Deuteronomy 8:12-14 NIV“Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” 

Recall with me how we learned one of the largest obstacles to having a discipled and teachable heart was pride.  It’s ironic how the topic of a proud heart follows last week’s.  There must be a lesson God wants me to learn.  The topic of pride keeps surfacing throughout scripture.   

In the KJV, verse fourteen says, “Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God,” 

The Lexicon Transliteration for “lifted up heart” comes from the Hebrew word ruwm which means to rise, rise up, be high, be lofty, be exalted.  Notice when all is well the human heart has a tendency to grow prideful, lofty and exalted. 

Let us spend some time studying the words proud and pride to see what scripture has to say about it.  The word proud is mentioned 47 times in the NIV with the opening scripture being the passage I opened this note with.  The word pride is used 63 times, the first in the following passage: 

Leviticus 26:19 (New International Version)

“I will break down your stubborn pride and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.”

The Lexicon Transliteration for “pride” comes from the Hebrew word ga'own, which basically means arrogance.  The heaven being referred to as Iron represents harshness for the prideful.  Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary says figuratively, a yoke of iron (Deut. 28:48) denotes hard service. 

The ground being referred to as brass for the prideful is interesting.  In searching for deeper meaning into this I found that, according to The Easton’s 1897 Bible Dictionary, brass was made from metal alloys consisting mainly of copper and zinc.  It was used for fetters, pieces of armor, musical instruments and money.  It is a symbol of insensibility and obstinacy in sin, and of strength.

A prideful individual must then feel trapped.  If for them the heavens are as iron and they are walking on brass, there must not be much peace.  As trapped individuals, they turn inward, making the issue of pride and proudness compound on itself.  I also conclude that their prayers are hampered, if not completely blocked, since heaven is as iron to them.  Not a pretty picture, is it? 

Two questions worth asking before we conclude this writing:

How does a heart grow proud?

How does one keep from getting a proud heart?

According to the opening scripture passage, the heart grows proud when man forgets what God has done and continues to do for them.  Times of abundance are perfect soil for the heart to grow roots of pride. When man’s focus is removed from God, it has a tendency to turn inward and take on a thinking of self; self sufficiency, self dependency.  It ultimately turns into a form of idolatry. 

An unexamined life is also conducive for growing a prideful heart.  There’s not a single person I know that is exempt from needing Godly accountability.  Sadly, there are many who choose not to humble themselves and honestly seek it out.

Personally, I’ve found I have to have individuals in my weekly accountability group and serving on the board of PureHeart that will examine me, my words, my actions and my life.  I have heard it said that pride is very similar to bad breath and body odor.  Everyone knows who struggles with it except the individual! 

This week join me in praising and praying for the following:

1.      Praise Him for His Word that we can study and apply to our lives.

2.      Praise Him for ministry opportunities.  I could share story after story with you on how He is faithful.  Continue to pray for the young men that come to PHM. 

3.      Pray for individuals to rise up and serve God where they are.  Economically we are in a season of “not.”  Not times are prime time for ministry opportunities.

4.      Pray for those individuals who are hurt, broken and greatly needing what PHM has to offer.  Pray for men and women to step up to the plate and find their specific areas of ministry.  Pray that those individuals will find a body of believers, churches, that will embrace them with arms opened wide. 

5.      Pray for the PHM leadership team, our board of directors and our team of prayer partners.  I can not share with you how important our prayer team is to the victory over sin in a ministry such as PHM. 

Sharing from the Heart;

Steve