Articles

Articles

Pride Goes Before A Fall

“Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, yet they have not returned to the Lord their God, nor have they sought Him, despite all this” (Hosea 7:10 NASV).  Misfortune can humble us; in the case of Israel, misfortune hardly raised any sign of concern.  Chaos reigned in Israelite society; thieves and bandits brought lawlessness into the land.  Israel’s priests joined with others to gain an advantage for themselves.  Why would God’s people do these murderous things? The Lord did not forget their wickedness but still pleaded for their return.  Yet, God’s own children refused to consider their wrongdoing; their hearts were far from the Lord.  Their ovens of sin continued to stoke the fires of rebellion. Instead of repentance, Israel continued to celebrate and luxuriate in their sins.  They refused to call on the Lord.

Sin springs from many sources; pride is a major ingredient in this form of rebellion against God.  When we are satisfied with ourselves; when we have everything we think we need; when our sins engulf us, we are hardly able to think right, come to our spiritual senses, and repent.  As a silly dove, we are happy to flit from one sin to the next. We are half-baked. “How better describe a half-fed people, a half-cultured society, a half-lived religion, a half-hearted policy, than by a half-baked scone?” (The Message of Hosea, Kinder, 72).  Pride is addicting; pride damns us. Pride trusts in self rather than in God. “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before stumbling” (Proverbs 16:18).

As illustrated by Israel’s failure to remain true to their Creator, so, too, today, Christians of various shapes and sizes partake of the same actions and attitudes of their ancient ancestors (spiritually speaking).  Many Christians are devoted faithfully to the Lord.  They exalt their great God and live in humbleness before Him.  Their own weaknesses dispel any notion of pride—any thought that they can do it on their own.  There are those (too many, sadly) who make no pretense of believing in and serving God.  They only call God’s name to profane it.  Then, there are those who want it both ways.  In their prideful self-delusions, they want to participate in the world and still hold on to some semblance of religion.  As Israel of old, they mix with strangers; they seek satisfaction in others, anyone, except God.  Their hearts are cold.   “And they do not cry to Me from their heart when they wail on their beds; For the sake of grain and new wine they assemble themselves, they turn against Me” (7:14).

Arrogance, cynicism, insensitive, complacency, presumption, haughty, proud, and stubbornness are words associated with pride.  There is another word that Hosea speaks about; that word is love!  Pride is a sin against the love of God.  God loved Hosea, Gomer, their children, all the Israelites, and all other peoples; yet His love was rejected.  And why not?  After all, Israel had her idols; she found strength in foreign nations; in pride, she turned to other lovers.  Is there a cure for their pride?  For ours? “I will heal their apostasy, I will love them freely, because My anger has turned away from them” (14:4).