Proverbs 16:5 Commentary and Bible Study

God’s hatred of pride does not fade or diminish. Although his judgment is long delayed, no one should conclude that he has become indifferent to sin. God has his own reason for delaying the punishment. He delays to judge it so that wickedness should become confident and show its true colours, for wickedness takes a retiring position while it senses the disapproval of the strong, and holds back from being what it really is. God therefore allows wickedness to come into bud and flower so that all know that he does not exaggerate in his description of it. God also waits for the full number of the elect to be gathered in. He is calling men, women, and children from every land and every age, to come to Christ for redemption. For this reason he bears long with the wicked so that the elect can have opportunity to be called. Why is pride such an abomination to the Lord? Because it is so ugly in his sight. It distorts the world so greatly in that it wants the whole creation’s attention to be on one individual who is not worthy, even though a true comparison would give far more honour to others. It is like a distorted lens that exaggerates self at the expense of all around it. It steals honour that does not belong to it, and refuses to give honour where honour is due; it does this out of a love for self that is capable to destroying a universe in the interests of gaining a little praise. It can inflate itself so much that it even dares to rival the praise of God himself, and in this way Satan fell at the beginning. It is a great lie. It takes those who have little and attempts to make them great, not by adding what is real but by adding what is a fiction, an invention. The proud person spends much of their time trying to convince themselves that they deserve praise and so they more and more end up living in a world of make-believe. Pride is cruel because it becomes incapable of considering the needs of others, unless the fulfilment of those needs somehow benefits itself at the same time. God hates it because it is so different to his own character, for although Christ is the king of heaven and worthy of all praise, he is also meek and lowly in heart. There is not a shadow of pride in God, for in all his glory he does not exalt himself to the smallest degree above what he deserves. The opposite is true for he bears with the ignorance of his creatures in ascribing him less praise than he is entitled to, and patiently teaches them more and more about how great he is.Pride deceives itself by taking credit for what does not belong to it. All that we have comes from the Lord and therefore instead of leading to pride, our gifts should lead us to give thanks to God.Pride is a great obstacle to seeking guidance. Rather than asking, ‘What does the Lord want me to have?’ it always wants something special for me. Often the Lord wishes us to go down a path of obscurity for a time, or to make do with little. Pride is not willing to go that way. Instead it can only think of itself as centre-stage, and this rules out discovering the guidance of the Lord before we have started. God will never bless pride or guide the proud man, therefore A proud man may be very skilful at hiding his pride even from close friends, but on occasions it inevitably comes out with great force. God however knows us by direct scrutiny of our hearts. He sees what no human eye could see.It suits men at times to join hand in hand with others in rebellion against God. They feel strength in numbers and bolster each other’s confidence. For the sake of a common enemy they are willing to temporarily set aside their own differences. The greatest enemy that unbelieving man has is the Lord. In this way men schemed to build the tower of Babel, but what was at the bottom of it was combined pride. Those who make God their enemy and lift up their pride against him can be sure of defeat.