consequences of pride according to the bible

The consequences of pride can be seen in our lives in different areas, since this attitude can take us away from our family, colleagues, friends. It can even destroy marriages and relationships with our loved ones.

The consequences of pride

To know the consequences that our arrogant attitude can bring us in the personal and spiritual aspect, it is important to know what this specific term refers to.

Pride is understood as the lack of truth about our position and importance within society.
When a person is arrogant he will always want to stand out before others and would always want to impose himself and be the most important at all times.

However, this cannot be achieved, because the most important will always be God and if we do not give that place to him, then things will never turn out as we want because we will be making decisions based on our ego and vanity.

But if we put everything in God ‘s hands and we humble ourselves before His presence, He will lift us because it is one of his promises, as noted by the word: “For the Lord is exalted, serving the humble, more haughty knows far away ” (Psalm 138: 6) 

But the arrogant person may have the conviction that he is really more important than others and he gets the wrong idea about himself. He exalts his qualities and thinks that no one surpasses him. He goes beyond the limits of humility and becomes vile because he only focuses on himself.

The arrogant man wants to have total control of his life and does not allow help from anyone because he is self-sufficient. He may at some point recognize the influence of his parents but he always thinks that thanks to him he was able to take advantage of the opportunities that were given to him.

Pride is the most important cause of disbelief and it is very difficult to eradicate. Satan cannot deny the existence of God, however he hates him, precisely because God is God and he is not.

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The person when immersed in his own pride, is an arrogant spiritual and turns out to be a religious cynic who always tries to manipulate with the aspects concerning God. They may even think that since they are children of God they can do whatever they want because God will always protect and forgive them.

But they do not measure the consequences of their actions and they do not stop to reflect on their attitude towards others, whom at all times they minorize. That is why these types of people, full of pride, try to make forgiveness the ideal justification for acting negatively. They think that God has the power to justify him, even those things he does wrong.

To counteract pride, there is humility that is the perfect antidote to this evil that can haunt anyone, including believers, preachers, worshipers, evangelists, among others.

In this sense, the true believer faithful to God, has to be attentive to his attitudes and recognize when he is acting in a proud way, since this does not please God and can divert him from the purpose that the Lord has for his life.

The person who lives in the truth has knowledge of his value in this world and as a child of God, since he is no respecter of person, he loves us all equally. However, pride can take us away from its presence, giving in to the enemy that never rests, who can harm us.

Stories of pride in the Bible

God’s Deal with the Proud – King Nebuchadnezzar and King UzziahWhen we speak of the term “arrogant” we can associate them with words like haughty, proud, vain. According to the Royal Spanish Academy, pride refers to haughtiness and an unhinged appetite to be preferred to others.

At present, one can come to think that vain and haughty people do well, and even in the word we find that since ancient times people thought in this way: “We say, then, now: Blessed are the proud, and those who do wickedness are not only prosperous, but they tempted God and escaped. ” (Malachi 3:15)

But, in the Word there are different cases of biblical characters full of pride who did not end well, and who had to change and mold their character, such as the following:

1.- King Nebuchadnezzar

In the case of this king, he is presented as a very important character in the Bible, since he was a very useful instrument of the Lord to punish the people of Israel, as the word indicates:

“Behold, I will send and take all the northern tribes, says Jehovah, and Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and I will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants, and against all these nations around; and I will destroy them, and make them a mockery and a mockery and an everlasting desolation. ” (Jeremiah 25: 9)

When King Nebuchadnezzar is called a servant, he makes us understand that he is an instrument of God, and also represents the power over his empire, which is granted by God: “And now I have put all these lands in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, my servant, and even the beasts of the field I have given to serve him. ” (Jeremiah 27: 6)

In this way, King Nebuchadnezzar was not only going to have power over the people of Israel but also over other nations: “Therefore, thus says the Lord God; Behold, I give to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the land of Egypt; and he will take their wealth, and gather their spoil, and snatch spoil, and there will be pay for his army. ” (Ezekiel 29:19)

In the book of Daniel of the bible, Nebuchadnezzar narrates in the first person the experience he had with the Lord, of how, through a dream, he showed him what he was going to do with him, using the prophet Daniel to change his course.

In this regard, we can appreciate in the following passage the purpose of the message of that dream: “The sentence is by decree of the watchers, and by saying of the saints the resolution, so that the living may know that the Most High governs the kingdom of men, and that he gives it to whomever he wants, and constitutes the lowest of men over him. ” (Daniel 4:17)

This quote demonstrates God’s firm position to rule before men. The Lord gave King Nebuchadnezzar authority and gave him time to straighten out his path, but he acted with pride. Therefore, God took the kingdom from him, just as he expressed it in the dream. Given this, the prophet Daniel expressed the following:

“The king spoke and said: Is not this the great Babylon that I built for a royal house with the might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty? The word was still in the king’s mouth, when a voice came from heaven: It is said to you, King Nebuchadnezzar: The kingdom has been taken away from you; ” (Daniel 4: 30-31)

In this sense, God had to take from King Nebuchadnezzar all that he had given him, he had to give him a disease, and make it take seven years for him to recognize the Lord:

“Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise, magnify, and glorify the King of heaven, because all his works are true, and his ways just; and he can humiliate those who walk in pride. ” (Daniel 4:37)

2.- King Uzziah

Another relevant story to deal with the issue of pride is that of King Uzziah, who was greatly prospered because he first sought the Lord: “And he persisted in seeking God in the days of Zechariah, understood in visions of God; and in these days when he sought Jehovah, he prospered him. ” (2 Chronicles 26: 5)

In this way, God greatly prospered this King and blessed him greatly. However, the greatness he had achieved made him deviate from God’s true purpose. This can happen to anyone if they do not maintain communion with God and recognize that we are only instruments of God.

Due to this attitude he became a proud person, where he exalted his power. But he did not recognize that this power only came from God and had not been obtained by his own strength. Which was a mistake. This can be seen in the following quote:

“But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his ruin; because he rebelled against Jehovah his God, entering the temple of Jehovah to burn incense on the altar of incense ” 2 (Chronicles 26:16)

This biblical passage shows us that despite how blessed King Uzziah had been, his heart was lifted up and he boasted, rebelling against God, who had given him everything he had.

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When he set out to burn incense, he was breaking the law, as only the Levites could do that and he was interrupted in his attempt by the high priest Azariah and by eighty priests.

But he was filled with pride and did not want to accept the warning and on the contrary, he was filled with anger and the consequences of his actions were present, as we can see in the following biblical passage:

 “Then Uzziah, having in his hand a censer to offer incense, was filled with anger; and in his anger against the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, in front of the priests in the house of Jehovah, by the altar of incense. ” (2 Chronicles 26:19)

In this quote you can see the power that God has over his children. Just as he gives us, he can also take away from us, and in this case King Uzziah, by showing a proud attitude, was manifesting his rebellion against God.

For this reason, the Lord sent him that terrible disease and took away the kingdom that he had given him, since his way and purpose had been diverted and he had fallen into the hands of the enemy.

This King Uzziah did not feel any regrets as did King Nebuchadnezzar, but anger seized him, taking away the blessings of the Lord.

In this way we can appreciate the way in which God treats the arrogant and haughty, taking away all the privilege that he had given them, punishing them with diseases and leaving their side. The bible is very blunt when it comes to arrogant people who rebel against him and become puffed up.

We can find different verses that exhort us regarding this issue, within which we find the following quote: “All haughty in heart is an abomination to Jehovah; Certainly it will not go unpunished… Before the destruction is pride, And before the fall, haughtiness of spirit. ” (Proverbs 16: 5, 18)

Why should we seek humility

The opposite of pride is humility, and this term has different meanings. According to the Royal Academy, it refers to the knowledge of one’s own limitations and weaknesses and to act according to this knowledge.

This means that as human beings we have many limitations and weaknesses. Therefore, we must understand that in order to be in victory in this life, we need God, his goodness, mercy, love and power.

To be humble is to recognize that we are nothing without God, but with his power, he gives us strength to advance and persevere even with our limitations and weaknesses. That is why the word emphasizes that in our weakness, God makes us strong:

In this sense, as believers and true children of God we must set an example and realize when we are acting in a proud way, because sometimes we do not realize that we are acting badly in the eyes of God and in front of our neighbor.

Humility is what characterizes us as true children of our Heavenly Father, as the word indicates: “Unanimous with one another; not haughty, but associating with the humble. Do not be wise in your own opinion.” Romans 12:16

Final Words:
If we are united as brothers, accepting the achievement of our brothers, recognizing our mistakes, our weaknesses, we can achieve many things, serve the Lord, enlarge the ministries for his glory and honor and proclaim the message of salvation to every creature, which is the purpose of God’s work here on earth.