). Therefore, we wear pride like a necklace, and our greed knows no bounds (verses 6-7, Modern Bible). Not realizing that God's judgment awaits us, we think our way will always be firm and tell ourselves, "I will never be shaken, and I will never face trouble under any circumstances" (Psalm 10:6). This is a proud thought.

If the path we walk is always firm, we run the risk of deluding ourselves into thinking it is because of our own abilities. The greater danger of delusion is thinking, "I will never be shaken." The reason we deceive ourselves in this way is because we believe that "I will never face trouble under any circumstances." The foundation of this false and empty belief is in ourselves. How can we find the basis of our firmness in ourselves? It is truly a futile and empty thought, and a proud and arrogant one at that. We must cast away this proud thought, over and over again. The foundation of our firmness is solely in the Lord. Only the Lord can be the rock of our firmness (1 Corinthians 10:4). Therefore, we must cast our burdens on God. Then, the Lord will hold us fast, and He will not allow our shaking forever (Psalm 55:22).

 

Third, the proud thought in our hearts is, "God has forgotten us, and He has hidden His face; He does not see."

Look at Psalm 10:11: “They think that God has forgotten them, that He has hidden His face and will never see” (Modern Korean Bible). The proud wicked severely oppress the poor (verse 2). They boast of the desires of their hearts and indulge in greed (verse 3). Their mouths are full of curses, lies, and violence, and their tongues are full of destruction and sin (verse 7). They kill the innocent in secret places, and their eyes secretly watch the poor (verse 8). They lie in wait in secret to ambush the helpless (verse 9). Then, they use violence to overthrow the poor (verse 10). Yet they think, “God has forgotten them, He has hidden His face and will never see” (Psalm 10:11, Modern Korean Bible). This is a proud thought. It is the thought that, even though one is committing sin in secret, God is not watching. However, the psalmist says: "O Lord, You have seen the evil they do" (Psalm 10:14, Modern Korean Bible).

If we are committing sin in secret but think that God is hiding His face and is not watching, this is a proud thought. God sees all the sins we commit secretly. God examines all our steps (Job 34:21). Not only that, God examines our hearts and consciences as well (Proverbs 16:2, 21:2; Psalm 7:9). Those who know and believe this truth will never entertain proud thoughts before God. Instead, they will humbly confess their sins, knowing they are among the greatest of sinners, and they will humble themselves before God.

 

Fourth, the proud thought in our hearts is: "God will not punish me."

Look at Psalm 10:13: “Why do the wicked despise God and say, ‘He will not punish me’?” Proud wicked people despise God. The proud wicked person who boasts of the desires of their heart and indulges in greed betrays and despises God (verse 3). They are so proud that they severely oppress the poor (verse 2), even catching them (verse 9) and overthrowing them with violence (verse 10), while thinking that God will not punish them (verse 13). They think this because God does not immediately punish them (Ecclesiastes 8:11, Modern Korean Bible). Therefore, their hearts are bold in doing evil (verse 11).

If we are bold in sinning, the reason is that God does not immediately punish us. Why does God not punish us immediately? The reason is that God wants us to repent and turn back to Him (Romans 2:4). However, we are despising the richness of His kindness, tolerance, and patience (verse 4). How are we despising God? We are sinning with pride and thinking that “God will not punish me (us),” and in doing so, we are despising God. What should we do? We must confess our sins and repent. We must repent for the sin of despising God. We must confess and repent of the sins we commit in secret.

Thinking “There is no God” is a proud thought. Thinking “I will never be shaken, and I will not face difficulties in any circumstance” is a proud thought. Thinking “God has forgotten us and has hidden His face, He does not see” is also a proud thought. And thinking that “God has forgotten us and has hidden His face, He does not see” is, in God’s eyes, a proud thought. We must abandon all these proud thoughts at the cross. We must repent of all our proud thoughts, relying on the precious blood of Jesus. And we must have humble thoughts. We must have the mind of Jesus and think humbly (see Philippians 2:5).

 

 

 

Desiring to continually abandon proud thoughts and think with humility,

 

 

Pastor James Kim
(Confessing that the God who lives and examines all things is my firm Rock)