Topic: Pride Kills! [Friday December 22, 2017]
Text: 2 Kings 14:8-16
Key Verse: “Thou hast indeed smitten Edom, and thine heart hath lifted thee up: glory of this, and tarry at home: for why shouldest thou meddle to thy hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?” (2 Kings 14:10).
Although secular history is replete with the narratives of great men who paid the supreme penalty for their pride, the Holy Bible takes the prize for stories of classic examples of such persons. The cases of Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte, Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini and others pale beside Bible characters that overrated their strength and did not hearken to what the Word of God says: “Pride goeth before destruction and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). After the king of Judah, Amaziah, had ascended the throne in Jerusalem, he embarked on a murderous vindictive spree.
First, he slew the servants who had assassinated his father the king. Next, he launched a military campaign against Edom and killed ten thousand of their troops, seizing their stronghold of Selah and changing its name. This conquering march of Judah planted the notion of invincibility in the mind of Amaziah. He began to fly on the weak and unreliable wings of pride. This led him to begin to see his northern Israel neighbour as the next in his growing list of victims. He launched a war against Israel and this became his undoing. He failed to listen to the warning of King Jehoash of Israel that he should desist from war.
This is what the Bible says of how Amaziah was humbled and disgraced: “And Judah was put to the worse before Israel; and they fled every man to their tents” (verse 12). When our Lord Jesus Christ spoke on the matter of self-conceit (pride), He did not mince words with regard to the fate that befalls the arrogant: “…whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted” (Luke 14:11). He also lets us know that all power really belongs to Him and that man, apart from Him, is weak and hollow, incapable of securing lasting victory and joy.
Thought for the day: Pride goeth before destruction.
Bible Reading in one Year: Proverbs 4-6
DCLM Daily Manna was written by Pastor William Folorunso Kumuyi; is the founder and General Superintendent of the Deeper Life Bible Church situated at KM 42 on the busy Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, Nigeria.
