presumption
(noun)
1. an act or instance of taking something to be true or adopting a particular attitude toward something, especially at the start of a chain of argument or action.
2. behavior perceived as arrogant, disrespectful, and transgressing the limits of what is permitted or appropriate.
Synonyms:
brazenness, audacity, boldness, audaciousness, temerity, arrogance,
forwardness, cockiness, insolence, impudence, bumptiousness,
impertinence, effrontery, cheek, cheekiness, rudeness, impoliteness,
disrespect, unmerited familiarity, nerve, chutzpah, sass, sassiness
The Catholic Encyclopedia defines presumption as:
...considered as a vice opposed to the theological virtue of hope. It may also be regarded as a product of pride. It may be defined as the condition of a soul which, because of a badly regulated reliance on God's mercy and power, hopes for salvation without doing anything to deserve it, or for pardon of his sins without repenting of them. Presumption is said to offend against hope by excess...The root-malice of presumption is that it denies the supernatural order...[there is] a sharp distinction between the attitude of one who goes on in a vicious career, precisely because he counts upon pardon, and one whose persistence in wrong-doing is accompanied, but not motivated, by the hope of forgiveness.
Charles Spurgeon preached on presumptuous sins many times. One particular sermon, delivered in June, 1857, caught my eye. The full text can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/nu97sf6, but below are a few excerpts. The goal of his sermon was to "...show by some illustrations, why the presumptuous sin is more heinous than any other... [and then to] try to press the prayer of... David... upon [the hearer]: "Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins." Ps 19:13
"...The fact is, that while all transgression is a greatly grievous sinful thing, yet there are some transgressions which have a deeper shade of blackness, and a more double scarlet-dyed hue of criminality than others. Now the presumptuous sins of our text are just the chief of all sins: they rank head and foremost in the list of iniquities. It is remarkable, that though an atonement was provided under the Jewish law for every kind of sin, there was this one exception: "But the soul that sinneth presumptuously shall have no atonement; it shall be cut off from the midst of my people."... Numbers 15:30
Wow! Cut off. Removed from. Gone. No more. Look at that -- NOT the SIN, THE PERSON that sinneth presumptuously. Wow again.
Spurgeon goes on to list 4 kinds of sins that are presumptuous.
1. A sin that is committed willfully against manifest light and knowledge is a presumptuous sin. A sin of ignorance is not presumptuous, unless that ignorance also be willful, in which case the ignorance itself is a presumptuous sin. But when a man sins for want of knowing better—for want of knowing the law, for want of instruction, reproof, advice, and admonition, we say that his sin, so committed, does not partake to any great extent of the nature of a presumptuous sin.
Presumption.
2. ... another characteristic of a presumptuous sin is deliberation...A man, again, who is suddenly tempted and surprised into a sin which is not his habit, but which he commits through the force of some strong temptation, is guilty, but not guilty of presumption, because he was taken unawares in the net and caught in the snare. But there are other men who sin deliberately; there are some who can think of a lust for weeks beforehand and dote upon their darling crime with pleasure. They do, as it were, water the young seedling of lust until it grows to the maturity of desire, and then they go and commit the crime. There are some to whom lust is not a passer-by, but a lodger at home. They receive it, they house it, they feast it; and when they sin they sin deliberately, walk coolly to their lusts, and in cold blood commit the act which another might haply do in hot and furious haste. Now, such a sin has in it a great extent of sinfulness, it is a sin of high presumption. To be carried away, as by a whirlwind of passion, in a moment is wrong; but to sit down and deliberately resolve upon revenge is cursed and diabolical..."
Presumption..
3. "...a presumptuous sin must be a matter of design, and have been committed with the intention of sin. ... turn to that passage in the book of Numbers, where it says there is no pardon for a presumptuous sin under the Jewish dispensation, you will find immediately a ... man went out on the Sabbath-day to gather sticks; he was taken in the act of Sabbath-breaking, and...he was ordered at once to be put to death. Now, the reason why he was put to death was not because he gathered sticks on the Sabbath merely, but because the law had just then been proclaimed, "In it thou shalt do no manner of work." This man willfully, out of design, in order, as it were, to show that he despised God—to show that he did not care for God—without any necessity, without any hope of advantage, went straight out, in the very teeth of the law, to perform, not an act which he kept in his own house, which might perhaps have been overlooked, but an act which brought shame upon the whole congregation...he dared to brazen it out before God..."
Presumption.
4. "A presumptuous sin also is one that is committed through a hardihood of fancied strength of mind. Says one, "I intend to-morrow to go [to]... because I believe, though it hurts other people, it does me no hurt."... [The man reasons it is] [b]ecause I have such strength of principle that I know just how far to go, and no further... Thy sin, in daring to think that thou art proof against sin, is a sin of presumption. There is great peril in men placing themselves [in these situations]; and if there be suicide in the risk of the body, how much more in the case of a man who puts his own soul in jeopardy just because he thinks he has strength of mind enough to prevent its being ruined and destroyed. Sir, your sin is a sin of presumption; it is a great and grievous one; it is one of the masterpieces of iniquity.
Presumption.
James 4:13-16 says, "Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.’ Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.’ But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil."
Presumption.
We are not allowed to worry about tomorrow (Matthew 6:34), and here in James we are told not to presume upon tomorrow. Frankly, as James alludes, we don’t even know if we will be alive tomorrow. We might go to bed tonight and never wake up. That is not meant to be a morbid thought, but it is meant to be a sobering thought. Christians are called to walk soberly because we have a sober calling (e.g. 1 Peter 4:7, 5:8, 2 Timothy 4:5). Life is short, our mission is clear, and our calling is serious. God wants us to daily take up our crosses, deny ourselves, and follow Him (Luke 9:23), regardless of what He ordains to come our way. He gives us daily bread for our daily needs (Matthew 6:11). Daily we need to seek our Lord for daily provision. Then tomorrow, we should do the same. (RelevantBibleTeaching.com)
In Deuteronomy (D'varim), the Israelites were having a wee bit of trouble listening to YHWH. He told them what to do, how to do it and that He would be with them. He told all of this through Moshe, his servant. When the people didn't listen to YHWH's instructions, He said he would punish them. It wasn't until the threat of punishment hit them that they decided, Oh, we will listen now. NOW we want to obey.
It was too late! The decided they would go up and fight anyway. YHWH told Moshe to tell them not to go, He would not be with them and they would perish. They didn't listen again! They PRESUMED the YHWH would take care of them. They PRESUMED all would be fine even though they had heard the words of the living GOD and IGNORED His warning!
D'varim 1:41-45
Then you answered and said to me, “We have sinned against Yahweh, we will go up and fight, according to all that Yahweh our God commanded us.” Every man of you put on his weapons of war, and presumed to go up into the hill country. Yahweh said to me, “Tell them, ‘Don’t go up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest you be struck before your enemies.’” So I spoke to you, and you didn’t listen; but you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh, and were presumptuous, and went up into the hill country. The Amorites, who lived in that hill country, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and beat you down in Seir, even to Hormah. You returned and wept before Yahweh; but Yahweh didn’t listen to your voice, nor turn his ear to you.
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How many times in our lives do we hear and understand the Word of the Lord, but yet don't like the answer, so we presume to know better and go forward AGAINST His clear and perfect instructions!?
Lessons for us:
DON'T BE PRESUMPTOUS!!
DON'T ASSUME YHWH WILL DO WHAT WE WANT WHEN WE ALREADY KNOW WHAT HE HAS SAID.
CHOOSE BLESSING AND LIVE, NOT CURSING AND DEATH!