Our Favorite Proverbs: Proverbs 16:18

by David Chadwick

“Pride comes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.”

Proverbs 16:18

One of the most powerful and well-known verses in all of Proverbs says that pride comes before destruction and haughtiness before a fall.

Pride is the chief of all sins. It is what caused the devil to become the devil. He became the author of destruction by claiming to know more and know better than God. He wanted Jesus’s position in heaven, and even though he was not the Creator, he hungered for personal worship. Yes, as a mere creature.

To think we always know better than God is what will send us to hell. The failure to acknowledge our sin and great need for a Savior is the greatest downfall. Pride is the impardonable sin. Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, at its very core, is pride.

Humility, on the other hand, is the opposite of pride. It promotes dependency, reliance, and a heart bent on leaning on someone bigger than yourself. Someone with a childlike faith displays all of these characteristics toward the One who created us.

Do a heart check today. 2 Corinthians 13:5 says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?--unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

Ask yourself if you see any evidence of pride in your life? Lack of prayer? Disdain toward worship? No care for spiritual and eternal things? Do you always think you’re right and remain unwilling to be corrected?

If so, humble yourself TODAY before the Lord and confess your sins. He will forgive you and purify you from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9). And will lift you up, closer to him than you’ve ever been before.