October 23, 2008

• Pride goes Before Destruction

  Pride goes before destruction, 
  And a haughty spirit before a fall.
  Proverbs 16:18 (NKJV)

  Now hear this, 
  You heads of the house of Jacob 
  And rulers of the house of Israel, 
  Who abhor justice 
  And pervert all equity, 
  Who build up Zion with bloodshed 
  And Jerusalem with iniquity: 
  Her heads judge for a bribe, 
  Her priests teach for pay, 
  And her prophets divine for money. 
  Yet they lean on the LORD, and say, 
  "Is not the LORD among us? 
  No harm can come upon us.” 
  Therefore because of you 
  Zion shall be plowed like a field, 
  Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, 
  And the mountain of the temple
  Like the bare hills of the forest.
  Micah 3:9-12 (NKJV)

  I put these two passages up because I think it is important to think about where our Pride Meter stands.  I think that we are too ashamed to say that we are way too prideful in how we carry ourselves.  In the Micah passage, we see the degeneration of the nation of Israel.  These people were so cocky that they said that absolutely nothing could harm them because they were under God's protection.  The children of Israel at this point in their history were so far removed from the right relationship with God that it caused great judgment to come upon them.  Judgment came not only because of pride but also because of their unfaithfulness to their God; they had wandered far away with false gods.  The consequences of their unfaithfulness and pride were the destruction of their nation and to scattered throughout the face of the earth.

  As Christians today in 2008, we can be guilty of the very same things as Israel was 2000 years ago.  It has been very easy living here in America and as Americans it is very easy to be cocky in ourselves for our protection.  We can very easily get into the mindset, like Israel, that absolutely nothing can touch us because we are #1 in the world.  I'm afraid that this kind of attitude is pretty popular in our society.  If we are not careful and if we are not humble about where we are in life, then we will face the very same consequences as Israel.  One day, we could be wiped off the face of the earth as a nation.  I pray wholeheartedly that this does not happen.  I pray that America will wake up and see the error of our ways.  We need to be humble and praise the One who has given our liberties, and the easy living.  God has blessed us immeasurably.  We need to be careful that we are not filled with pride because we have arrived.  We need to be humble enought to recognize how we have arrived; only by God's marvelous grace.  As the proverb says, "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit goes before the fall."  I hope and pray that humility would be the characteristic of our lives.

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