DAILY WORD 10/11/21
25. The LORD tears down the house of the proud, but he protects the property of widows.
Proverbs 15:25 NLT
Today’s Passage brings us back to the Book of Proverbs to complete the 15th Chapter hopefully and finally. We’ve been covering this Chapter for a while, and I need to just get it done, so here we go!
The beginning clause of this Passage reminds us that Pride is an affront and an abomination to God. Pride is one of the easiest ways a “righteous” man or woman can be tripped up. You cannot forget the reason that Lucifer fell; the beginning of his sin was Pride.
There are plenty of reasons that God Hates Pride, so I won’t take the time now to expound upon them. Suffice it to say, if allowed to germinate and grow, it can become the seed of your destruction.
We can see the result of God’s Hatred of Pride in many Passages throughout the Scriptures, including this one. What does God do when He Sees Pride ruling an individual’s life? He finds a way to strip them of the things that led to their downfall in the first place.
However, even given the Blessings we have received living in the Dispensation of Grace, like His Spirit and the Privilege of being able to Communicate with Him directly, in my opinion, there are still a few drawbacks to having that kind of access.
The one I’ll focus on today is God loosening the reins. Given the Grace that He has allowed us, we now have a lot more freedom than the Israelites did when He first Called them His Own.
They had strict rules to adhere to that if they broke, they could be stoned to death. Today it is left up to our own recognizance to do what is right. We have to listen to His prompting, or the consequences will be no less severe.
We can do whatever we please; however, everything we do is being recorded and will be called into account upon His Return. Therefore, sins like Pride can be allowed to get out of hand if we do not keep a conscious check on our lives and our attitudes. That is a lot of personal responsibility, but that is the Price of our Freedom!
This is why Pride has become so prevalent in today’s society and one of the enemy’s most effective tools. People no longer “Fear” God or choose to Honor Him. That leaves them free to act any way they see fit, and if we’ve established anything through the Word of God and man’s history, it’s that without His Spirit, we are doomed to fail!
But what happens when we strip Pride from our spirits and go the opposite direction? Might not that put us in the position of poverty and degradation? Pride drives greed, and greed often leads us toward wealth. So, if it gets us all that, how can it be wrong?
The answer to this is simple, but it may rub many of us the wrong way if our focus is on what we have in this life and not on the Reward to come. Adhering to God’s Will may not net us wealth in this life. It may be just the opposite.
When we focus on what is truly important, which is pleasing God, we may struggle with accumulating wealth, but at the same time, we are free from the pitfalls that it can bring. That is where the second half of this Passage comes into play.
In the KJV it reads, “but He will establish the border of the widow.” This statement implies that the widow, who was among the lowliest of individuals in the times that this Passage was written, was still in possession of their ancestral lands. They still had the ability to provide for themselves.
But that is not all; the word borders implies that there is still the potential for wealth if the proper amount of sweat equity is applied. That means that not only is God looking out for the least among us, but that He is taking care of us in a way that the Proud can never boast!
Just because we have less to brag about does not mean that God is not Providing for us. On the contrary. His concern in stripping us of our arrogance and the things that bolster it proves His Love for us. If He allowed us to fester in our toxic Pride, where would be the Love in that?
Never allow yourself to be so caught up in the standards of the world that you forget that it is not money and power that God seeks but our Faith and Loyalty to Him. That may mean that we have to give up some of the things that people lust after today and appear to be poor.
But it is that lack that establishes God’s concern over our borders. He sees our dedication as well as our needs and Provides all we require, even if it is not all we crave. God sees the potential destruction awaiting us due to Pride and ensures we do not fall into those traps. That is True Love. Can you see past possessions to see the Wisdom in His Grace? If not, you may need to let go of your Pride.
Have a Marvelous Monday and Remember, Pride goes before destruction!
