The Abomination File: Why Pride Tops the List

Every time I read this list, I’m struck by the number one sin: a proud look. I mean, wouldn’t you think murder is worse? Or lying? (It’s mentioned twice.) No, it’s pride. Simply pride.

These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:

A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,

An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations,

feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies,

and he that soweth discord among brethren (Proverbs 6:16-19).

Why does God head His list of abominations with pride? I believe it could be for two reasons:

1. Pride was the devil’s downfall.
2. Pride was Adam and Eve’s downfall.

Way back when Satan was called Lucifer (which means “brightness”), he was a beautiful created being. (See Ezekiel 28:12-19.) Verse 15 says, Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. In verse 17, we see his sin of pride: Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. The passage concludes with Satan’s final demise. The prophet Isaiah laments, How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! (Isaiah 14:12)

Satan, the greatest liar, convinced Eve to sin by contradicting God’s Word and telling her, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil (Genesis 3:4b-5). Eve wanted to be greater than God. Her sin was pride. The Bible says, And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened (Genesis 3:6-7). Their first reaction? Hide from God. In their desire to be great—pride—they sinned. I can almost hear Satan’s wicked laugh.

Pride is an abomination. Abomination means God hates or loathes it.

God absolutely hates pride. Why? We can understand better from reading what He says:

• Therefore pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment (Psalm 73:6).
• The fear of the LORD is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate (Proverbs 8:13).
• When pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly is wisdom (Proverbs 11:2).
• Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom (Proverbs 13:10).
• In the mouth of the foolish is a rod of pride: but the lips of the wise shall preserve them (Proverbs 14:3).
• Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).
• A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit (Proverbs 29:23).
• And he (Jesus) said, That which cometh out of the man, that defileth the man. 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 7:20-23).
• A pastor should Not be a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil (1 Timothy 3:6).
• 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).

Those biblical men who pleased God humbled themselves before Him, and their lives were characterized by humility, not pride. For example:

• Abraham—And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes (Genesis 19:27).
• Moses—(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth) Numbers 12:3.
• Josiah—Because thine heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and humbledst thyself before me, and didst rend thy clothes, and weep before me; I have even heard thee also, saith the LORD (2 Chronicles 34:27).
• David—My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad (Psalm 34:2).
• Isaiah—When he saw a vision of God, Isaiah’s reaction was: Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts (Isaiah 6:5).
• Jesus—This is the Old Testament prophecy of Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday): Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass (Zechariah 9:9). Jesus said, Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls (Matthew 11:29). Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men (Philippians 2:5-5).

You might be thinking, “I don’t have a problem with pride. Not me!”

Oops!

We all have a pride problem. We might even be proud of our humility! But, God knows our heart, and He judges what He sees. Does He see a soul that’s dependent on Him and attuned to His desires? Does he see willfulness, stubbornness, and resistance, or does He see a submissive, meek, and obedient spirit?

By the way, it’s interesting that what God values in a woman is the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price (1 Peter 3:4). 

I wonder how we’re decorated!

May we be challenged today to avoid being prideful—catch and confess it when we are—and to keep a proper perspective.

By humility and the fear of the LORD are riches, and honour, and life.

(Proverbs 22:4)

Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.

Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility:

for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

 (1 Peter 5:5)