Proverbs 16:5-8 says,...

Today's verses are Proverbs 16:5-8, which read,

v.5 - Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the LORD; assuredly, he will not be unpunished.

All sin is terrible but the sin of pride gets a lot of press in the Bible.  Pride points your fingers not at God but at yourself.  Pride puts you on a pedestal as better than others and to be looked at instead of putting God on the pedestal to be looked at and bowed down to.  Pride does a lot of damage and those who are prideful are many times blinded to the wreckage that is left after they leave the room.  

Pride will be punished.  Those who lift themselves up will be brought down.  Those who put themselves in the place of God will bow to Him.  Those who are seeking a pat on the back even if it is their own hand doing the patting will experience how much God is disgusted by their actions.

v.6 - By lovingkindness and truth iniquity is atoned for, and by the fear of the LORD one keeps away from evil.

How do I live if I am not to be prideful?  The answer to that question is that I live in the fear of the LORD.  I live knowing from God what is important to Him.  Notice that lovingkindness and truth are thrown together here just like other places where we learn to speak the truth in love and grace and truth are put together.  Iniquity is sin, something known wrong by God's words and not our own, and the way we are released from it is recognizing the love of God and the truth of God.  The love of God that He sent His only begotten Son to us so that He could die on the cross and raise on the third day to show the truth of God.

As we raise up what God says and we fear or have awe in reverence to what He says then we are kept from evil because we are following after Him.  Francis Chan in a recent convention of young adults over the New Year spoke the words of Isaiah 55:8-9(ESV):

8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

He then asked the crowd, "Do you want to know what I think?"  They all responded "yes."  He then said, "Well by Scripture it really doesn't matter what I think but what God thinks."  The crowd went silent.  Our focus on God's words keeps our lives from being prideful and we are kept away from evil because we are walking in the ways of His lovingkindness and truth.

v.7 - When a man's ways are pleasing to the LORD, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Opposition from others is to be met not with more opposition but actions that are pleasing to the Lord.  God's work can now be seen through an instrument of His that is operating under His principles and ways.  God's awesome power makes itself known to see those who were opposed to be transformed to be those for.  Again, it is not how good I am but that I am following after the only One who is good.  Any righteousness that you see in me is because of His righteousness given to me as a grace gift.  Doing what is right by God's words is a set up to experience what God can do.

v.8 - Better is a little with righteousness than great income with injustice.  

"Little is much when God is in it, labor not for wealth or fame..." is the old song I sang with a quartet in my teen years.  Here is the verse it came from.  We tend to look or be attracted to the big bucks and the big facility and the big names.  I am not saying that everything that is big has come because of injustice but if something that is big has then we need to realize that is not God's way.  His things come because of righteousness.  His righteousness, that may look small in the eyes of the world's bigness, is better.  His righteousness which is seen through His people living lives that honor and glorify Him will have an eternal impact that the world's temporal satisfactions can not produce.  Again, our eyes are on the wrong thing or rather the wrong god.  He have replaced the big "G" God with a little "g" god.  

Let me conclude that that is what pride does.  It takes our eyes off of God's lovingkindness and truth that exposes sin to be atoned for and it puts our eyes on how great we our in spite of our sin.  On top of that we never experience what God can do because we are so stuck on ourselves and what we can do without Him.  Let's pray.

"Lord, again we are reminded about the sin of pride.  We are reminded about how You hate it.  It disgusts You.  When we are prideful, we miss out on so much of You and we go around without Your protection.  Help us to be humble and to keep You on the pedestal.  Amen."

Pastor Adam