High Places of The Mind

by Wayne Blank

God at times appeared to humans from "high places," such as when He formally (the Ten Commandments were in effect long before then - see The Ten Commandments Before Sinai?) gave the Ten Commandments (see The First Commandment, The Second Commandment, The Third Commandment, The Fourth Commandment, The Fifth Commandment, The Sixth Commandment, The Seventh Commandment, The Eighth Commandment, The Ninth Commandment and The Tenth Commandment) up on Mount Sinai. There are other examples of God's people, Abraham (Genesis 12:7-8), Noah (Genesis 8:20) worshipping Him on high places. Jesus Christ often spent the night praying to God from up on The Mount Of Olives. There was nothing wrong with that because they all humbly knew that no matter how high they went, they were always under God, physically and spiritually.

A High Place The pagans, and God's people who corrupted themselves, also had their high places, not to "get closer to God," but to make themselves gods, a dual in meaning term in which they either created their own gods to worship, or actually made themselves or their political or religious (or political and religious, as was, and is, often their way e.g. a number of the Roman emperors either claimed to be, or were regarded as, "divine" - see also Emperor) leader into their god. One of earliest, and most famous examples of that is the city of Babel with its high tower: "let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven" (Genesis 11:4 KJV). They, and all others like them ever since, built their high places as a manifestation of their high mindedness toward God. They were haughty, an English word that originated from the Latin word altus (altitude originated from the same Latin word) which means arrogance - a state of having "high places" in the mind.

"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall"

By definition, God's true people are strong, but humble, powerful, but gentle, regardless of their standing in their society or the world (see also No Class Struggles In Christianity), because they know that they are always under God, subject to God's Law and awaiting God's Judgment (see also When Will You Be Judged?). God's true people don't fear or revere the haughty and arrogant. They pity them for what is surely coming upon them if they don't repent.

"the afflicted people Thou wilt save: but Thine eyes are upon the haughty, that Thou mayest bring them down" (2 Samuel 22:28 KJV)
"Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:8 KJV)
"Behold, the Lord, The Lord of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror: and the high ones of stature shall be hewn down, and the haughty shall be humbled" (Isaiah 10:33 KJV)
"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and The Lord alone shall be exalted in that day" (Isaiah 2:11 KJV)

Fact Finder: When is pride good? When is pride evil?
See The Two Kinds Of Pride

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