Arrogance

Ezekiel 31, 32:15

31 In the eleventh year, in the third month on the first day, the word of the Lord came to me: 2 “Son of man, say to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his hordes:

“‘Who can be compared with you in majesty?
3 Consider Assyria, once a cedar in Lebanon,
    with beautiful branches overshadowing the forest;
it towered on high,
    its top above the thick foliage.
4 The waters nourished it,
    deep springs made it grow tall;
their streams flowed
    all around its base
and sent their channels
    to all the trees of the field.
5 So it towered higher
    than all the trees of the field;
its boughs increased
    and its branches grew long,
    spreading because of abundant waters.
6 All the birds of the sky
    nested in its boughs,
all the animals of the wild
    gave birth under its branches;
all the great nations
    lived in its shade.
7 It was majestic in beauty,
    with its spreading boughs,
for its roots went down
    to abundant waters.
8 The cedars in the garden of God
    could not rival it,
nor could the junipers
    equal its boughs,
nor could the plane trees
    compare with its branches—
no tree in the garden of God
    could match its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful
    with abundant branches,
the envy of all the trees of Eden
    in the garden of God.

10 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height, 11 I gave it into the hands of the ruler of the nations, for him to deal with according to its wickedness. I cast it aside, 12 and the most ruthless of foreign nations cut it down and left it. Its boughs fell on the mountains and in all the valleys; its branches lay broken in all the ravines of the land. All the nations of the earth came out from under its shade and left it. 13 All the birds settled on the fallen tree, and all the wild animals lived among its branches. 14 Therefore no other trees by the waters are ever to tower proudly on high, lifting their tops above the thick foliage. No other trees so well-watered are ever to reach such a height; they are all destined for death, for the earth below, among mortals who go down to the realm of the dead.

15 “‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: On the day it was brought down to the realm of the dead I covered the deep springs with mourning for it; I held back its streams, and its abundant waters were restrained. Because of it I clothed Lebanon with gloom, and all the trees of the field withered away. 16 I made the nations tremble at the sound of its fall when I brought it down to the realm of the dead to be with those who go down to the pit. Then all the trees of Eden, the choicest and best of Lebanon, the well-watered trees, were consoled in the earth below. 17 They too, like the great cedar, had gone down to the realm of the dead, to those killed by the sword, along with the armed men who lived in its shade among the nations.

18 “‘Which of the trees of Eden can be compared with you in splendor and majesty? Yet you, too, will be brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below; you will lie among the uncircumcised, with those killed by the sword.

“‘This is Pharaoh and all his hordes, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”

The Bible speaks quite a bit about arrogance and pride. It seems to be quite offensive to God, especially when he’s given the person what they think they can be arrogant about. Often pride in our things or lifestyle or something of the sort takes over us and, in our pride, we sin. We may forget that God allowed us or gave us the ability to get what we have. He speaks throughout both Testaments about pride.

Isaiah 14:12-15

12 How you have fallen from heaven,
    morning star, son of the dawn!
You have been cast down to the earth,
    you who once laid low the nations!
13 You said in your heart,
    “I will ascend to the heavens;
I will raise my throne
    above the stars of God;
I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly,
    on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon.[b]
14 I will ascend above the tops of the clouds;
    I will make myself like the Most High.”
15 But you are brought down to the realm of the dead,
    to the depths of the pit.

Here, Isaiah speaks against Babylon, telling the King that their greatness will end and God would bring destruction. God starts off a passage with “How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn.” This passage has been cited when referring to Satan and his fall from heaven. The text, however, says its a taunt to the king of Babylon. In either case, the person he is speaking to put himself above God or aspired to be greater than God and wanted to give himself the credit for his position. He was exalted and God brought him down to the dirt. Pride can get us in trouble, shown also by the next passage.

Proverbs 16:18-19

18 Pride goes before destruction,
    a haughty spirit before a fall.

19 Better to be lowly in spirit along with the oppressed
    than to share plunder with the proud.

In this text, we learn that pride goes before our downfall and that it’s better to be humble and oppressed than to share in the plunder of the proud. It’s better and wiser for us to be humble than to trust in folly and take pride in ourselves and not giving credit to God.

Excessive pride can strike anyone. Men and women of great stature, even great stature in the church, can fall victim to pride in themselves and what they think they’ve accomplished.

Ezekiel 31:8-11

8 The cedars in the garden of God
    could not rival it,
nor could the junipers
    equal its boughs,
nor could the plane trees
    compare with its branches—
no tree in the garden of God
    could match its beauty.
9 I made it beautiful
    with abundant branches,
the envy of all the trees of Eden
    in the garden of God.

10 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Because the great cedar towered over the thick foliage, and because it was proud of its height,

All are subject to become proud. Assyria was compared to a tree in God’s own garden that stood above majestic trees like Cedars and Pines in the same garden. A tree that was made more beautiful than all of the other trees in the garden that I assume was full of beautiful trees because it’s God’s garden. It says in the text that, since the tree was proud of its height, it was handed over. There are more concrete examples. Paul wrote:

Romans 12:3

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.

Paul wrote this letter to the Church in Rome, giving instructions to those that follow Christ to show us how to view things. This letter was written to a group of people that were already following Christ and aspiring to keep his commands. Paul writes this to remind them that they should not be proud, but to keep a humble opinion of themselves. Their faith or their success or anything that God has given them should not have made them think more highly of themselves than they should. God tells us that, even if we are exalted, we can be put in check.

Obadiah 1:3-4

1 The vision of Obadiah.

This is what the Sovereign Lord says about Edom—

We have heard a message from the Lord:
    An envoy was sent to the nations to say,
“Rise, let us go against her for battle”—

2 “See, I will make you small among the nations;
    you will be utterly despised.
3 The pride of your heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rocks[a]
    and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
    ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’
4 Though you soar like the eagle
    and make your nest among the stars,
    from there I will bring you down,”
declares the Lord

The Lord says “Though you ascend as high as the eagle….from there I will bring you down.” and that the pride of their heart has deceived them – which is the key point. They were deceived by their own thoughts of themselves. And even though he brought them high, he will bring them down from the heights that they have raised to that gives them their pride.

But with humility, we can attain heights that God brings us to while giving glory to God for the things he’s done for us. Admitting that we are not deserving and that God has given us the ability or opportunity or both to achieve what we want.

Luke 18:9-14

9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

14 “I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

There were some that looked down on others because of their idea of their own righteousness. Jesus told a story about a tax collector, seen as Godless, that could not even look up to heaven when he prayed. He cried out for mercy that he knew he did not deserve. This is in direct opposition to the Pharisee that stood by himself, praying arrogantly thanking God that he wasn’t as bad as other people, but his attitude hurt his own faith. Jesus said that the tax collector went home justified. Those who exalt themselves would be humbled but the humble would be exalted. We need to keep a level head and stay humble no matter what situation we’re in or we will be humbled in the future.

Matthew 18:4

4 Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus tells the disciples that we need to be as humble as children to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We need to become humble and innocent like children to enter the kingdom.

Humility is a large part of following Christ