Pride Goes Before Destruction

Pride goes before destruction And a haughty spirit before a fall.
Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly,
Than to divide the spoil with the proud.

He who heeds the word wisely will find good,
And whoever trusts in the LORD, happy is he.

The wise in heart will be called prudent,
And sweetness of the lips increase learning.

Understanding is a wellspring of life to him who has it.
But the correction of fools is folly.

The heart of the wise teaches his mouth,
And adds learning to his lips.

Pleasant words are like a honycomb,
Sweetness to the soul & health to the bones.

There is a way that seems right to a man,
But its end is the way of death.

The person who labors, labors for himself,
For his hungry mouth drives him on.

An ungodly man digs up evil,
And it is on his lips like a burning fire.
And a whisperer separates the best of friends.
A violent man entices his neighbor,
And leads in a way that is not good.
He winks his eye to devise perverse things;
He purses his lips & brings about evil.

The silver haired head is a crown of glory,
If it is found in the way of righteousness.

He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

The lot is cast into the lap,
But its every decision is from the LORD.
Proverbs 16:18-33 (nkjv)

This is the middle verse in the of the entire book of Proverbs ( speaking of Prov 16:18, from this chapter )
& in view of the obviously structure of the original verse divisons all through the Book of Proverbs. It may
well have been divinely designed this way.
In any case, the sin of pride is so deadly, it is appropriate that the sole purpose is to give a heed of warning ( or a "Hey, watch yourself" ) concerning it should be placed here right at the heart of God's book of "True Wisdom."

The sin of pride was the main thing that casted Satan out of heaven.

"Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty;
You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor;
I cast you to the ground,
I laid you before kings,
That they might gaze at you."
Ezekiel 28:17 (nkjv)

It was the sin by which Satan led Adam & Eve to fall :

"For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, & you will be like God, knowing good & evil."
Genesis 3:5 (nkjv)

It is always the "easily besetting" sin of Christian leaders, leaders/elders in the ministry, especially those who have been placed in leadership prematurely. Paul writes this ,about the Qualifications of Overseers, in his 1st letter to Timothy.

( for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God? );
not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil.
Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach & the snare of the devil.
1 Timothy 3:6-7 (nkjv)

Even Jesus was 30 yrs old before He began to teach.

But we got to remember that pride is not named as such in the Ten Words ( Commandments ), in reality it is implied in the very 1st one.

"You shall have no other god's before Me."
Genesis 20:3 (nkjv)

The essence is of all false religion is humanistic- meaning those who are worshipping & false idols, men, the creation rather than the Creator, & or believing in yourself or on your own ability or power.

Here is what happens ,of the failure to glorify Go

"Professing to be wise, they became fools, & changed changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man-& birds & four-footed animals & creeping things.
Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, & worshiped & served the creature rather than the Creator, who blessed forever.
Amen.
Romans 1:22-25 (nkjv)

Pride & unbelief are 2 sides of the same coin. When men & women decide to or refuse the word of God, their Creator, it is fundamentally because they want their own "god's,"as did Adam & Eve. Human pride is the hidden root of humanism.

"casting down arguments & every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
1 Corinthians 10:5 (nkjv)

It is the very sinful nature that we all inherited from our 1st parents Adam & Eve, because of their sin, we are all born into sin. We need to be careful, we need to guard against this secret sin of pride. If we don't, it would lead us to humiliation & defeat.

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