Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall.  Proverbs 16:18 NKJV

I just want to say that the title refers to falling down and not the season.

Have you ever watched someone fall? I mean have you seen the whole thing, especially the look on their face? There is this look of utter terror when someone realizes that they have lost control and gravity is taking over. It takes us by surprise because we don’t plan to fall. If we had the opportunity to plan our falls, we would be sure to have a soft landing, right? Now some people fall as part of an exercise or jump from a plane and when they do this, they have safety measures in place. But for the most part, falling is something we don’t plan to do and it can be extremely dangerous.

I want you to read our scripture passage again. If we are prideful and arrogant, we can expect to fall and to be destroyed. If we expect to fall then we have the option of planning for it, right? The problem is that when we are prideful, we think we do no wrong, so we don’t see pride in ourselves. I’ve been there myself. You see, pride comes in many forms. It can come in the most obvious form when we brag and boast about our accomplishments or what we plan on doing or what we possess. But it also comes in forms that are not so easily recognizable. I have a problem with pride when it comes to doing certain things like cutting my grass. You see I do it myself because I want it done a certain way. For years I didn’t recognize this as pride until one of my Sunday School lessons called me out on it. Pride also causes us to put down on others. Now I find this type of pride interesting because often when people put down on others they are trying to cover their own faults which lead to their own insecurities. Sometimes people are prideful when they are really feeling down on themselves. They react with pride to try to shame others or call others out on what they are doing wrong.

Now our scripture passage tells us that pride goes before destruction. God hates pride. Proverbs 6:16-17 tells us that pride is an abomination to the LORD. When we do something that God hates we are in dangerous territory, my friend. When something is an abomination to the LORD, we need to stay far away from it.

The Bible tells us in our scripture passage today that our arrogance goes before a fall. Proverbs 16:5 tells us that everyone who is arrogant in heart is an abomination to the LORD; be assured, he will not go unpunished. Galatians 6:3 tells us that if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Philippians 2:3 tells us to consider others more significant than yourselves.

I beg of you to be very careful of pride. It will get hold of you before you know it and then it will knock you down flat on your back side. If we have prideful thoughts, God knows because He sees what’s in our hearts. You can call on Him and ask Him to remove these thoughts from you. If our hearts are prideful and this goes unchecked, it will flow out of our mouths. Think about what you are going to say. Are you calling attention to someone else’s faults out of your own pride? Are you trying to lift yourself above someone else. This is the opposite of what the bible tells us to do (Philippians 2:3)

Pride is a trap that brings destruction and a fall. The higher we go with pride the harder we fall. Be very careful and don’t let the devil put pride into your heart. Ask God to send His Holy Spirit to fill your heart. Humble yourself before God. Trust me, it is much better for you to humble yourself than for God to do it. I’m speaking from experience on this one.

Ask God to remove any pride from your heart. If you are about to rebuke or put down on someone else ask yourself what motivates you to do so. Last night in our Bible study we talked about motivation. If pride is your motivation for saying or doing something to someone, stop. You don’t want to go there. The bible tells us we should correct those who are in opposition with gentleness (2 Timothy 2:25, 1 Peter 3:15-16).

In summation, pride is a slippery slope. We must avoid it at all costs.

Have a great day!