Suggested reading: JAMES chapter 4

‘God resists the proud’

King Solomon reveals to us in the Old Testament that one of the things the Lord hates is ‘A PROUD LOOK’. James takes a similar stance, when he declares that, ‘GOD RESISTS (lit. puts Himself in battle array)’THE PROUD’, verse 6. Pride, therefore, puts us into a position of open warfare with God.

Pride manifests itself in a variety of ways in our lives and it ruins our Christian testimony. It is at the heart of wars (fights) and fights (quarrels) among us. It damages our prayer life, verses 2-3 and reflects our unfaithfulness to God and friendship with the world, verse 4.

The antidote to pride is clear but challenging! It is via the pathway of submission to God, resisting the devil, drawing nigh to God, intense feeling of shame for our sins and genuine humility before the Lord, verses 7-9. However, the rewards will be worth it, because the Lord will give us grace, verse 6, draw near to us, verse 8, and lift us up, verse 10.

The devil, who fell through pride and delights to see the fights and quarrels among us, will flee in the face of those who have submitted themselves to God and His word. The positive outcome for our fellow believers is that we will not speak evil of or judge them. We will understand that God alone is qualified to be their judge, verse 12.

Pride can also raise its head when we speak and act as if we are in total control of our future plans, even to the point of confidently predicting successful outcomes to them, verse 13. When we do this we fail to admit humbly that we are totally ignorant of what tomorrow holds. The precursor, not the postscript, to all our plans ought to be, ‘If the Lord will, we shall live and do this, or that’.