Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:12)

Take Heed

The children of Israel were the most blessed nation on earth. They were created by the grace of God to show His glory. Through the power of God, they defeated all the nations around them. The mightiest nation on earth, Egypt, could not stand up against the Hebrews. God promised to bless the people abundantly if they obeyed Him, and He did. But for most of the Israelites, God was not pleased. During the wilderness wanderings, everyone above the age of twenty died as a result of rebellion. When Moses led the people out of Egypt, there were six hundred thousand men, not counting women and children. More than six hundred thousand people died in the wilderness.

When Paul wrote his letter to the Corinthians, he used the people of Israel as an example of a nation blessed and punished by God. The reason the Holy Spirit told the story of the Jews from their beginning at Mt. Sinai to the rejection by God when they killed His Son, was to show that God is not a respecter of persons, and that sin will destroy. Pride exalted the spirit of the Jews to believe they were God’s chosen, special people and that God would never fully reject them. Jesus was killed because He challenged that narrative. The Son of God rebuked the hypocrisy of the Jewish nation, which denied they were in bondage to the Romans. After killing Jesus, the nation of Israel was destroyed and would no longer be known as the people of God.

Pride is the insidious spirit of believing one’s worth is greater than it should be. Paul warns the Corinthians that a man who thinks he cannot fall will suffer the greatest calamity. When a man believes he can stand up to temptation without the power of God, he is preparing himself to fall. It is a subtle warning that if a man thinks he is standing strong by his own merits, he is about to fall under the temptation of the devil. The nature of man is unchanged. Satan cannot be defeated without God. There is no wisdom in the heart of man that can give him the power to overcome the wiles of the devil. The Son of God had to die to redeem man. There was nothing man could do to redeem himself. God provided the sacrifice that man could not give. How remarkable that a man fills himself with pride.

There is great joy in having salvation in Christ Jesus, but that confidence should never create a spirit of pride that we do not need Jesus Christ. This misplaced spirit of pride is evidence that the soul is in danger. Only when a man is made small can he realize how much he needs the strength of God to overcome evil. Everyone is in danger of the power of sin. Paul uses Israel as an example to show how pride exalted the people above trusting in God and the tragic results. The only source of strength given to man is trusting in God. It was the wise man of old who declared that pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Pride cannot be part of the armor of God.