"
Pride and Brokenness
By Sharon
Jaynes
Key Verse: "God
opposes the proud, but gives grace to
the humble"
(James 4:6 NIV).
Devotion:
In the Old Testament, there is an
interesting account of two kings, two
sins, two convictions, and two
responses. What makes it interesting
is that one king's sin doesn't seem so
bad, but his kingdom was taken away,
and yet the other king, who created a
heinous act, is referred to as a "man
after God's own heart" (1 Samuel
13:14). But I'm getting ahead of
myself. Let's take a look at these two
stories.
King Saul was "elected" the first
King of Israel, mainly because he was
tall, dark, and handsome. He would
have looked great on TV, if there had
been such a thing back then. Oh, he
didn't really want to be king at
first, he hid when the people began
chanting his name. But, he sheepishly
accepted the kingship, and God
anointed him with the Holy Spirit.
Things went pretty well for King Saul
at first. He won a few battles, gained
respect of his followers, and the
booty from the conquered foes mounted
up in the castle.
As a matter-of-fact, Saul became so
confident; he decided being a King
wasn't so hard after all. He didn't
need God nor the prophet Samuel who
was appointed over him. After each
battle, Saul was supposed to wait for
the prophet Samuel to come and offer
sacrifices to the LORD. But Saul
disobeyed God, and offered the
sacrifice himself. The prophet Samuel
arrived just as Saul was putting the
finishing touches on the sacrifice.
"What have you done!" Samuel
exclaimed.
Saul replied, "When I saw that the
men were scattering, and that you did
not come at the set time, and that the
Philistines were assembling at Micmash,
I thought, 'Now the Philistines will
come down against me at Gilgal, and I
have not sought the LORD's favor. So I
felt compelled to offer the burn
offering" (1 Samuel 13:11-12).
Oh, I could quote Saul word for
word, but let me sum it up for you.
Instead of repenting of his sin and
asking for forgiveness, Saul
- Defended himself
- Justified his actions
- Blamed others
- Tried to cover up his sin
- Acted as though nothing had
happened
- Was more concerned with looking
good to his peers than repenting of
his sin
(1 Samuel 15:30).
What was Saul's most heinous sin? I
don't think that it was actually
assuming the role of prophet and the
offering of the sacrifice. I believe
that was an outgrowth of his sin.
Saul's sin?was pride. And even though
he was "caught" red handed with the
blood of the animal sacrifice still on
his hands, Saul did not repent of the
sin of pride. He was an unrepentant,
unbroken man.
Author, Nancy Leigh DeMoss said
this about pride and brokenness:
"Broken men and women don't care who
finds out about their sin; they have
nothing to protect and nothing to
lose. They are eager for God to be
vindicated."1
Now let's look at the second king,
with the second sin, and the second
response.
King David was Saul successor.
While Saul was the people's choice as
king, David was God's choice. One day,
while the rest of the men were at war,
King David was lollygagging around the
palace. While strolling on the roof,
he noticed his next door neighbor
bathing on her roof. He saw, he
wanted, and he took. David committed
adultery with his neighbor's wife,
Bathsheba, and subsequently plotted
the murder of her husband to cover it
up. Several months later, when David
was confronted by the prophet Nathan,
he did not try to defend himself,
justify his action, blame others, or
cover up his sin.
David said to Nathan, "I have
sinned against the LORD" (2 Samuel
12:13).
David repented before the LORD,
mourned before his people, and penned
two beautiful psalms humbling himself
before generations yet to come. Yes,
he was "a man after God's own heart."
As we see with these two kings, God
is more concerned with the depth of
our repentance than the breadth of our
sin. As Martin Luther once said, "God
creates out of nothing. Therefore
until a man is nothing, God can make
nothing out of him."
Prayer
Dear Lord, forgive me of the sin of
pride in my life. I admit that I have
tried to take things into my own
hands, have not waited for your
direction, and have thought more
highly of myself than I ought. Help me
to be more like Jesus, who, "being in
the very nature, God, did not consider
equality with God something to be
grasped, but made himself nothing"
(Philippians 2:5,6) Break my pride
LORD, as a loving master breaks the
stubborn will of a wild mare.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
