Scripture
Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.
~Proverbs 16:18
Quote
“It was pride that changed an angel into a devil.”
~Augustine
I bought three new commentaries on Proverbs and all three were very expensive. Only one of the three is a verse by verse commentary, the other two deal with themes and I was shocked that neither had a chapter on Pride. There is a lot in Proverbs about pride.
- Proverbs 8:13–“The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way
And the perverted mouth, I hate.” - Proverbs 11:2–When pride comes, then comes dishonor, But with the humble is wisdom.
- Proverbs 15:25-The LORD will tear down the house of the proud.
- Proverbs 16:5–Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; Assuredly, he will not be unpunished.
- Proverbs 16:19–It is better to be humble in spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.
- Proverbs 21:4–Pride, lust, and evil actions are all sin.
- Proverbs 21:24–All scoffers are proud, haughty and arrogant.
- Proverbs 29:23–A man’s pride will bring him low, but a humble spirit will obtain honor.
Proverbs 16:18 is another one of those verses that my mother drilled into my brain. It is not a general principle, it is a proven fact, PRIDE GOES BEFORE A FALL. God abhors pride and it’s a sin He takes very personal. When we act or speak in a proud way; we are going to pay. Out of fear, I rebuke proud thoughts as soon as they enter my mind because I know the consequences that follow. I preached a sermon once entitled Pride’s Parade. Solomon said in 11:2, “When pride comes, then comes shame.” There are a lot of unpleasant consequences following pride: failure is one, shame, destruction, dishonor and disgrace are some of the others.
I had a man walk into my office some 20 years ago and tell me that he was leaving his wife for another woman. He said, “David did it, and look at how God blessed him.” I said to this fool, “You need to go back and reread your bible. Evidently you have missed the consequences that David suffered for his little roll in the hay.” If you think that David escaped the consequences of his sin, you are ignorant of the bible. David paid big time. David lost three sons because of his foolish pride. Yes, David thought that because he was the king, he could get by with breaking the law but God showed him who was really the King. I quake when I hear a person make a proud statement. I know a young pastor who was fool enough to tell his congregation, “Imitate me, follow my example.” He got this from the Apostle Paul [1 Corinthians 4:16] but he made two bad mistakes. The first mistake: he was not Paul and secondly, Paul learned later not to make such foolish statements himself. We are never to point others to ourselves but always to point them toward Christ. Anytime we make ourselves the example to follow, we are asking for trouble. Be thankful but do not be proud.
I had a strange experience yesterday. June and I took Chloe with us to Sams; a mistake I will not make again. The kid talks more than Joe David when he was kid or Holly presently. She talks more than Holly and Ty combined. I was trying to listen to the Alabama game on the car radio and Chloe would not shut up; she wanted to use my phone and play YouTube through the car radio and I wouldn’t let her. She would not hush and she was so loud that I could hear the game. Finally, I gave her my phone thinking she could not interfere with the radio unless I changed the setting which I had no intention of doing. The little heifer started talking to Siri on my phone and guess what…it automatically went through the car radio. By this time, I am ready to pull over and beat this kid. I hollowed at her and she threw my phone in the back of the car. This is the miracle. I have a Jox apt and suddenly the ballgame comes on the car radio through my phone. It was the Alabama crew broadcasting and I had been listening to ESPN. To be honest, I didn’t know what had happened but I got to hear the game. A hour or so later, after I got rid of Big Mama and Chloe, I am unloading the car at the church and I find my phone which was still on the Jox Apt 94.5 out of Birmingham. I down loaded the apt to listen to games but never got it to work. I don’t have any idea how Chloe got it to work. Thank goodness her mother made it home from her business trip. If I go any where else with this little beast, one of us is going to be drugged. If you want to appreciate your child, rent Chloe for a day.