Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:18 (AMPC)
This scripture opens to us the source and cause of destruction which is pride.
It also lets us know why man fell in the garden of Eden and why people are still falling or failing today which is a haughty or arrogant spirit.
When we have an exaggerated opinion of our own importance, we end up ruining everything. Pride takes on more than it can handle and ends up spoiling everything.
When one’s heart is filled with pride it corrupts his wisdom or sound judgement.
Ezekiel 28:17 (NIV) Your heart became proud on account of your beauty, and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth; I made a spectacle of you before kings.
When pride gets to one’s head it’s much like a person high on a drug who gets illusions of being able to fly! They attempt to do it and miserably fall flat hurting themselves and others or even dying.
Pride is self-trust, it’s leaning on one’s own understanding. Habakkuk 2:4 (NLT) “Look at the proud! They trust in themselves, and their lives are crooked. But the righteous will live by their faithfulness to God.
The opposite of pride is trusting in the Lord.
Proverbs 3:5-6(NKJV) Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.
Freedom from pride comes from the revelation of God’s view of us. When we see ourselves the same way God sees us it’s liberty it’s walking on safe ground where we will not slip and fall.
We ought to be honest in our evaluation of ourselves, we should measure ourselves by the faith God has given us- Romans 12:3.
Honest evaluation of ourselves means we know that God made us, we didn’t make ourselves. In and of ourselves independent of God we are nothing.
Measuring ourselves by the Faith God has given us means we acknowledge that everything good we have was given to us by God. Therefore, when we praise and thank God in gratitude for making us and giving us every good thing in our lives, we are acting anti-pride or we are practicing humility.