Pride Before Destruction, A Haughty Spirit Before a Fall (Prov. 16:18)

Hezekiah was a man who made an incredible impact for the Kingdom of God. He was following God with His whole heart. 2 Chronicles 31:20-21 says about Hezekiah, “Thus Hezekiah did throughout all Judah, and he did what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. And every work that he undertook in the service of the house of God and in accordance with the law and the commandments, seeking his God, he did with all his heart, and prospered.”

Yet, as Hezekiah prospered, he grew proud. He “had very great riches and honor, and he made for himself treasuries for silver, for gold, for precious stones, for spices…He likewise provided cities for himself, and flocks and herds in abundance, for God have given him very great possessions” (2 Chron. 32:27-28). He then showed the Babylonian envoys all his riches (2 Kings 20:13) and was rebuked by Isaiah (2 Kings 20:16).

King Uzziah also started out well. He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord and set himself to seek God (2 Chron. 26:4-5). God prospered him “and his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud to his destruction, becoming unfaithful to God” (2 Chron. 26:15-16). The Lord struck him and he became a leper having to live the rest of his life in exclusion (2 Chron. 26:21).

Both Hezekiah and Uzziah set themselves to seek God with their whole heart. As a result, the Lord prospered them and they had incredible impact on the Kingdom of God. However, when they prospered, they became proud and turned away from God becoming unfaithful. How could two people who so obviously loved God end by loosing the one treasure that mattered most – their personal relationship with Christ?

The key factor in their downfall was pride. Proverbs 16:18 says, “ Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” Pride is defined as a conceited sense of one’s own superiority.[1] As Hezekiah and Uzziah prospered, they attributed their success to their own ability, cunning and strength rather than to God. They gave themselves the glory rather than God.

As a result of taking all the glory for themselves, fame, honor and recognition began to matter to them. They allowed the fame to impact their hearts and they began believing and feeding off of all the wonderful things that were being said about them.

Because of their pride, they felt deserving of prosperity. Rather than seeing their prosperity as a gift and using it for kingdom purposes, bringing glory and honor to God, they hoarded their possessions for themselves. Their possessions became another measure of their superiority and further fed their arrogance.

Ambition is closely related to pride. As they grew proud, taking the glory for themselves, they began to have a stronger and stronger desire to succeed, gain fame, power, wealth, etc. to further feed their pride.

Unfortunately, this situation is not a tragic one time event that only occurred in Hezekiah’s and Uzziah’s time. We often hear in the news about wonderful, gifted men and women of God who had terrible downfalls. They were caught for tax evasion, fraud, or some other significant sin. One minute they are a pastor of a large church, incredibly successful, only to end their career as the front page story of a scandal.

I saw a downfall due to pride happen to an old friend of my previous pastor. She came to speak at my old church many years ago. When she ministered, I was amazed at how filled she was with the Holy Spirit. She was just starting out her career. When she ministered to us and prophesied over us, all of us had felt we deeply experienced God through her ministry.

Her ministry grew quickly and, like my previous pastor, she began to be invited to speak at churches and women’s conferences all over the United States and England. She was becoming a success.

A few years after her first visit, she was invited back to speak at my previous church for a women’s conference. This time when she came, she was completely different. She appeared self important and expected much attention and special treatment. When she ministered, she made big statements and big prophesies, none of which seemed to come to pass. She appeared manipulative in seeking people’s admiration. I was incredibly disappointed.

A few questions come to mind as I ponder pride causing the destruction of God’s people. First, since prosperity is typically the circumstance that creates pride, why does God still prosper His children? Isn’t God always good and doesn’t He want what is best for us?

I think that God creates the circumstances that expose our sin to sanctify us or put us on display to give us an opportunity to glorify Him. God does not temp us to sin. He merely gives us circumstances that allow our sin to be exposed so we can be corrected or be displayed. If we choose the sin of pride in prosperity it is to our downfall so that we will turn and repent.

The second question that comes to mind is, how can one avoid the trap of pride if their labors are prospering? I think this starts with making certain one is giving all the glory to God and not attributing it to themselves. One needs to remember where God took them from with a grateful and thankful heart.

Second, when our hearts are filled with gratitude and thanksgiving as we are giving all the glory to God, we are much more apt to give away what God has given to us to people who really need it. If we are content in God, we do not need to hoard material wealth that comes through our hands. Our desire should always be to see His kingdom come and not to build our wealth. Building our own wealth is a signal that we have lost our gratitude and are trying to be filled by other means than God.

Third, I come back to an AA statement written on my sobriety medallions, “To Thine Own Self Be True.” If one remembers where God took them from with a grateful heart, they are less likely to believe what others say about them as they are prospering. It is when we get our eyes off Jesus and onto ourselves that we risk feeding off of compliments of others.

Paul had people constantly opposing him as well as a thorn in his flesh hat kept him humble. Sometimes the greatest blessing one can have is an obvious weakness or limitation that keeps one humble in the midst of prosperity. Some of the pastors I know struggle with a thorn in the flesh that they would rather not have. At times it causes them to struggle with feeling inadequate or unqualified to minister or even limits their abilities. Ironically, it is an incredible gift from God that keeps them deeply dependent upon their One True Treasure.

[1] Nelson’s Topical Bible Index. The Thomas Nelson Study Bible Library.