Ouch!! This verse is hard to swallow. God knows my heart; which
means He knows how often I am proud. I know how pride is ever screaming in my ear. I know how hard it is to admit when I am wrong. I know the battle of rationalization that goes on when all that is needed is an “I am sorry”. God OPPOSES the proud.
Pride is one of those not so bad sins. Not in God’s eyes, but man’s. Yet, when I am proud, God opposes me, that is pretty serious. All I really want is grace, which is given to the humble. Sounds simple, yet it is hard.
When I recognize a battle I am fighting, then my thoughts go to
my children. Am I passing on this weakness to them? O Lord, protect my children from my weakness and strengthen them to be humble.
Yes, strengthen them to be humble. Often humility is thought of
as weakness; it is far from a weakness.
One of our children came to us this week to tell us of something
they (using they or them to keep identity hidden) had done that we never would have known about. It was embarrassing for
them. Pride wanted them to keep it hidden. Fear of consequences tempted them to not share their error. But humility won out and they confessed.
We were not mad, just very sad. We came along side our child and told them we would help them in the future to not repeat this mistake. More discussion happened, details were necessary for us to be able to understand how the error was made and to better fight it in the future.
In the end, we voiced our being so very pleased that they came to us. Then my husband gave them this verse, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” He assured our child that we know it took great humility and strength to confess to us and that God will give them grace. Being humble was the right thing to do. We know pride was battling within and this was a wonderful victory over pride!
I am now encouraged and challenged too. If my child can make the right choice against pride, so can I.