Audio Transcript

The Lord preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. (Psalm 31:23)

God hates pride. The apostle Peter said, “Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’” (1 Peter 5:5). There’s a magnificent description of that in Isaiah 2 where it says, “The Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up,” and he lists things like the arrogance of the cities and the culture that they made and the ships of Tarshish and the high towers and the fortified cities. And he says, “The Lord alone will be exalted in that day” (Isaiah 2:12, 17).

God hates pride, and there are two reasons. First, God alone is of infinite value and greatness and beauty and glory and worth — God alone. And man can find happiness, satisfaction only in this great and glorious God. In exalting himself, he insists on what is righteous; namely, himself being recognized as infinitely valuable, and our being satisfied by not diverting our attention to anything lesser than what is all-satisfying.

So, for the sake of God’s glory, and for the sake of your own soul’s satisfaction, make war on every vestige of pride in your life, and cry out to God every day for the miracle of humility.