"Pride" (Ester 5:10-12)

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/6/2011 8:57:21 AM

 

My Worship Time                                                                                                        Focus:  Pride

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                                                       Reference: Ester 5:10-12

 

            Message of the verses:  “10 Haman controlled himself, however, went to his house and sent for his friends and his wife Zeresh. 11 Then Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, and the number of his sons, and every instance where the king had magnified him and how he had promoted him above the princes and servants of the king. 12 Haman also said, "Even Esther the queen let no one but me come with the king to the banquet which she had prepared; and tomorrow also I am invited by her with the king.’”

 

            Let us compare this section of Ester to a story that the Lord Jesus told in Luke 12:16-21 and see the similarity of the two.  “16 And He told them a parable, saying, "The land of a rich man was very productive. 17 “And he began reasoning to himself, saying, ’What shall I do, since I have no place to store my crops?’ 18 “Then he said, ’This is what I will do: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. 19 ’And I will say to my soul, "Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years to come; take your ease, eat, drink and be merry."’ 20 “But God said to him, ’You fool! This very night your soul is required of you; and now who will own what you have prepared?’ 21 “So is the man who stores up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.’”

 

            In both of these sections we see men who are full of pride.  While working at my job one day a long time ago I was talking with a man who was telling me about the house that he lived in and how it was all paid off, and he seemed to be bragging about it and the shape that he was in financially.  In order to try and wittiness to this man I wanted to show him that this pride that he was showing was not good so I ask him whose house would that be in 100 years to which I got no answer.  People brag about what they have accumulated and perhaps the position that they are in not thinking about that it could all be taken away from them just like the farmer in the parable from Luke’s Gospel.  One of the statements that I read from my devotions one time, and I cannot remember who wrote it, but it was probably from Dr. Wiersbe, and he said, speaking of a person who was a leader perhaps like the President or the US or even the president of a bank and it went like this.  “A good leader always remembers that he is second in charge.”  I think that this is good advice for anyone to remember for we are probably all in charge of something, but we must remember that God is in charge of everything including the events that happened to Haman.  The Proverb says “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before stumbling (NASB95).”  “First pride, then the crash—the bigger the ego, the harder the fall (Message).)”  Proverbs 16:18

 

            Dr. Wiersbe quoted British Bible scholar William Barclay “Pride is the ground in which all the other sins grow, and the parent from which all the other sins come.”  In commenting where man came from and showing that man has nothing to brag about, that is in and of himself the Puritan preacher William Jenkyn said “Our father was Adam, our grandfather dust, and our great-grandfather-nothing,” and Dr. Wiersbe adds “so much for the family tree.” 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have written about pride in earlier SD’s saying that pride is the opposite of humility, and I believe that most people, including believers do demonstrate pride in their lives from time to time, something that when I do surely needs to be confessed.  I truly like the statement by William Jenkyn and hope to remember that when I discover pride in my life.

            I suppose that the one thing that I demonstrate pride in from time to time is what I have been taught from reading and studying the Word of God, and I suppose that even that is the wrong kind of pride, for whatever I have learned is a gift from the Lord and hopefully He will receive honor and glory for the studying that I will demonstrate humility through this desire to study the Word of God.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1.      Remember that pride comes before a fall.

2.      Remember that while learning or trying to learn contentment that pride will surely get in the way.

 

10/6/2011 9:40:49 AM