Today we discuss the one thing that is responsible for lives that end in failure, disappointment and ruin. It's called pride and if you think you don't have it, you just admitted you do.

Hezekiah was a great king with riches that would make Donald Trump envious. He owned towns and probably more livestock than the sum total of what everyone else possessed. But the thing that made him great was reminiscent of king David. That was his tendency to seek the Lord in prayer through both good and bad times with a willingness to admit his wrong (confession), make it right (restitution) and then change his ways (repentance).

You may be suffering under the delusion that God doesn't look at what you're doing and have certain requirements of you. Scripture says in Romans 14:12 that each of us will give an account of ourselves to God. Knowing that a future accounting is coming, we should be aware of what He expects from us here on earth, should we not? That information comes from the word of God and it's all there in black and white, possibly red. If grace is the red thread that weaves all of Scripture together, then man's pride is the razor that threatens to sever it.

Hezekiah was blessed and he would not acknowledge its source. God expects us to respond when he blesses us, but pride takes it in stride falsely thinking we had a part in it. Then when we've stolen something that belongs to God, we quickly learn what it means to experience God's anger. It's then that a man of prayer seeks God in humility, confesses what God says if true and then takes steps to make it right. The man who does not pray however, remains in God's wrath and experiences a hardening that comes as a result.

Have you become hardened? Do you think this pride thing is overrated? You may think you've lived your life outside God's grace and feel you can make it on your own without His help? If so, move over Hezekiah. He got sick and prayed when his pride swelled. Your pride has swollen but you don't know you're sick in your soul until one day it's too late. God's grace may be greater than our sin, but pride blinds you to the need of God's grace and that my friend, may be the last nail in your coffin, literally.

1 Developed from Read the Bible Thru ( 2 Cr. 32:1-33:13 Rm. 15:23-16:7 Ps. 25:12-22 Pr. 20:16-18 )
2. Scripture comes from the Holy Bible, New International Version; (c)1978 by New York International Bible Society

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