Before his downfall a man’s heart is proud, but humility comes before honor. Proverbs 18:12 (NIV)
The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished. Proverbs 16:5 (NIV)
Sadly, we are no different from the Israelites wandering around in the desert griping and complaining over having what they don’t want and wanting what they don’t have. And all the while they are smack dab in the center of God’s will – go figure! Quite frankly, that’s the safest place to be. We think so highly of ourselves and our wants and our own little lives, Amen? Spoiler alert! It is not about us, it is all about Him. This is His-story. And when we don’t receive what we think we have to have we cry out “What a pity!”. Our lifted hearts delude us. We are much more concerned over our ways more than Gods, and that, my dear friends, is a pity! Further, when God gives us the desires of our hearts, abundantly blessing our hands, we often become proud. Never considering, “What do you have that you did not receive? And if we did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?” As the Apostle Paul queries.
We are to nip the lifted, haughty heart in the proverbial bud. We think much too highly of self. And in God’s economy, pride goes before a downfall and humility comes before honor. God exalts and he lays low, He gives and He takes away and there is purpose in it all. May His great name be praised through every circumstance He allows, as Job rightly stated. God has a plan for each of our lives and it is for our good and His glory even though it is often so, so very difficult. It wasn’t easy for Jesus either. When we walk in His power through trials it brings much glory to Him as it is so unearthly in its nature.
Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today. Deuteronomy 8:12-18 (NIV)