Pride Comes Before a Fall — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

Two lawyers were busy at work one morning. They were talking about their boss, and Jessica said, Our boss thinks he’s so great. He treats everyone working under him like idiots. And George said, I know it’s quite ironic because he’s honestly not that special. He has a very overinflated view of his own abilities, and Jessica winds up the conversation. Don’t worry, pride goes before the fall, he’ll eventually get what he deserves.

When I heard about that conversation, I thought about an arrogant person I know, how this old phrase pride comes before a fall could be paraphrased, an arrogant person will get his or her comeuppance. I’m thinking about this saying today because it’s used quite a lot. It’s another way of saying – Don’t be too arrogant. You’ll come crashing down sooner rather than later.

Pride and arrogance

An arrogant person might think he can’t make a mistake. He’ll be highly embarrassed by any mistake he does make. It was Mark Twain who put it this way. Human pride is not worthwhile, there’s always something lying in wait to take the wind out of it. And how true is that? But this phrase pride comes before a fall, comes from the Old Testament, actually. Proverbs 16:18 – Pride precedes destruction. An arrogant spirit gives way to a nasty fall.

And the message version says first pride, then the crash, the bigger the ego, the harder the fall. This ancient and simple Bible verse still is extraordinarily applicable to our lives today.

We’re living in a culture, you and I, that doesn’t accept God and His role in our lives. Our abilities to make our own way or work hard enough to find success are just a few obvious ways that our world has bought into the lie that we have the ability to control our destiny apart from relying on God. You might remember the poet Henley, who died in 1903, but he put it quite well, I am the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. It’s much the same message. Why should I believe in God when I’m the centre of the universe. When we live with that idea that our way is best, there’s no room for God or the people around us.

Philippians 2:3 in the New Testament captures the posture we should take in our relationships because it says, Don’t be selfish. Don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others better than yourselves. How hard is this to live by when we recognise that our pride has brought us to a dead end, all we have to do is ask for God’s forgiveness.

And He mercifully promises to be with us and to guide us to more solid ground. I’m sure that this is a great lesson to learn. The amazing thing is the Bible has many illustrations of how God chose to use those who were humble, not the self-opinionated. Some were heroes who gained great respect and admiration from others like King David, who refused to kill his enemy, King Saul, on two separate occasions. Then we can go to the prophet Daniel, who strove to serve God and not to seek riches or glory, you could read that in Daniel 5.

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Pride can severely inhibit our ability to do great things, as CS Lewis said. A proud man is always looking down on things and people, and of course, as long as you’re looking down, you can’t see something that’s above you. That’s a pretty wise observation. I believe there is good pride and bad pride, a bit like a pair of pliers. If you use a pair of pliers to brush your teeth, you’re in big trouble.

But using the tool to fix your fence is effective. I recall Billy Graham answering a letter from someone who wanted to know if pride was a sin. And Billy Graham said it’s not necessarily wrong to take pride in something we’ve done well. This kind of pride, he said, is not boastful or self-centered, but it’s a feeling of satisfaction over what we’ve accomplished.

But Billy Graham said sinful pride, the kind that the Bible condemns, is very different. Sinful pride is self-centered, boastful, makes us take credit for everything we are, everything we do, instead of realising that we are dependent on God. In our pride, we ignore Him, and we believe we can get along without Him.

And I think that’s true. The tragedy is that pride blinds us to our faults and blinds us to our need for God. It’s not really wrong to take pride in our work or something that we’ve done well. There’s nothing wrong with being comforted and having pride in what we do and accomplish, as long as we have the right attitude coming from humility. I think it would be a great exercise to pray the prayer of the psalmist in Psalm 139. Investigate my life, O God. Find out everything about me. Cross examine and test me. Get a clear picture of what I’m about, and God, see for yourself whether I’ve done anything wrong. Then guide me on the road to eternal life. Amen.