The Proud Will Fall

Verse of the day: Exodus 18:11 “Now I know that the LORD is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.”

There are two things we can observe from Jethro’s statement to his son-in-law, Moses. First, something that we have already said, “There is no god like our God.” He proved, by what He did in Egypt, that He is the one and only true God. Secondly, we see an example of a New Testament truth that both James and Peter wrote, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6; 1 Peter 5:5) Pharaoh thought himself a god, and his pride made him foolishly think that he could harden his heart, and resist God. Every time he tried to flex his puny muscles to try and hinder the growth of the population of God’s people, God did not allow him to succeed. In Exodus 1, he tried to keep them from growing in numbers by having the midwives kill the sons born to the Israelites. Yet, the midwives feared God and did not obey Pharaoh’s order. When that failed, he tried to have them thrown into the river and drowned. Not only did the Israelite population continue to grow, but an Israelite, Moses, was preserved, and raised as a grandson of Pharaoh; right under his own roof. Pharaoh’s pride led to his destruction, and the destruction of his army (Exodus 14). Pride was Satan’s downfall. Just the same, pride is our downfall. The thing about pride is that we will often be driven by it and not even realize it; it blinds us. If we stop and think about this, the same things that filled Satan with pride are the same things that fill us with pride. Lucifer, as he was known, had beauty, wisdom, talent, power, position, and was richly adorned (Ezekiel 28). Sadly, we have allowed the world to convince far too many of us that we are “something” if we are “good looking”, have wealth, talents and abilities that exceed those of others, have power and position in society or in the local church, or possess above average intelligence. The reality of the matter is that we have what we have because God has bestowed it upon us or has allowed us to have it. Nonetheless, we have a tendency to forget that all that we possess, regardless of what it is, can all be lost if God chooses to take it all away in order to bring us to our knees, and humble us before Him. Proverbs 16:18 clearly tells us that, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” God also makes it clear how much He detests pride (it is an abomination to Him), and will punish the proud (Proverbs 16:5). If this is so, which it is, why would we not take more care to avoid becoming prideful? Jesus was our ultimate Example of humility. We are told in Philippians 2:5-11, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. 9 Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, 11 and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Like Pharaoh, and like Lucifer, if we exalt ourselves in pride, God will resist us and bring us down to size. However, if we humble ourselves in the sight of the LORD, in due time, He will lift us up (James 4:10). Keep in mind that this verse in James, in its context, is speaking of our drawing near to God, and God drawing near to us, causing Satan to flee. It means putting aside our pride, admitting, repenting, and confessing our sin for what it is, so that God can lift us out of the muck and mire we put ourselves in when we allow pride to infiltrate our walk with Christ. There is none greater than our Lord, and without Him, we are nothing. This should always be a reminder that keeps us humbly in our place as we live our Christian life and seek to serve Him in a way that brings Him all the honor, and all the glory.

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His free gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His free gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).