Scripture:
[2] When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
Observation:
Another lesson from Solomon about pride and humility.
To those who have an excessively high opinion of themselves, this is a warning from a wise man. They will be disgraced. Trade pride for humility and God will provide wisdom.
Application:
It’s not prideful to be satisfied with your accomplishments or abilities. You know, the accomplished and abilities God has allowed you to achieve.
We all know pride is a sin and God opposes the proud. Don’t let the Lord’s blessings of intelligence, monetary wealth, physical ability or fill-in-the-blank, drive you to a prideful place. Rather, know that you are nothing without Him – everything we are and have attained in this life, we owe to God. Every breath we take is given to us by Him. As Solomon says here, the reward for keeping a modest view of oneself, which includes knowing where one’s strength comes from, is God given wisdom. Wisdom to keep upright, walking in integrity and righteousness.
Wouldn’t we rather be wise than disgraced? What a dumb question, of course we would. Even understanding and believing the wise words of Solomon, while we know pride will lead to disgrace, we allow the enemy to infiltrate our hearts and minds with pride. We have to vigilantly watch for this knowing that Satan is the architect.
None of us would ever set a goal of being disgraced but as C.S Lewis says, “..it was through Pride that the devil became the devil: Pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind..”
Part of our problem is that we care too much what the world thinks OF us and we forget what the Lord has provided, and continues to provide FOR us. This, combined with our sin nature, and the fact that pride is one of Satan’s greatest tools, is a recipe leading to disgrace and misery. We need to heed Solomon’s warning and look forward to the promise.
We make choices day by day, hour my hour, minute by minute, and even second by second, that will lead us to be prideful or humble. This is as much a heart problem as it is a head problem. We must guard our hearts and minds knowing that “..the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” (1 Peter 5:8) And what better way than to lead you to replace humility with pride?
Prayer:
Lord I love You and desperately need You. I long to be more and more like You. Keep me vigilant and When I need it, remind me that I have the strength to rebuke Satan in any attempts to get me to deviate from the path of following Your will. Especially when he tries to get me to substitute humility for worldly pride. Amen.