I performed a Bible Gateway search for both "pride" and "humble" (not any variation on the words such as prideful, arrogance, humility, contrite, etc.). Pride had 46 results, and humble had 56 (KJV). The main reason I like to use a lot of scriptures in my writings is to show that these are not my ideas or theologies alone, but those from great prophets, apostles, and especially from the ultimate teacher in the school of holiness, Jesus Christ!
It will be difficult to do so, but I will narrow it down to 5 verses on each word, but, as usual, I recommend you do your own searches and read the verses you find. As you read through the following 10 verses, prayerfully ask God to show you if you resemble any of these verses. Repent if you can see you are mimicking the actions of pride and ask God to soften your heart. Rejoice if you realized you are humble, but not to the point of pride (tricky, right?) and ask God to keep your heart and mind focused on Him and not on yourself or others' opinions.
I will begin with pride.
Notice that the Bible shows pride as belonging to a wicked person. The prideful person in Psalm 10 refuses to "seek after God" and does not even think about God. He does not care about the consequences of his actions and arrogantly does as he pleases, and could care less if God is happy with him or not.
The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts. Psalm 10:4
As I mentioned in my previous blog, "Seven Abominations," God hates pride. By the way, the dictionary definition of pride is: "a feeling or deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one's own achievements, the achievements of those with whom one is closely associated, or from qualities or possessions that are widely admired." That makes me think of someone who refuses to acknowledge that God is in control and that He has given us the abilities and talents we possess. Yes, we may have to work hard to achieve certain talents, but God made you in his image, don't forget that! Your drive and ambition may be your own, but God is still the giver of life and created our bodies and brains to be able to perform special tasks. Fail to give God the glory and you may just be as the one mentioned in Proverbs: the one who falls.
Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall. Proverbs 16:8
I love the way the verse in Obadiah says that pride is a deceiver. The verse also is a prefect match for the verse above in Proverbs. Your own arrogance can be your own destruction when you think no one can defeat you. One great example of this: Napoleon Bonaparte. I will not go into history, except to say that when Napoleon was exiled to the island of St. Helena, he died broken hearted and alone. Instead of humbling himself before God and repenting of his sins, he felt sorry for himself and some historians believed it was depression that killed him more so than stomach cancer. So, if you are prideful enough to ask, "Who shall bring me down?" you had better be prepared for a life-changing answer!
The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee... that saith in his heart, Who shall bring me down to the ground? Obadiah 1:3
The words of Jesus mean more to me than any others in the Bible. Mark 7 was spoken to the Pharisees and scribes that were scolding Jesus and His disciples for not properly washing their hands! I could easily write a separate blog on this chapter, and I encourage you to read all of Mark 7. It is important to remember that Jesus sees pride as evil as blasphemy and murder. If you think of it in those terms, it makes it easier to check your ego at the door!
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man. Mark 7:21-23
I John is a great way to sum up the issue of pride. It is considered the "lust of the flesh" and it absolutely is not a quality God wants us to possess, it is a characteristic of being seeped in the world, not in the spirit of a Holy God!
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 1 John 2:16
Now the verses on being humble.
God may allow you to go through difficult times as with the Israelites spending 40 years in the desert, in order to teach you a lesson on humility. Not all hard times are a punishment from God, be we can still allow ourselves to learn and grow and improve based on all the tough times we have or will face. Be humble and ask God what He would like you to learn so you can live better for Him.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. Deuteronomy 8:2
We hear the below verse quoted a lot lately, but what people forget to focus on is the first word, "If." God is more than willing to heal our land is we humble ourselves and repent from wickedness. Sadly, this is unlikely to happen, and we will only see this world spiral farther downhill until Jesus returns after the tribulation (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPJDnvQd4O4&t=15s ). However, as individuals we can still seek individual revival and healing.
If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. 2 Chronicles 7:14
We should only boast about the goodness of God! Our goals should always be to lift Jesus higher and remove the attention from ourselves. It says in Psalm 34 that the humble hearts will be glad and rejoice in the goodness of God. The mercy and love of God is absolutely worth celebrating!
My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. Psalm 34:2
Just as with the above list in Mark that show how God hates pride, the verse below shows us how God loves humility. When we choose to call ourselves a follower of Christ, we need to do our best to be be humble with one another just as Christ was.
Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of [the depth of] mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering. Colossians 3:12
It has been very hard to narrow these verses down, but I will end in the book of James. Honestly, the verse says it all and sums up this entire writing beautifully!
But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. James 4:6
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