Pride And Confusion

Good morning and welcome to Our Daily Walk.

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Human pride can put a quick end to genuine religion. Pride distorts reality by placing the credit on man instead of God. Pride causes man to want to follow his own paths instead of following what God directs him to do. Pride leads to destruction.

But some people will stubbornly refuse to submit to God. Their prideful ways will continue to cloud their decisions and will give them the false hopes that they somehow are good enough just because of who they are.

Peter addresses the contrast between pride and humility in 1 Peter 5:5-7.

Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for “God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you.

The phrase “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble” is an adaptation from Solomon’s words in Proverbs 3:34. James also cites this passage in James 4:6, and in James 4:10 he says, “Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.”

Pride and humility do not mix well together. A choice between the two must be made. If we choose pride, God will not lift us up.

In Genesis 9:1 after the flood was over God blessed Noah and his family. He said, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.” However, not all of the descendents of Noah were in favor of filling the earth. In fact, some of them became filled with human pride and decided to disobey God and elevate themselves in the process.

They decided to build a tower that would reach into the heavens. Several of these “ziggurats” or “temple towers” have been found in the region of Babylon which is now modern Iraq. These were constructed with a wide base and progressively smaller levels on top. A temple was usually placed at the top.

Here is the account of their pride and how God dealt with their pride and actions by adding confusion. This is from Genesis 11:1-9.

Now the whole earth had one language and one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they dwelt there. Then they said to one another, "Come, let us make bricks and bake them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they had asphalt for mortar. And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth." But the LORD came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men had built. And the LORD said, "Indeed the people are one and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do; now nothing that they propose to do will be withheld from them. Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech." So the LORD scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city. Therefore its name is called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

In Hebrew, the word “babel” means confusion. These disobedient descendents of Noah were out to make a name for themselves and to defy God’s command to be fruitful and fill the earth. They didn’t want to leave where they were.

By confusing their language God put an end to the building of the tower. The people could no longer communicate with one another so they ended up going off into different directions grouped with people who could speak their language.

Unfortunately it seemingly did very little to restore worship to the true God. The region of Babylonia is known for being very polytheistic, that is, they worship many gods. Oh how human pride clouds the mind and causes man to choose unwisely.

On Our Daily Walk today, may we recognize the real threat of human pride and may we think today about ways that we can combat it.

Our thought for the day: “A proud man is seldom a grateful man, for he never thinks he gets as much as he deserves.” Henry Ward Beecher

May God bless you on your daily walk.

© Our Daily Walk, Mike Baker, 2007. Permission is granted to copy these articles provided they are not sold and the author's name and copyright are included.