“Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.” Psalm 49:12
The other day I took my kids into the “big city” to finish up our Christmas shopping. I am a sucker for coffee table books so I had to linger in one store over a wonderful book on castles and fortresses. The photography was excellent and I was momentarily transported to a time of grandeur and pomp. I was nudged back to my warehouse reality by the bustling of the crowd and the urgency of youth to do anything but look at coffee table books.
My mind returned to those castles on our drive home through the daze that Christmas shopping elicits. I contemplated the reality that those impressive structures of wealth and power had been someone’s home. They had been home to people of importance, influence, and maybe even reverence or fear. They were constructed as a statement about the owner. However, that statement is now lost because I do not know nor care about any of the owners. I wonder how long it took for their memories to fade.
Each and every one of those “great” men, who built these structures of which I still marvel, had surrounded themselves with their pomp. Each and every one of them are gone; they have gone the way of every beast and perished. I wonder where they are now. Their pomp stripped away and assumed by another in an endless cycle. It is a cycle that reminds me of the roosters that we have had in our chicken coop.
All our farm animals, roosters have pomp.
They strut in all of their perceived chicken brilliance. They ruffle their colorful feathers. They perform the cockerel “waltz”. They stick out their chests and parade around their domain in complete pomp and circumstance. However, they have no understanding of where their food or water comes from. They are ignorant about how the concrete floor of their coop was built. They cannot appreciate the protection given to them every moment of every day by these entities only vaguely perceived on the periphery of their reality.
Yet, they strut.
They are oblivious to chemistry, physics, calculus, medicine, philosophy, language, art, music; all are a mystery beyond their feeble brains. They cannot comprehend cities, skyscrapers, cars, cell phones, computers, microwaves, airplanes, space travel, planets, stars, galaxies …
Yet, they strut.
They even have the audacity to challenge those who sustain them. They charge the ones who care for them, flapping their wings and extending their talons. They don’t understand the speed at which they can become the main ingredient in a casserole. They do not realize the brevity of their life.
Yet, they strut.
They do not realize that the value of their life is equivalent to a flavored latte.

We have the tendency to live our lives more like these roosters than we may care to admit. We can surround ourselves with so much pomp and circumstance, completely unmindful of all the mysteries sustaining us. Most of the time we don’t even know the right questions to ask.
I shock myself at how easily I can become consumed with the importance of my own “little coop”. I can strut around in my pomp – reveling in my self-perceived importance – offended by those who don’t esteem me as they should. I have even had the audacity of making demands of the One who sustains me. I have been disappointed that he has not cared for me according to my plan as if I understand the mysteries of the universe better than its architect and creator.
“This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;…” Psalm 49:13
This world is populated with those strutting along the path of foolish confidence insensible to the glorious mysteries all around them.
As brilliant as any rooster may be, it is still a chicken.
As brilliant as any man or woman may be, they are still human.
No matter what great structure they build, no matter what achievements they may obtain, they are still created men.
Man is mere man, but God is God. May we remember that the next time we are inclined to do a little strutting.
May we humble ourselves and worship him for he is due all our praise.
PRAYER: Father – Thank you for all of the grace and mercy that you have shown me. Thank you for sustaining me in ways that I am not even aware. Lord, forgive me of my foolish confidence. Forgive me of so quickly reverting back to a “coop” mindset. Forgive me for setting my mind on the things of this world and on my own flesh. Father, help me to set my eyes on you in all things – help me to set my mind on the things of the Spirit and to place all of my confidence in you. Amen
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