Day 1
The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit
Those who walk in pride [God] is able to humble (Daniel 4:37)
I read the email again, my anger and indignation mounting with each word. The tone was harsh, and to my angry mind, high-handed and very arrogant. And totally unfair.
By the time it was all sorted out, it turned out that the "facts" in the email were wrong. But in the end, it didn't matter. Because I responded in anger, and burned that particular bridge.
Years later, the situation came up in a discussion with my son. When I talked about the email response I had sent, he said, "That's where you went wrong, Mom." He was absolutely right. When he was younger, I used to talk to him about situations where he had moved from being "right" to being in trouble because of his reaction. Now he was returning the favor.
I realize now that much of my anger was because my professional identity was bound up in what seemed to be under attack. All of the mistaken accusations in that email went to the heart of my fiercely guarded work ethic. And although my email response was polite and professional on the surface, it was filled with all the indignation that was seething deep inside me.
Eventually, a simple explanation turned up—the instructions I had received had included a technical error that caused everything to be misdirected, but by the time that came to light, it was too late. I had moved from being right to being hijacked by pride.
I would never have seen it as pride at the time—after all I was "right!"— but such is the subtle and deceptive nature of pride. In all its layers and guises, it is, I believe, the biggest battle we face as humans.
According to the Bible, pride is the devil's signature tool, the sin that many scholars believe led to his fall from heaven (Isaiah 14:12-15). It is one of, if not the most deadly weapon in his arsenal. No wonder, it ranks first among the things the Lord hates (Proverbs 6:16-19)!
Among the many warnings against pride in the Scriptures, the account of Absalom's life and his eventual downfall stand out sharply. Unchecked arrogance showed up everywhere in this young man's character—murdering his brother (2 Samuel 13:26-28) undermining his father King David's standing with the people (2 Samuel 15:1-6), and plotting to overthrow his father's kingdom (2 Samuel 15:7-12).
But a few additional details give great insight into the pride, vanity and self-preoccupation of the young man Absalom:
In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him. Whenever he cut the hair of his head—he used to cut his hair once a year because it became too heavy for him—he would weigh it, and its weight was two hundred shekels by the royal standard (2 Samuel 14:25-26).
Ironically, it was this treasured hair that would create the circumstances of Absalom's death and doom his evil coup against his father:
Now Absalom happened to meet David’s men. He was riding his mule, and as the mule went under the thick branches of a large oak, Absalom’s hair got caught in the tree. He was left hanging in midair, while the mule he was riding kept on going (2 Samuel 18:9).
Shortly afterwards, David's military men with the aid of three javelins, struck him and killed him (2 Samuel 18: 14-15). And after Absalom's death, we are given one last glimpse into another example of the pride that would eventually lead to his undoing:
During his lifetime Absalom had taken a pillar and erected it in the King’s Valley as a monument to himself, for he thought, “I have no son to carry on the memory of my name.” He named the pillar after himself, and it is called Absalom’s Monument to this day (2 Samuel 18:18).
Absalom's story certainly puts me on notice about the dangers of boastful, arrogant pride. And I will probably be much more careful about dashing off an email in anger.
But I continue to pray that my heart would be guarded against all the other subtle temptations to pride. The kind that weighs all my vanities in the scales of my admiration, and builds monuments to myself. And leaves me dangling in danger.
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