Are You Thumbing Your Nose At God?

Some of us even go to depths within ourselves creating whole scenarios for why I do what I do, rather than looking in the mirror and seeing what manner of man or woman I am, and beg for the Lord’s forgiveness, healing and deliverance. Instead, we thumb our nose at God, ignoring His Word is sharper than any two-edge sword dividing asunder bone from marrow, soul from spirit, it is a discerner of the intents and motives of the heart”!

The term or phrase, “putting the branch to their nose” is the colloquial term or idiom used back then, as “thumbing your nose”, metaphorically is used today, a sign of disrespect; 2) to show contempt for someone or something. To dismiss someone or something, that shows that you don’t care what someone thinks or says.

The Lord tells the prophet Ezekiel, “have you seen this son of man?” Is it a trivial matter for the people of Judah to do the detestable things they are doing here? The Lord is saying, look at them, but the branch to their nose or thumbing their nose at me. We know the Lord is speaking of sin, yes! But is it just the sin or is it the arrogance to which they commit the sin?

The Lord is talking to the ARROGANCE of the people! The Thumbing our nose at Him, disregarding the truth of God, based on self, self-will, self-thought, self-reasoning, self-revelation, self. Yes, yes, I know, many of us are saying, “not me!” I don’t disregard the things of God or hold the things of God with contempt…I believe in the Lord; I love the Lord”. Here’s the thing, so did they! And so did Saul, who believed he was serving the Lord before He met Jesus on Damascus road.

Paul testifies that the things he did, he did with zeal for the Lord. Upholding the Law and the Prophets, Hebrew amongst Hebrews. Paul says, Phil 3:6 “as for righteousness based on the law, faultless.” Yet, Jesus appeared to Saul and said, “why do you kick against the pricks?”

You have to understand the meaning of what Jesus said to Saul. A prick or goad was a stick with a pointed piece of iron on its tip used to prod the oxen when plowing. The farmer would prick the animal to steer it in the right direction. Sometimes the animal would rebel by kicking out at the prick, and this would result in the prick being driven even further into its flesh. In essence, the more an ox rebelled, the more it suffered. Thus, Jesus’ words to Saul on the road to Damascus: “It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.” The reference means to go against conscience, God pricks the conscience, an inner expression you often try to get away from. So, the Lord had been pricking Saul’s conscience for some time. We know this by His saying, “it’s hard to kick against the pricks, plural”. Meaning, I’ve been pricking your conscience for some time now, and you’ve been ignoring it, rationalizing against my pricks of your conscience.

If you never thought about it, think about it now. To us it may appear that Saul’s conversion was a sudden encounter with Christ. However, based on what the Lord said to Saul about kicking against the pricks, it tells us, He had been working on Saul for some time, prodding and goading him. But, as Paul testified to his own arrogance, he didn’t listen to the Lord, but relied on self, self-motivation, self-confidence, self-intuition, self-reliance, self-education, self-awareness, self, before his encounter with Jesus on Damascus road. Paul testifies in Phil. 3:4-6