Proverbs 6:16 – 19 got me thinking today:
16 These six
things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:17 A proud
look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,18 An heart
that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,19 A false
witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Solomon took time to write what God hates and the number one
thing is pride. My favorite book, James, has a bunch to say on all this but the
focus for a good bit is pride. Pride has been one of those things that tends to
get me and where I get humbled often.
Often credited to scripture the saying “pride comes before
the fall”, a “paraphrase” of Proverbs 16:18, seems to be my life. I have seen
pride creep into my work, my hobbies and relationships only to quickly have me
humbled. Be it a layoff, a crash or a rejection once I get full of myself, I tend
to be corrected quickly. The key is focus on God and give credit to Him first.
The lying tongue is something that ends up getting one is
great trouble. I tend to lie a bunch on stupid things, like did I follow-up on
a job prospect. It doesn’t really matter if I did or didn’t in the long run,
but it saves the agony of being chastised so I say something like “I tried” or “wasn’t
able to get a hold of anyone”. In the end, it’s stupid to lie since once you
get yourself into a pickle, it’s difficult to pull out. There is one that is
great at this since they can make you seem crazy even when they are caught
red-handed.
Murder is without saying awful.
A “heart” that seems to think of ways to swindle people out
of money is another bad one. Unfortunately, society rewards people like this
since often times it ups their bottom line. Sales, legal and corporate
management seem to all fall in line with this mentality. One could say this is
a good use for a “psychopath” since they can legally fry ants with a looking
glass and not be punished.
Often we have friends (note we never would consider ourselves
this way, but our friends might) who often do the crazy or stupid stuff first.
They are the ones to throw caution to the wind and just go. These are the ones
God is warning us about! Don’t purposefully get yourself in trouble!
Notice how lying gets a second mention here! There is a
slight difference between the two, one is just out and out lying where the
other is getting another in trouble by speaking lies. And this ties into sowing
discord among others. I have often been called this instigator since I would
point out things that would get others furious at each other. Often this has
happened without my doing anything, like one design review that got into a
yelling match between two people over my design. Other than one was from India
and the other was from Pakistan, I could not understand why this happened.
Finally why the “Spanish Inquisition” … too long to
explain, but YouTube Monty Python’s The Spanish Inquisition skit and all will
be clear.