God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Proverbs 3:31
This reference is mentioned not only once, but three times in the bible! What does resist mean? To withstand, strive against, or oppose. I don’t know about you, but I certainly don’t want God to oppose me. There have been many times in my life where pride is certainly in my life, whether it’s as a wife needing to be right, or an argument with my kids, my parents, maybe even questioning God about something. A lot of times though, God will gently put me in my place by an answer in His still small voice. For example, when I was going through the lyme disease, and I was at a really low point, I remember yelling loudly in my room, “God I want answers!” He gently responds, “I am the answer”. I remember thinking to myself, that isn’t what I want to hear! I wanted to know what I had so I could just take medication and be “done” with it. But isn’t that God, to gently respond with an answer we needed to hear? In that moment, I didn’t repent, I had too much pride, but later I realized that my heart attitude was certainly not in humility.
This is just one of too many examples to list, I think pride is a sin that everyone struggles with on a regular basis. Unfortunately, sometimes it can become such a part of someone’s life that they don’t even see or think that they have it and that is when it can get scary, when we are completely blind to it. That is the danger zone because our conscious can become so seared that we don’t even realize we are regularly in it any longer.
- Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”
- Proverbs 16:5 “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.”
- Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”
These are just a few more scriptures about pride to highlight how much God truly hates it. It’s definitely something that has been highlighted to me lately, and when I see it in other people I despise it, and it’s a lot easier to see in other people’s lives than our own, right? The good news is, is when we realize we have it, we can repent, and do a complete 180, and turn from it. Will satan try and bring it back in our lives? Of course, his main goal is to keep us in sin, but we need to be aware of His attacks and recognize when the temptation is there, so we can overcome.
What is repentance?
Repentance is to turn around, not just to merely apologize. We need to be ready to repent regularly for our sin. Unfortunately there have been times in my life where I have gone days, weeks, and months without repentance, and my heart had gotten cold, and that opened doors for other sins to creep in. This is why it is essential to daily repent and ask God to help us turn and become free from sin.
Let’s take today as an opportunity to have an assessment of where our heart is at with pride, turn and repent and let humility be one of the fruits that people see in our lives!