Song of Songs 2:15
Catch us the foxes,
The little foxes that spoil the vines,
For our vines have tender grapes.
Today, we are dealing with another fox: PRIDE
*HOW TO KNOW IF YOU ARE PROUD*
1. If you cannot submit yourself to higher authority.
2. If you find it difficult to accept corrections.
3. If you are too big to say “sorry”.
4. If you think that your success or achievements are based on your efforts.
5. If you don’t have respect for people.
6. If you are always feeling superior to others.
7. If you always want to control or dominate others.
8. If you think that you are better than other people.
9. If you cannot work under those with lesser qualifications.
10. If you always want people to respect and honour you.
11. If you want people to notice you anywhere you go.
12. If you are a graduate and you feel too big to do any small job till you get a big one.
13. If you cannot marry those with lesser qualifications (especially as a female).
14. If you are always angry at those who correct you.
15. If you avoid those who criticize you.
16. If you feel too big to learn.
17. If you feel ashamed to ask questions about what you don’t know.
18. If you are always bragging about your achievements/connections.
19. If you don’t consider it necessary to say “thank you” to those who help you.
20. If you desire to always be addressed by your title.
21. If you think that nobody knows more than you.
22. If you think that you cannot make mistakes.
23. If you are fond of blaming others for your actions/inactions
24. If you think that you know everything in life.
If I may add,
- You are proud, if you think you are not proud.
The word, pride, can mean different things based on the context of its use.
We are looking at the negative aspect of pride; that excessive self-esteem, a superiority complex; arrogance.
Pride is such a fox that sets you on slippery grounds. It comes in with stealth that you usually don't even notice it's there.
Pride is so bad that it gets God on your way.
James 4:6
But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
The cure is to submit to God. That's the only way to deal with the devil. When you are proud, you are not only cut off from the grace of God, you cannot stand the devil. You can't win him at his game. Pride brought him down, you remember?
Isa 14:12 — Isa 14:15
“How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
For you have said in your heart:
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.
Again, see Ezekiel 28 and gain more insight into the fall of Lucifer.
Ezekiel 28:17
“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground,
I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you.
In that chapter, there is a lamentation against the prince of Tyrus - a man - and the king of Tyrus - a cherub (angel, of course referring to Lucifer).
One was a de facto ruler over Tyrus while the other was a de jure ruler.
What that means is that a spiritual force was pulling the strings behind the actions of the physical ruler.
Even in our day, this is happening - which should inform our need to intercede for and break the power and influence of evil over our leaders.
One thing we find in common between the prince of Tyrus and the king of Tyrus is pride.
Ezekiel 28:2
“Son of man, say to the prince of Tyre, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“Because your heart is lifted up,
And you say, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of gods,
In the midst of the seas,’
Yet you are a man, and not a god,
Though you set your heart as the heart of a god
Ezk 28:11-12,17
Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Son of man, take up a lamentation for the king of Tyre, and say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord God:
“You were the seal of perfection,
Full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.
“Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground,
I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you.
Psa 10:4 — Psa 10:6
The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
God is in none of his thoughts.
His ways are always prospering;
Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
I shall never be in adversity.”
This guy feels he has everything in place. Everything is sorted out. Everything has been figured out. He has set his goals. He has his strategies in place. So he does not need God.
That's how long Asa died - for refusing to seek after God when he was diseased in his feet.
2Chron 16:7 — 2Chron 16:10
And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the Lord, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” Then Asa was angry with the seer, and put him in prison, for he was enraged at him because of this. And Asa oppressed some of the people at that time.
2Ch 16:12 — 2Ch 16:13
And in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, Asa became diseased in his feet, and his malady was severe; yet in his disease he did not seek the Lord, but the physicians.
So Asa rested with his fathers; he died in the forty-first year of his reign.
Another person that was a victim of pride was Uzziah.
2Chron 26:3 — 2Chron 26:5
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
Uzziah's story is pathetic. He started out well. He sought God, and so prospered. But when he has become established, he didn't think he needed God anymore. He had become too busy to attend Bible Study. Too busy to evangelize. Too busy to pray or attend prayer meeting. After all, his tithes and contributions were the things running the church.
2 Chronicles 26:15
And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.
He had a calamitous end.
We need to constantly evaluate ourselves to purge ourselves of any entry of pride, especially as we begin to go higher on the ladder of success.
Uzziah didn't need the ministry of the priests anymore.
Don't we see it today with big men who now build their own chapels and hire priests to officiate - like Micah hired a Levite to be a priest in his house (Judg 18)
2Chron 26:16 — 2Chron 26:21
But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.”
Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him.
King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
Be careful when you become strong...
And you begin to rely on your strength.
Was that not Samson's albatross?
God had to remind king Saul where he took him from.
1Sa 15:16 — 1Sa 15:19
Then Samuel said to Saul, “Be quiet! And I will tell you what the Lord said to me last night.”
And he said to him, “Speak on.”
So Samuel said, “When you were little in your own eyes, were you not head of the tribes of Israel? And did not the Lord anoint you king over Israel? Now the Lord sent you on a mission, and said, ‘Go, and utterly destroy the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.’ Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”
Saul's rebellion was a manifestation of the pride of his heart.
1Sa 15:22 — 1Sa 15:23
So Samuel said:
“Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the Lord?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.
For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
He also has rejected you from being king.”
David learnt this early and made it a cardinal point to always remind himself where the Lord brought him from.
2Sa 6:20 — 2Sa 6:23
Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself today in the eyes of the maids of his servants, as one of the base fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
So David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father and all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel. Therefore I will play music before the Lord. And I will be even more undignified than this, and will be humble in my own sight. But as for the maidservants of whom you have spoken, by them I will be held in honor.”
Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
Do you know why the Titanic sank? Pride!
The builders said it was unsinkable.
The owner said, "Not even God can sink the Titanic."
Yet, that luxury ship hit an iceberg - having ignored all warning signs, convinced of its invincibility - and killed over 1,500 people in its maiden voyage.
We'll learn more about this next week.
As we pause tonight - to continue this study next Wednesday on this terrible fox, pride, remember this:
Nothing causes God to resist you like pride. And nothing unleashes the grace of God upon you like humility.
Our prayer is for God to help us realize our utter helplessness and to depend absolutely on Him at all times.
May God work on our hearts and help us remove pride from our lives, and keep us humble, in Jesus name.
We've noted that pride robs us of the grace of God.
James 4:6-10
6 But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded.
9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
1 Peter 5:5-9
5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for
“God resists the proud,
But gives grace to the humble.”
6 Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,
7 casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.
8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.
9 Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world.
Prov 16:18 — Prov 16:19
18 Pride goes before destruction,
And a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly,
Than to divide the spoil with the proud.
Proverbs 16:5
Everyone proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord;
Though they join forces, none will go unpunished.
Proverbs 11:2
When pride comes, then comes shame;
But with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 13:10
By pride comes nothing but strife,
But with the well-advised is wisdom.
Proverbs 28:25
He who is of a proud heart stirs up strife,
But he who trusts in the Lord will be prospered.
Psalms 138:6
Though the Lord is on high,
Yet He regards the lowly;
But the proud He knows from afar.
Psalms 119:21
You rebuke the proud—the cursed,
Who stray from Your commandments.
Jeremiah 50:32
The most proud shall stumble and fall,
And no one will raise him up;
I will kindle a fire in his cities,
And it will devour all around him.”
Malachi 4:1
“For behold, the day is coming,
Burning like an oven,
And all the proud, yes, all who do wickedly will be stubble.
And the day which is coming shall burn them up,”
Says the Lord of hosts,
“That will leave them neither root nor branch.
I've put forth all these scriptures to enable us meditate on the dangers of pride.
A lot of proud people don't even know they are proud.
May the Lord help us to realize where we are and the necessary adjustments we need.
Let me cite four quick examples of the devastating effect of pride from some characters in the Bible.
1) Ahitophel
2 Samuel 16:23
Now the advice of Ahithophel, which he gave in those days, was as if one had inquired at the oracle of God. So was all the advice of Ahithophel both with David and with Absalom.
When David fled from Jerusalem during the revolt of his son Absalom, Ahitophel teamed up with Absalom.
David's prayer was that God would turn the counsel of Ahitophel into foolishness.
I pray the same prayer for you: that anyone taking or giving counsel against you, that God would turn it into foolishness in the name of Jesus.
2 Samuel 15:31
Then someone told David, saying, “Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Absalom.” And David said, “O Lord, I pray, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness!”
When Ahithophel's counsel was rejected, he couldn't stomach it - a simple manifestation of pride.
Haven't you met people like that? "It's either my way or no way."
2 Samuel 17:23
Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father’s tomb.
2) Uzziah
Uzziah started out very well, seeking God, under the guidance of the Priest.
2Chron 26:3 — 2Chron 26:5
Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God; and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
You see, when you are at the ground level, you don't have so much to be cautious about. You can't fall down when you're already down. But when you're up - and you start going higher - you've got to be careful, lest you fall.
1 Corinthians 10:12
Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.
Uzziah sought God in the days of Zechariah, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
But when he became strong, he didn't need a Pastor anymore. He could afford to build his own church and employ a Pastor - like Micah did in Judg 18.
So what happened to Uzziah?
2 Chronicles 26:8
Also the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah. His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong.
2 Chronicles 26:15
And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.
We must be careful when we think we are strong.
No wonder Paul said he gloried in his weakness, because when he is weak, then he becomes strong.
2Cor 12:8 — 2Cor 12:10
Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
So what happened to Uzziah after he became strong?
2Chron 26:16 — 2Chron 26:21
But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honor from the Lord God.”
Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him.
King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death. He dwelt in an isolated house, because he was a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord. Then Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
3) Hezekiah
2Chron 32:24 — 2Chron 32:26
In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death, and he prayed to the Lord; and He spoke to him and gave him a sign. But Hezekiah did not repay according to the favor shown him, for his heart was lifted up; therefore wrath was looming over him and over Judah and Jerusalem. Then Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of the Lord did not come upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
Pray this prayer for yourself as we round up the study tonight.
Psa 139:23 — Psa 139:24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
Psa 19:12 — Psa 19:13
Who can understand his errors?
Cleanse me from secret faults.
Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins;
Let them not have dominion over me.
Then I shall be blameless,
And I shall be innocent of great transgression.
