What’s the Definition of Pride According to God’s Word?
~ Today’s Scripture art and mini Bible study are digging into the definition of pride according to God’s Word. Let’s find out what makes it slightly different than the regular dictionary definition. ~
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In my quest to hand-letter at least one verse from all 66 books of the Bible, I have come to Obadiah.
Y’all.
This was the hardest one yet!
When we commit to declare the whole counsel of God (Acts 20:27), we’ve got to be prepared to include the wars, and sin, and therefore judgement.
But you’ve seen my Etsy shop, right?
Well, in this single chapter book, I could not find one verse that anyone would want on a card, calendar, or wall art.
How would you feel if someone sent you a card with Obadiah verse 15 on the front:
As you have done, it will be done to you; what you deserve will return on your own head. (CSB)
Harsh.
Thank God, Jesus took what we deserve …
1 Peter 2:24: He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. (ESV)
1 Peter 3:18: For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, (CSB)
What an encouraging side note!
Now back to Obadiah.
First let me give you a quick overview of the shortest book in the Old Testament so you’ll have some context.
My study Bible describes it as a war oracle from the Lord announcing certain judgment on Edom for their arrogant presumption and self-deception that they were immune from divine intervention.
That brings me to the verse I eventually decided to paint:
Obadiah 1:3: The pride of your heart has deceived you, (ESV)
I know, I know. This verse wouldn’t work on a card either.
But – it would be great in a mini Bible study!
So that’s what you’re getting today.
After all, we definitely want to learn how to avoid having our hearts deceive us.
And this is one of those chapters where we can learn from others’ mistakes, so let’s dig into God’s Word and learn from the Edomites.
In verse 3 of Obadiah, the Lord declares to Edom: The pride of your heart has deceived you, (ESV)
As we have studied in the past, the Lord knows the intentions of our hearts …
Jeremiah 17:10: “I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (ESV)
Acts 15:8: God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. (NIV)
So, yes, the Lord knows our hearts, but do we? Do we ignore or justify what’s really in there? Let’s not fall for the same thing the Edomites did.
With eyes wide open, let’s look for what we can learn from the mistakes mentioned in Obadiah verse 3. What exactly deceived the Edomites?
Aha. The key issue was pride.
Do you struggle with pride? Most Christians don’t think that’s a problem for them. In fact, many think they struggle more with the opposite of pride – that they don’t think highly enough of themselves.
Well, let’s dig in and see what we can learn.
I looked up the word pride in this verse and it uses Strong’s 2087, which means exactly what you’d think it means: arrogance, pride, insolence.
No surprise there.
BUT I did find a few surprises when I looked up the cross-references about pride!
Did you know that God’s Word gives us some great examples with lots of details to help explain the definition of the word pride? I think you will find it extremely helpful, like I did, to see these specific things God considered to be prideful.
So before we presume to think pride isn’t an issue for us, let’s take a look at these 7 verses …
The Definition of Pride According to God’s Word
1. Pride = Not seeking God.
Psalm 10:4: In his pride the wicked man does not seek Him; in all his thoughts there is no room for God. (NIV)
Whoa. Ever have busy times in your life where there was just no room for God – no time to seek Him? Did you consider that prideful?
2. Pride = Not listening to the Lord.
Jeremiah 13:15,17: Hear and give ear; be not proud, for the Lord has spoken. But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride; my eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears, because the Lord’s flock has been taken captive. (ESV)
The Lord has simplified listening to Him by giving us His Word. What an amazing gift where we can hear directly from God any time we pick it up! When you don’t listen to God’s Word (aka: obey), do you consider that prideful?
3. Pride = Forgetting God.
Deuteronomy 8:14: be careful that your heart doesn’t become proud and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. (CSB)
Have you ever gone a whole day without one thought about God? Did you consider that prideful?
4. Pride = Not associating with the humble and lowly.
Romans 12:16: Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud; instead, associate with the humble. Do not be wise in your own estimation. (CSB)
I found this verse interesting. It is basically saying that when you don’t want to associate with someone you are wise in your own estimation – thinking you are right and they are wrong. Have you ever looked at it that way and realized it’s prideful?
5. Pride = Going astray after lies.
Psalm 40:4: Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie! (ESV)
Can you think back on a time in your life when you looked for happiness or satisfaction in all the wrong places? Did you consider that prideful?
6. Pride = Being strong.
2 Chronicles 26:16: But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the Lord his God and entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. (ESV)
Have you ever enjoyed accolades or taken the credit for a job well done without giving God the glory? Did you realize that was prideful and could lead you to destruction?
7. Pride = Insisting on knowing why.
Psalm 131:1: Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. (NLT)
Have you ever experienced anger or stubbornness toward God simply because you couldn’t understand why He allowed something? If so, did you think that attitude was prideful?
Even though we are allowed to ask God why and even wrestle with Him, that attitude should only last for “a night” so to speak. When Jacob wrestled with God in Genesis 32, he eventually stopped struggling and asked God a question. It was at that point of stopping and submitting that God blessed him, although He never answered his question! (Genesis 32:29) The Bible is clear that there will always be things we won’t understand this side of heaven. (Romans 11:33-34, Isaiah 55:8-9) We can trust Him with those things.
All of the examples in these seven verses have a common denominator.
Each one is a moment of putting oneself before God.
And that = pride.
Whether our busyness is more important than taking time to seek God, or we know what’s right but don’t do it, or we go whole days without even thinking about God, or we don’t associate with the lowly, or we look for satisfaction in places other than God, or we take credit for our works, or we’ve insisted on having answers rather than trusting God, all of these are prideful because they put our own reasoning before God’s.
I don’t think anyone is exempt from struggling with pride.
So let’s not allow our hearts to deceive us into thinking we don’t have to watch out for it.
Because here’s another important thing to know …
Proverbs 21:4: Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. (ESV)
That fact makes pride something we need to lay before the Lord often.
Therefore, to put into practice what we’ve learned from the Edomites’ mistakes, we can continually pray for God to humble our hearts to submit to Him and His ways so we’ll grow to trust Him over and above ourselves.
James 4:7: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. (ESV)
Proverbs 3:6: in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight. (NIV)
*My prayer for you is … that this blog will inspire you to open your Bible every single day to seek God’s face and write His Word on your heart – because HE’S the key to lasting heart change!
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