Today's Reading - Proverbs 18

The Forerunner of Ruin

One of the principles that is often repeated in the Bible is this: A proud person will soon be ruined – a humble person will soon be honored. James 4:6 says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”  Ultimately, God brings low the proud and raises the humble. 

It seems counter-intuitive — that putting ourselves low will raise us up, while putting ourselves first will end up with us last. But that’s exactly what the Bible says. Repeatedly. Proverbs 11:12 says, “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.” Haughtiness, pride, and arrogance are the forerunners of ruin.

The call to follow Christ is a call to forsake pride, arrogance, haughtiness, and self-praise and to pursue humility from a sincere heart. We need to drop our pride because pride comes before a fall. Many proverbs warn that the sin of pride is a dangerous offense. Pride is the sin most likely to keep a person from crying out for a Savior.

Pride in the context of these verses refers to an arrogant attitude that manifests itself as self-reliance (haughtiness) and lack of dependence upon God. To be humble and thus avoid the pride that goes before a fall is to respect, reverence, and submit to the Lord in every area of your life. When we fear the Lord, we acknowledge our desperate need for God because He is infinitely wiser than we are. The proud person pursues his or her own way, but the humble one obeys God’s Word. Doing so makes us sure-footed so that we will not slip or stagger: “The LORD makes firm the steps of the one who delights in him.” (Psalm 37:23)

As seriously dangerous as pride is, it’s equally hard to spot. When it comes to diagnosing our hearts, those of us who have the disease of pride have a challenging time identifying our sickness. Some of the symptoms of pride include fault-finding, a harsh spirit, superficiality, defensiveness, taking God for granted, hunger for attention, and neglect of others. Do you see any of these symptoms in your life? Then you must repent, forsaking your pride and humbling yourself before God. If you do, God will honor your humbleness. If you don’t – watch out! Ruin in some form or another awaits you.

“For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.” (Galatians 6:3)