Proverbs 16:1-33
1 To humans belong the plans of the heart,
but from the Lord comes the proper answer of the tongue.
2 All a person’s ways seem pure to them,
but motives are weighed by the Lord.
3 Commit to the Lord whatever you do,
and he will establish your plans.
4 The Lord works out everything to its proper end—
even the wicked for a day of disaster.
5 The Lord detests all the proud of heart.
Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.
6 Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;
through the fear of the Lord evil is avoided.
7 When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way,
he causes their enemies to make peace with them.
8 Better a little with righteousness
than much gain with injustice.
9 In their hearts humans plan their course,
but the Lord establishes their steps.
10 The lips of a king speak as an oracle,
and his mouth does not betray justice.
11 Honest scales and balances belong to the Lord;
all the weights in the bag are of his making.
12 Kings detest wrongdoing,
for a throne is established through righteousness.
13 Kings take pleasure in honest lips;
they value the one who speaks what is right.
14 A king’s wrath is a messenger of death,
but the wise will appease it.
15 When a king’s face brightens, it means life;
his favor is like a rain cloud in spring.
16 How much better to get wisdom than gold,
to get insight rather than silver!
17 The highway of the upright avoids evil;
those who guard their ways preserve their lives.
18 Pride goes before destruction,
a haughty spirit before a fall.
19 Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed
than to share plunder with the proud.
20 Whoever gives heed to instruction prospers,
and blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord.
21 The wise in heart are called discerning,
and gracious words promote instruction.
22 Prudence is a fountain of life to the prudent,
but folly brings punishment to fools.
23 The hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent,
and their lips promote instruction.
24 Gracious words are a honeycomb,
sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.
25 There is a way that appears to be right,
but in the end it leads to death.
26 The appetite of laborers works for them;
their hunger drives them on.
27 A scoundrel plots evil,
and on their lips it is like a scorching fire.
28 A perverse person stirs up conflict,
and a gossip separates close friends.
29 A violent person entices their neighbor
and leads them down a path that is not good.
30 Whoever winks with their eye is plotting perversity;
whoever purses their lips is bent on evil.
31 Gray hair is a crown of splendor;
it is attained in the way of righteousness.
32 Better a patient person than a warrior,
one with self-control than one who takes a city.
33 The lot is cast into the lap,
but its every decision is from the Lord.
Matthew 7:3-5
Pride and Humility
3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
We learn much from the Book of Proverbs...It teaches us a lot about wisdom and pride...Proverbs says much about righteousness, and treating others right...And when we are humble, we can best treat people right...
Solomon tells us that the Lord detests all the proud of heart...Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished...He also writes this about pride...Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall...Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed than to share plunder with the proud...
C. S. Lewis called pride the worst of all of our vices...Lewis said this about pride: "The vice I am talking of is pride or self-conceit: and the virtue opposite to it, in Christian morals, is called humility...According to Christian teachers, the essential vice, the utmost evil, is pride...Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere flea bites in comparison: it was through pride that the devil became the devil: pride leads to every other vice: it is the complete anti-God state of mind."…Lewis adds: "Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man...It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest...Once the element of competition is gone, pride is gone."...
Humbly Jesus teaches us about pride and about judging others...Judging others and our pride seem linked to me...I have seen that pride helps me judge others quite quickly and quite easily, and with little humility, while I am doing it...
While being proud is our greatest vice, the opposite virtue is humility...We can look at our brother's eye and see small amount of sawdust...While we fail to see the plank in our own eye...We must first take the plank out of our own eye, and then we would clearly see good enough to remove the speck from our brother’s eye...Maybe we do not want (for some reason) to criticize our own self...But maybe it is that we want to avoid our own personal issues and our own faults...Maybe (when we are proud) it is a way of avoiding our own personal problems and a way of overlooking our own personal faults...If we were very humble, we would not even see the sawdust in our brother's eye, let alone mention it...The humble do not forget that the hearts of the wise make their mouths prudent, and their lips promote instruction -not criticism...
So humility is our friend, and pride is our enemy...And it seems that being proud can just pop up quickly and at anytime, while learning to live humbly is a process and takes much longer -years, or maybe even a lifetime...
Jesus and Solomon were two very wise men...Jesus was the wisest of all...In their eyes and wisdom I can see my own ignorance...For me to say that pride is not good, is easy because Solomon and Jesus teach this...Solomon was full of wisdom...And Jesus knows all things...But sometimes I fail in my wisdom, and something causes me to be proud...The enemy has crept into my life, as my wisdom slips with my being prideful...Maybe being proud is just an ignorance some of us have...When we feel proud it is because of something we do not know...Maybe that is why Solomon says that how much better to get wisdom than gold, to get insight rather than silver!...With the more wisdom we attain, maybe we could lose this ignorance of pride...The insight and ability always to be humble is a learned treasure...