Arrogance is the crack

Arrogance is the crack

It would seem to me the common characteristic of failure of those who have succeeded, is arrogance.  What is arrogance?  Well I looked it up in the dictionary and I summarized it to be:  Arrogance is the attitude about one’s self, one’s ability that is superior to others without evidence of being so.    The best example of arrogance I can think of is the battle between David and Goliath 1 Samuel 17.    In verses 17:41 – 44, Goliath shouts out arrogance:

1 Samuel 17:41-44 NASB

“Then the Philistine came on and approached David, with the shield-bearer in front of him. ^[42] When the Philistine looked and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, with a handsome appearance^{. [43]} The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” And the Philistine cursed David by his gods. ^[44] The Philistine also said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.”

The arrogance  of Goliath is made purely on what he sees, yet knows nothing about the skills David has developed while herding the families sheep and goats, as he relays to Saul:

1 Samuel 17:33-37 NASB

“Then Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth while he has been a warrior from his youth.” ^[34] But David said to Saul, “Your servant was tending his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and took a lamb from the flock, ^[35] I went out after him and attacked him, and rescued it from his mouth; and when he rose up against me, I seized him by his beard and struck him and killed him. ^[36] Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, since he has taunted the armies of the living God.” ^[37] And David said, “The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and from the paw of the bear, He will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” And Saul said to David, “Go, and may the LORD be with you.”

But then, David’s reply to Goliath could sound as arrogance:

1 Samuel 17:45-47 NASB

Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. ^[46] This day the LORD will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, ^[47] and that all this assembly may know that the LORD does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the battle is the LORD’S and He will give you into our hands.”

The difference between the two call outs is this:  Goliath makes it all personal.  He is going to be able to win simply on what he perceives to be the comparison of size and skill.  David does not make any derogatory statements towards Goliath, but simply says a sword and a spear are no match to the Lord and thus the Lord will prevail this day.  David proceeded with faith, versus arrogance.   Had Goliath, in my opinion seen David and his skirmish approach as something to consider, Goliath may have won the battle.   David shows confidence rather than arrogance.

I have another example from my own life which portrays arrogance of size/skill over itself.  My son and some football friends decided to play in a flag football league.  On their first outing, the team against them was younger and about 1/2 their height.  I remember of our team members pointing to them and say, see our first opponents, such as look how small they are, we are going to kill them.  I am not sure of why, but these little guys outplayed the bigger kids easily.  Regardless, the bigger kids were arrogant they were going to win simply because they were taller and therefore must have better skilled.  It only turned out, they were taller.

I like the quote from Ronald Regan: “Trust but verify”  To me the height of arrogance would be to trust someone to do the honorable thing and truly expect they would just because of who we are or who we think we are. 

There is a distinct difference between confidence and arrogance.  In some cases, I believe some people ride on that line and to most of us, it is offensive. 

Are we a nation of “Confidence” or are we a nation of “arrogance”?  Are the members of the ruling parties confident or arrogant?  Arrogance to me is when one side or the other will accept breaking the rules to win because they are so “confident” there was is the best way. 

In sports, such as football, we have referee’s to make sure each side was playing by the rules.  In society, we have laws, attorneys, lawyers, judges to do the same, they are the referee’s when someone accuses us of doing something wrong.  It seems to me, that because politics has become so disputed, that many of those judges have decided not to rule by the rules, but rule to the favor of the party which gives them the most power.  This is to me like have certain referee’s call more or less penalties on an opposing team because they no longer work for the football players, but for the owners of the league.  The media too was to be the referee, but they also have taken sides in this stressful political climate.

What is the same, both in the political climate and the football game, the audience does not have any idea of the rules or more importantly, the enforcement of the rules.  Which ones, how harsh and so on. 

To me also, arrogance is not being able to admit when you are wrong.  The argument goes on forever despite the evidence.

I am in the belief, we have passed the tipping point. We should be praying for our nation more than ever.  We should be praying to God for wisdom and character strength.  What is happening is not the fault of our neighbor.  Despite how “right” we are, if we are, the minds of those won’t be changed.  Just like the mind of Pharaoh!!

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