Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. – Proverbs 16:18
While setting up the game board, my eight-year-old grandnephew advised me that he was really good at this game and was going to beat me! I enjoyed his childish confidence and was more than willing for him to win. However, after he reminded me several more times of how good he was at the game, I enjoyed his attitude much less. I decided our game should be a teaching tool, so I started playing to win.
His confidence started wavering when he realized I was going to beat him, but he persisted to the end. After the game, I reminded him of his prior self-confidence and asked him if he knew what the Bible said about pride. He listened as I shared the thought from our focus verse: “Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall.”
The fact is, pride can be our downfall. There is a key difference between trusting in our own abilities and trusting God to enable us, and we want to be sure we are trusting in God. Psalm 40:4 says, “Blessed is that man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud”—that is the attitude we want to have!
Pride taints our testimony and often leaves us feeling lonely. Moreover, if we are not willing to give God credit for the help He provides, then He is not likely to give us much help. Bragging about ourselves is bound to lead to destruction and a fall; without God’s help, every human is sure to fail at some point. On the other hand, realizing that our abilities come from the Lord and giving Him the praise leads to blessing. When we give God the credit He deserves, not only will He continue to help us when we need Him, but we can also help others learn where to turn when they need help.
God wants us to experience the satisfaction that comes from a sense of accomplishment, while acknowledging that those accomplishments are gifts from Him. Hopefully the game played and lesson learned by my grandnephew will keep him from falling into the “pride pit” as he gets older. May we all remember to give God the glory for every good and perfect gift He gives us.