{"id":2202,"date":"2024-05-23T07:27:14","date_gmt":"2024-05-23T12:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/truthmission\/?p=2202"},"modified":"2024-06-08T18:15:18","modified_gmt":"2024-06-08T23:15:18","slug":"your-own-understanding-why-god-opposes-pride-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/truthmission\/2024\/05\/your-own-understanding-why-god-opposes-pride-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Own Understanding (Why God Opposes Pride–Part 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding; in all your ways know him, and he will make your paths straight. <\/em>Proverbs 3:5-6 (CSB<\/strong>)<\/a><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I have mentioned before<\/a>\u00a0 that the verse above is my favorite verse in the Bible. Some people call that a \u201clife verse.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
The reason that it is my favorite is because it reminds me of my place before God. Living out this verse is a blueprint for a life of humility. Also, it is a command that comes with a promise. Do this, and God will do this.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
I have found that it is much easier to do something than to try to stop doing something else. Therefore, the best way to rid yourself of pride is to focus on living out humility. And that begins by trusting God.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
As we mentioned in part 1 of this series<\/a>,<\/u>\u00a0 God is God, and you are not. This should be a no-brainer, but that is why pride is so insidious. It grabs us before we engage our brains.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our nature, then, is to try to figure things out by ourselves, and take control of the situation. If we would stop and consider God\u00b4s wisdom, however, we might realize that the situation isn\u00b4t even ours to control.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
So, pride and arrogance reject wisdom, but humility surrenders to God, trusts Him to manage the problem Himself or else present a solution that\u00b4s better than what we would have concluded by our own understanding.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
Patience<\/strong><\/h2>\n*** ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** However, even if we have chosen to trust God with the problem, trusting His TIMING is a whole other issue. And a more difficult one.<\/p>\n ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** Patience is one of the Fruits of the Spirit that are the mark of every believer. But it\u00b4s one matter to have the divine enablement to be patient in all things, and another to REMEMBER that you have this power to call upon.<\/p>\n ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** Impatience is a symptom of pride. When we start saying, \u201cC\u00b4mon, C\u00b4MON already!\u201d what we are unconsciously doing is placing our plans above God\u00b4s plans. Which is just another way of placing our own understanding above His. As Solomon wrote:<\/p>\n ** ***\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n " The end of a matter is better than its beginning,*** \nand patience\u00a0is better than pride. \nDo not be quickly provoked\u00a0in your spirit, ***\nfor anger resides in the lap of fools.<\/em> Ecclesiastes 7:8-9 (NIV<\/strong>)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n So, we see that impatience goes hand in hand with anger. And from anger, it is a short drive to entitlement.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong>Whatever I Want, All the Time<\/strong><\/h3>\n***** ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** Entitlement starts when we want one thing RIGHT NOW. We know the one thing we need to fix our situation, and we have prayed for it, so WHY ISN\u00b4T GOD ANSWERING MY PRAYER? COME ON, MAN! GET ON IT!<\/p>\n ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** Yes, it looks stupid when you write it out like that, but have you ever said those words? (Be honest; I won\u00b4t tell.)<\/p>\n ** *****\u00a0<\/p>\n How prideful to think that our limited understanding of ANY situation would trump God\u00b4s omniscience. Our lives are like a puzzle piece. All we can see from here is that the piece next to us is missing. We need that piece in its proper place to feel complete. As long as that hasn\u00b4t happened yet, we can\u00b4t rest and be content.<\/a><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n But we can\u00b4t see the picture. God is putting together a seven-billion-piece puzzle that is more intricate and elaborate than we can comprehend. Maybe He\u00b4s working on the edges first.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n When we trust in the Lord with all our hearts and lean not on our own understanding, then we understand that He will get to us when He gets to us. When He does, it will be at exactly the right time with exactly the right solution.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n However, if we haven\u00b4t reached this level of trust, our impatience may cause us to \u201cmake something happen\u201d under our own power. If you\u00b4ve done this, don\u00b4t beat yourself up over it. There is Biblical precedence after all.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Remember when God promised offspring to Abraham? Isaac wasn\u00b4t getting here fast enough for Sarah, so she relied on her own understanding and told Abraham to get with her maidservant, Hagar, and make a baby that way. It worked, but because it was not in line with God\u00b4s plan, there were consequences<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n There is something worse than not getting whatever you want, all the time. And that is actually getting it but getting it the wrong way. Consider the story of King Uzziah. He reigned for 52 years and accomplished remarkable things with the Lord\u00b4s help. But then, pride went to his head:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n " But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride\u00a0led to his downfall.\u00a0He was unfaithful\u00a0to the\u00a0Lord\u00a0his God, and entered the temple of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0to burn incense\u00a0on the altar of incense.\u00a0Azariah\u00a0the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the\u00a0Lord\u00a0followed him in.\u00a0<\/sup>They confronted King Uzziah and said, <\/em>\u201cIt is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the\u00a0Lord. That is for the priests,\u00a0the descendants\u00a0of Aaron,\u00a0who have been consecrated to burn incense.\u00a0Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the\u00a0Lord\u00a0God.\u201d<\/em> Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the\u00a0Lord<\/em>\u2019s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the\u00a0Lord\u00a0had afflicted him.<\/em> King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house\u2014leprous, and banned from the temple of the\u00a0Lord. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land. <\/em>2 Chronicles 26:16-21 (NIV)<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Pride always makes us believe that our own understanding is superior to God\u00b4s. So how do we break this cycle?<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The R Word<\/strong><\/h3>\n******* ** \u00a0<\/p>\n ** Eleven years and three kings after Uzziah came King Hezekiah. He was renowned for saving Judah from Sennacherib, the king of the Assyrians. Toward the end of his life, however, he had a Uzziah moment. But watch how he managed his consequences differently:<\/p>\n ** *******\u00a0<\/p>\n " In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. He prayed to the\u00a0Lord, who answered him and gave him a miraculous sign.\u00a0But Hezekiah<\/em><\/strong>\u2019s heart was proud,\u00a0and he did not respond to the kindness shown him; therefore the\u00a0Lord\u2019s wrath\u00a0was on him and on Judah and Jerusalem.\u00a0Then Hezekiah repented\u00a0of the pride of his heart, as did the people of Jerusalem; therefore the\u00a0Lord\u2019s wrath did not come on them during the days of Hezekiah. <\/em><\/strong>2 Chronicles 32:24-26 (<\/strong>NIV<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Hezekiah had developed a sense of entitlement regarding God\u00b4s blessings. The people of Jerusalem were taking their cues from that attitude as well. But when they repented of this attitude, God\u00b4s blessings returned.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Repentance\u00a0 is the ultimate expression of humility. Repentance is when you abandon your own understanding and make a deliberate effort to go God\u00b4s way. It is an act of complete surrender, and it ALWAYS leads to a good result. Maybe not the one you were expecting, or at the time you expected it, but it\u00b4s as sure a thing as you will ever find.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Humility Wins!<\/strong><\/h3>\n********* ** *********\u00a0<\/p>\n " Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and exalt\u00a0and glorify\u00a0the King of heaven, because everything he does is right and all his ways are just.\u00a0And those who walk in pride\u00a0he is able to humble.<\/em> Daniel 4:37 (<\/a><\/strong>NIV<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n The best part about repentance is that it works for anyone, anywhere, anytime. Nebuchadnezzar was another king that was full of himself, acknowledged God, and had a better result. But he wasn\u00b4t a king of Israel or Judah. He was the King of Babylon, who had attacked Jerusalem and carried the Jews into exile. He then tried to force the Jewish exiles into idolatry. It went a little like this:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n " " " "