The Problem of Pride -Isaiah 14-23
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©Copyright March 13, 2022 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche
In our study in the book of Isaiah we move from a picture of what is the future of all who believe in chapter 11 to the majesty of praise for God’s salvation in Isaiah 12. The next 11 chapters are filled with words about the judgment on various nations around Israel. It is a reminder that the glory of our salvation also has a flip side: the judgment of those who turn away from Him.
We are going to fly over these 11 chapters because, in some respect it is reading someone else’s mail. But it is helpful to look at WHY these nations were being judged. The indictments leveled against the nations seem to have a consistent theme: pride or arrogance. Each of these nations believed they did not need to be concerned about the God of Israel. They believed they or their gods, were as sufficient, or superior, to the God of Israel. Let’s look at a couple of these indictments.
In Isaiah 16:6 we read: We have heard about proud Moab— about its pride and arrogance and rage.
In Isaiah 17:7-8 we read these words about Damascus and Israel.
Then at last the people will look to their Creator
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will no longer look to their idols for help
or worship what their own hands have made.
They will never again bow down to their Asherah poles
or worship at the pagan shrines they have built.
In Isaiah 23:9 God tells Tyre why they were judged
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has done it
to destroy your pride
and bring low all earth’s nobility.
The problem of pride is addressed continually in the Bible. Proverbs 16:18 has become a saying most people don’t even realize comes from the Bible: “pride comes before the fall.”
Jesus continually reminded us that we should humble ourselves, serve one another as He did, because the servant is not greater than the Master. Jesus also told the parable about the Pharisee and the tax-collector praying one day at the temple. The Pharisee read God His resume and expected Him to be impressed. The tax-collector humbled himself saying, “God be me merciful to me, a sinner.” Jesus said the prayer of the tax-collector was heard by God.
The message of humility rather than arrogance is one our society desperately needs to hear. We are living in a day when people have redefined relationships, the value of life is determined by people in the courts, absolute truth has been replaced by personal preference, and everyone creates a god in their own image. And anyone who doesn’t agree be ostracized or canceled!
In Isaiah 14 we have the most extensive example of pride in the King of Babylon. Many people feel there is information here about how Satan came to be Satan. So, let’s take a brief detour and look at this issue of the origin of the Devil. Let’s start in verse 14
12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O shining star, son of the morning!
You have been thrown down to the earth,
you who destroyed the nations of the world.
13 For you said to yourself,
‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars.
I will preside on the mountain of the gods
far away in the north.
14 I will climb to the highest heavens
and be like the Most High.’
15 Instead, you will be brought down to the place of the dead,
down to its lowest depths.
16 Everyone there will stare at you and ask,
‘Can this be the one who shook the earth
and made the kingdoms of the world tremble?
If the passage is talking about Satan (and there is much debate on that fact) it would indicate that Satan was an angel in Heaven and believed he could do a better job than God was doing. His pride caused him to be cast down to the earth. There are some other passages.
In 2 Peter 2:4 we are told “God did not spare even the angels when they sinned but threw them down.” In the book of Jude verse 6 we read about “angels who did not stay within the limits of authority God gave them but left the place they belong.” In Ezekiel 28:12-17 there is another passage like this about the King of Tyre.
12 “You were the model of perfection,
full of wisdom and exquisite in beauty.
13 You were in Eden,
the garden of God.
14 I ordained and anointed you
as the mighty angelic guardian.
You had access to the holy mountain of God
and walked among the stones of fire.
15 “You were blameless in all you did
from the day you were created
until the day evil was found in you.
16 Your rich commerce led you to violence,
and you sinned.
So I banished you in disgrace
from the mountain of God.
I expelled you, O mighty guardian,
from your place among the stones of fire.
17 Your heart was filled with pride
because of all your beauty.
Your wisdom was corrupted
by your love of splendor.
So I threw you to the ground
and exposed you to the curious gaze of kings. (Ezekiel 28:12-17)
If this is the story of Satan, he is the chief example of the destructive nature of pride and arrogance. Perhaps this is why he encourages us along the same lines.
The real focus for us is the deadly nature of pride in our lives and in the impact such pride will have on the future of our country.
The Problem of Pride
C.S. Lewis has written,
There is one vice of which no man in the world is free; which everyone in the world loathes when he sees is it someone else; and of which hardly any people, except Christians, ever imagine they are guilty of themselves . . . The essential vice, the utmost evil, is Pride. Unchastity, anger, greed, drunkenness, and all that, are mere fleabites 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. (A Mind Awake p. 115)
When we make the world revolve around us, we are usurping God’s rightful position. Pride in our lives is an assault on the supremacy of the Lord Himself! Listen to some people pray and you hear them telling God what He should do!!
Pride is like going to one of those carnival fun houses. They have those mirrors that made you seem taller, fatter, shorter or thinner than you really are. It is not a true image of us; it is distorted. That’s what happens with pride. We may believe we are spiritually strong, but we are actually disconnected from God. We may sense we are on a level playing field with the Lord but we would be wrong!
When we (even subtly) are trying to make ourselves the center of the universe we are playing a deadly game. He is God and we are NOT! You cannot stand against the Lord and win! His character is more excellent; His ways are more perfect; His will is beyond changing. We have less chance of overcoming Him than Satan or the angels ever did. They were soundly defeated and are heading toward eternal torment. If we follow His lead, we will be following Satan to Hell.
Pride shows up in many different forms. Francis Chan writes,
I am asking you to be aware that there are people in the Church who have become incredibly proficient at making themselves the victim of every story. They are professional victims, and this is usually rooted in pride. They learn that tears almost always ensure victory. If at first you don’t succeed, cry and cry again. Once you cry, you make yourself the victim which means the person who made you sad must be the bad guy. Sobbing can be a powerful weapon.[1]
Sometimes we play humble but are really doing so to get attention. Pride is insidious; it starts in little things and just keep growing like a cancer. We must week it out early.
On a practical level, the arrogant person will push other people away. Arrogant people often end up very lonely. Suppose you are talking with someone who is obviously quite enamored with their own voice. They talk non-stop to the point where you become desperate to escape. Unfortunately, you cannot find a pause so you can say, “well, it has been good talking to you (you trust the Lord will forgive the lie) I’ve got to get going.”
You try to speak non-verbally. You look at your watch, look out the window, shift in your seat, you might even stand and move toward the door, but the other person just keeps talking about themselves. They are so wrapped up in themselves that they are unable to see what is going on around them.
Pride, arrogance, and self-absorption keeps us from seeing important information about the needs of other people,
· The tear in an eye
· A grimace of pain
· The clenched fist of fury
· The look of fear
· The worn out look of exhaustion
· The cry for help
· Or even that bursting at the seams look of enthusiasm
Joe Stowell wrote,
Pride is the real reason we rarely admit we are wrong or seek forgiveness, and may be the reason we refuse to extend forgiveness to those who have hurt us. Pride not only tends to cripple relationships by pitting people against each other, but it is also at the root of much of our violence and social unrest. When pride is accurately understood as the preeminence of self, we can see why rape is possible, sexual abuse is a reality; and abortion is an option to many.[2]
Pride divides us. It divides us as people, as churches, and as countries. It is the reason, I believe, that churches water down the truth. They want to be liked more than they want to be faithful. They want to be successful, and they are willing to sell their integrity or compromise the truth of the gospel, all to maintain that intoxicating feeling of being “on top.” (I was told this week about a church that had an actual strategy for taking people from other churches! They were arrogant enough to think people couldn’t be saved unless they went to their church and embraced all of their beliefs.) Of course, when this happens, we have stopped being loyal to the Lord and have started to listen to the wrong spiritual being!
Of course, taking pride in a job well done, being honest about things you do well, and even feeling good about where you are in life are not bad things . . . unless they make you feel you are better than others and cause you to lose sight of the fact that we are sinners who saved by grace.
Combatting pride
The big question becomes: “How do I combat pride in my life?” If you are not sure you struggle with pride, know this: the fact that you don’t struggle with it may just mean you are oblivious to the pride problems in your own life. So, the first step must be to ask God to show us the sin of pride in our own lives. If we do this sincerely, and with a desire to turn from this sin, God will show us what we need to work on. We have a hard time seeing pride in ourselves. We need God’s help to show us where we are deceiving ourselves. Be open to His correction! I warn you, you are going to find sinful pride tucked
Second, and this is a key factor: we must learn to be people who are saved by grace. I can’t think of anything that promotes humility like a true awareness of the depth of God’s grace and mercy toward us. We are sin-filled rebels who have been forgiven because Jesus was willing to give His life for our sin. We have NOTHING to boast about. Everything we have, every element of progress we may have made in our faith, is not due to our goodness but to His grace.
People who grasp (not just with our head but with our full being) the true nature of God’s act in our salvation, lose many of their rough edges. There is no sense of spiritual pride or any sense that “I am better than you are.” We know we are recipients of undeserved favor.
As I listen to believers it sometimes sounds like we are saying, “If you would just do what I did you too can be saved. It’s almost like there is a secret combination to faith in Christ and they know it and others do not. That is arrogance and it is to misunderstand the gospel. The ONLY thing we bring to our own conversion, is our SIN! Everything else is given to us through God’s mercy and grace. The Christian who truly understands the gospel, is humble, grateful, and soft. They believe anyone can be saved and they spend their lives telling others about the grace of God that made it possible for that to happen.
Third, we need to make it a point to notice other people. Pride is partially a result of not being able to see beyond ourselves. This preoccupation with self is becoming greater because we are more and more isolated. Even in a room full of people you will everyone staring at their phones or other electronic devices. Look up! See the people around you. Try to just care for them and hear them without worrying about what might be in it for you. Notice the burdens they seem to bear. Be alert to their body language. Dare to enter a heartfelt conversation with them about life. Look for ways to affirm and encourage other people. Ask them questions about their life and resist the urge to keep steering the conversation back to you. It will help you see beyond yourself. It will help begin to dismantle the wall of pride.
We can feel we are very smart but if we are not willing to see and learn from people around us, we will never get any wiser. Any person who feels they are too smart to learn from everyone around them, isn’t as smart as they think. In order to learn from others, we have to be humble enough to see them and listen to them
Fourth, Surrender your will to the Lord. Jesus prayed in the Garden, “Not my will, but yours be done.” This should be our prayer as well. We see with such a limited perspective. We think we know what is best for us, but we don’t. We can only see to the next hill or curve, the Lord sees the entire journey. We must be humble enough to trust Him with our future and be willing to follow Him one step at a time.
Finally, draw your self-worth from who you are in Christ.There are people who have very low views of themselves. This doesn’t make them humble. In fact, it can develop in a pride that in essence says, “I will hold on to how I feel about myself instead of believing what God declares about me.” Do you see the arrogance in that statement? Do you really think your evaluation of yourself is more accurate than His?
The Bible tells us that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. We are also told we are made in God’s image. We are valuable enough that the Son of God came to earth to save us. We have been given a glorious inheritance! We are part of the family God! So, stop trying so hard to get people to say nice things about you and realize what God has said about you! You are a child of the King! Embrace it! There is nothing truer about you than what God says about you.
When we are all wrapped up in trying to feel important, or getting others to like us, we will compromise God’s standards in order to obtain the world’s applause. That applause feels good, but it will lead us away from true life, contentment, and peace with God.
Every good and perfect gift comes from above. Everything we have, every gift and ability we possess, is something that has been given to us by God. We are given these gifts not to exalt ourselves, but to exalt and praise Him.
As a nation, our strength can be regained only by returning the Lord to the central place. As individuals, we will never know God’s favor in our lives until we stop trying to be God, and let the Lord do what only He can do.
[1]Francis Chan Letters to the Church p. 211
[2]Joseph Stowell PERILOUS PURSUITS (Moody 1994) p. 130