Choices, Choices Evrywhere!!

¹⁸ Pride goes before destruction,
    a haughty spirit before a fall.

Pride is defined in the Hebrew language here through the word, “ga'own”, meaning arrogance,  This word also houses a mirror reflection within its meaning of majesty , and delight in our God.  So that we do not get confused, and so that we give all the glory to our God, as is deserved, Solomon throws in the word “haughty”, which has nothing but a negative connotation.

It is interesting to me that this one word, “ga'own”  contains the full spectrum of human emotion. We can have pride in our work that doesn’t border on arrogance, rather, houses an  honest work ethic. Ga'own  can represent a joy in the majesty of God.  On the other end of the spectrum is Ga'own with pomp, arrogance and swelling.

We always have a choice, don’t we? We always have to check ourselves and check our motives.  Biblically speaking, the height of offense, through pride, comes right before destruction.  Pharaoh, Sennacherib, Nebuchadnezzar, were instances of this. It would seem to me that our God handles pride that is an offense to His Throne, we don’t have to. It would seem far more prudent to be on guard against offensive pride within our own hearts, than worrying about the state of affairs of others hearts.  

Lets pray:

Lord help me to guard my heart against pride.  Something that can start out as an honest emotion can quickly run out of control.  Help us to keep our boundaries up and our sense of awareness heightened. My prayer is that we would always attribute the works of our hands to you and the gifts that are bestowed, upon He that is the gift giver. My we always delight in the Majesty of the Lord and not in ourselves.   Amen