"The Destructive Power of Pride: Lessons from Pharaoh"

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Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the Diary of a Black Woman podcast.

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I'm your host, Connie Morris, and I'm so excited to continue our series,

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The Games We Play With God.

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Today's episode is called The Destructive Power of Pride.

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We're going to talk about how pride can lead us away from God,

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disrupt our relationships, and ultimately bring destruction.

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If you ever struggle with pride, whether it's refusing to ask for help,

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seeking credit, or resisting correction, this episode is for you.

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Let's dig into the Bible's most explicit example of pride, and it's Pharaoh

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with his hardened heart.

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So Pharaoh's pride, he had some consequences. If you have ever read the story

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of Exodus, Moses and Pharaoh, it's found in Exodus 7-14.

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That's where our story comes from today. It's a story of Pharaoh's interaction

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with Moses and God's plagues on Egypt.

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Pharaoh's pride was evident from the beginning. He refused to let the Israelites go.

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Even after God showed his power through miraculous signs and devastating plagues,

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he repeatedly refused to submit to God,

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but his refusal did not just harm him, it harmed others.

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It brought suffering to his entire nation.

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The scripture related to that is Exodus 7.13. It says, But Pharaoh's heart was

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hard, and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron,

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just as the Lord has said. Isn't that interesting?

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So sometimes, not sometimes, most of the time, when God sends you to a place,

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he's already scouted it out for you.

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He knows the heart of the people.

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So he knew when he sent Moses to talk to Pharaoh that Pharaoh was going to be

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resistant to anyone telling him what to do.

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And we know some people like that already, don't we?

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But Pharaoh's story teaches us an important truth.

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Pride isn't just about arrogance. It's about refusing to recognize God's authority

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and thinking we know better than him.

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Ouch, how we all have been there and we all had pie in the face or on the face

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or however you say it in your language.

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You know, when you just kind of bump your head against the wall,

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it's like, oops, I should have listened to the Lord, but we didn't.

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And so pride blinds us to God's warnings and keeps us stuck in cycles of disobedience.

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I just had to pause there because you know

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pride does keep you thinking that

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if I do it this way I won't it's not

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disobedience if I do it this other way it's not disobedience when

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God tells you to do it to go right and you keep going left it's disobedience

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and so Where is pride keeping you from listening to God or others in your life

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and you keep bumping your head?

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I think we have some children like that. We have some adults like that that

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says, I'm going to keep doing it this way.

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No matter what way it looks like, it might look different to you.

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If God has told you not to do it, then it is considered disobedience.

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And then you're hitting these cycles of disobedience, and you're really just wasting a lot of time.

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So what is the root of pride?

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Pride often stems from desire for control or recognition.

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We want to be seen as strong, capable, or essential, and that can lead us to

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resist God's guidance or dismiss the needs of others.

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You know, when God asks you to go apologize, or we ask you to humble yourself

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and maybe go do something that you had claimed that you would never, ever, ever do.

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I mean, God is saying, don't resist him.

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You look stronger in his eyes than you do.

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You might look weak before other people, but you look strong in his eyes.

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God always has a redemption plan for you when you let go of pride,

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let go of control, let go of trying to be seen, let go of trying to be capable,

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let go of trying to be essential.

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We should have got enough of that during COVID.

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Let go of all of that.

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And stop resisting God's guidance and allowing him to guide you.

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Proverbs 16, 18 says, pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.

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And so all we have to say is watch out timber.

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And this timber is when the tree is falling. When you work in the forest,

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you kind of warn others that this tree is about to fall.

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And so we can see this fall in people,

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this falling down, this falling away in people who walk in this pride,

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this desire to be recognized, this desire to be in control.

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God says, watch out, watch out. You are about to fall because you are not to be exalted above me.

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You will bow down. The Bible says every knee should bow, and that includes you. Amen.

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Pharaoh's refusal to humble himself before God led to his downfall.

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By the time he finally released the Israelites, Egypt has suffered immense losses,

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including the death of the firstborn sons.

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It was so serious that even someone had to die.

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Now, you're already suffering through flies, blood in the water.

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You know, you got locusts. You got all kinds of frogs. You got all kinds of,

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I think it was 10 of them, right?

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Just doing devastating things to the people.

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They really didn't touch the people to the land. And yet you,

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Pharaoh, with his pride, didn't even think about anything.

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But himself. And then until the firstborn died, and then they said there were

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screams and cries throughout the land.

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And for that moment, that moment, he released the Israelites.

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Are there areas in your life where pride is causing unnecessary struggles?

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Is there pride causing unnecessary struggles.

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God does not want us to struggle.

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He wants us to trust in Him. Let go of that pride.

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Let go of that. I want to be seen strong. I want to be seen capable.

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I want to be seen essential. I want to be recognized.

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If you notice, though, if you live long enough, If you'll notice that the movie

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stars, they have their season of recognition.

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And then they do everything they can to stay recognized, bringing back the old

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songs, bringing back, having a reunion.

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I mean, just everything they can do to stay current.

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And sometimes, you know, you're current for a season and it's good to have a reunion and come back.

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But sometimes it's good to just sit down somewhere. I don't know about you. I want to go.

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You've heard them when you were in high school. You go to reunion when you're

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kind of in your mids and then now you're in your 60s and they still having a reunion.

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I mean, come on now. I don't know. I think that's a bit much.

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But, you know, that's just me talking. But we should have changed.

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I always think that I don't want to go see Vogue.

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How old are they now? I don't want to go see Michael Jackson.

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I don't want to go see Beyonce.

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They were when I was younger. I want to maybe see something new.

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Maybe a little jazz, just some music playing in the background.

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But back to my point, I don't know why I go on these tangents,

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but are there areas in your life where pride is causing unnecessary struggles?

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How do pride manifest itself in today's world?

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Pride isn't just a problem for ancient rulers, it shows up in daily lives in

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subtle and not so subtle ways.

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Number one, refusing help. We often think we can handle everything on our own,

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even when God places people in our lives to help us. Raise your hand if that's you.

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We don't want nobody to know that we might be having in some trouble.

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And so we don't ask for help.

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And so we just, if we ask the right, God knows who to send your way.

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He knows who he wants around you. And if you can just say, hey,

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can you help me with this?

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You realize that, dang, I've been struggling trying to figure out how I'm going to get to point A to B.

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And all I had to do was just ask this person and it was taken care of.

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Number two, taking credit. Things

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go well. We're quick to claim the glory instead of giving it to God.

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I remember I had an opportunity I had one of Asked me to help assist in writing a manual,

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And this person kept saying Well we wrote by this

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person It was written by me I was like Don't put me on front street like that

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I wrote it because God You asked me to write it I prayed God gave me kind of

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your heart I helped you write it So I'm not going to put my name on this This

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is going to be written on behalf to you So you take the credit going forth.

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And so I didn't want the credit.

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Give God the credit. You take the credit. Leave me off this middle thing.

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Because, you know, sometimes even by accident, when someone gives you too much

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credit, especially you know you use God to help you write it,

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and they keep saying, well, Connie did this, and Connie did this,

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and Connie. You're like, whoa.

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Just by accident, from all that high air, your ego is thinking of blowing a

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balloon, right? You go, whoo, whoo, pretty soon your ego get all puffed up and

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you forget that it wasn't even you.

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It was the Lord using you. Right.

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So be watchful when you take credit, when you don't give God the glory or you take credit.

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For something that, you know, God gave you or you're just helping somebody out,

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but you happen to have that talent or that gift that shines bigger than someone else's.

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And so you're getting all that, I call it hot air, a hot air blown your way

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and your ego starts to blow up like a big balloon.

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Watch out. What happens? It's going to fall. It's going to blow up.

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So be careful about that taking credit.

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I remember I had a pastor tell me, you know, if you can stay even keel throughout

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the good, the bad, and the ugly, you will never really fall into pride.

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Just stay even. Whether you're doing good, bad, or ugly, yeah,

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you can probably give yourself a high five, but don't stay there.

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You keep moving forth in your evenness.

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Number three, rejecting correction. This is a good one.

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Pride makes it hard to accept constructive criticism or admit when you're wrong.

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People put that under the feedback. Feedback is good if it's fair.

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If it's just you giving me negative stuff, I don't need it.

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If your feedback is going to help me grow, I'll accept it.

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So sometimes rejecting correction is different from feedback,

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but sometimes it's the same.

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So pride makes it hard to accept constructive criticism or admit when you're wrong.

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So these are some signs, red flags, red lights, sirens that should go off that

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you might be getting really close to some pride.

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Refusing help, taking credit, rejecting correction.

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Scriptural connection. When pride comes, then comes disgrace,

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but with humility comes wisdom.

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So when you see pride coming, then comes disgrace.

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So you know you're about to get embarrassed. But if you humble yourself, then comes wisdom.

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So God always has this balanced act that he plays with us.

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If you let pride rule, you're going to be ashamed and embarrassed.

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But if you see it coming, balance it out with humility. And guess what? Nothing happens.

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That's what I was talking about earlier about keeping everything on an even keel.

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Whether you're doing good, bad, or ugly, allow that pride to balance itself out with humility.

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Let it just check yourself. Keep checking yourself for you wreck yourself so

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you don't embarrass yourself.

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How do you overcome pride?

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How do we stop playing the game of pride? Here are some practical steps.

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Number one, acknowledge God's sovereignty, recognizing that everything we have come from him.

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Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the father of heavenly lights.

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So recognize that everything we have.

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Comes from God. Your gifts, your talents, everything.

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And so first thing and foremost to go, thank you, Lord.

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That takes out all your pride. Poof, it takes the air out the balloon.

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Number two, practice humility.

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Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less.

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Humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less. James 4.10 says it best.

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It says, humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up.

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Whoever the Lord lifts up, stays up.

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Come on now, whoever the Lord lifts up, stays up.

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So we have to know that. Humble yourself before the Lord and he will lift you up.

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And number three, seek accountability. humility surround yourself with people

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who gently point out when your pride is creeping in.

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I love it when you say is that pride creeping in

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you gotta have somebody that can speak truth into your into you you know you

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can't you can't be the biggest balloon in the room all the time amen so how

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do we keep our pride in check we acknowledge God's sovereignty we practice humility

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because whoever humble yourself,

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I love this one, James 4.10, I like it because humble yourself before God and he will lift you up.

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And whoever God lifts up stays up.

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That practice humility and seek accountability.

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Decrees to conquer pride. Let's declare some truths together to break the grip

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of pride. So let's just break that pride right now, right?

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So let's say it. I decree that I will walk in humility, right?

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Recognizing God's authority over my life. Remember, humility is when you bow

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down and letting God lift you up. Why?

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Because whoever God lifts up stays up. Amen.

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I decree that I will give God the glory for every success and blessing.

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Always point to God. I decree that I will give God the glory.

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First and foremost, you praising him.

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First and foremost, You've given him the glory because he, it comes from him.

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It comes with him, from him.

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I can't say it. It comes from him. It comes from him.

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I decree that I will remain teachable, embracing correction and growth.

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Why? Because you don't know everything. Oh, you don't know everything.

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Just make sure you say that to yourself. I don't know everything.

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This week, I encourage you to reflect on areas where pride might be showing up in your life.

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Ask yourself, where am I resisting God's guidance or help from others?

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How can I practice humility in my relationship and decisions?

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Practical challenge. Each day, thank God for one thing in your life that you know comes from Him.

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Gratitude is a powerful way to keep pride in check. So let's close out with prayer.

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Heavenly Father, thank you for the lessons you teach that you have taught us

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about pride and humility and that you continue to teach us about pride and humility.

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Forgive us for the times we've let pride take root in our hearts,

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lifting ourselves up instead of allowing you, Lord God, to lift us up.

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Help us to walk humbly before you, recognizing that all we have and all we are comes from you.

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Teach us to listen to your guidance and to give you the glory in all things. In Jesus' name, amen.

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I don't know about you, but that was good. That was really good.

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So I want to just thank you again for joining me on this episode,

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The Games We Play With God.

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And this message resonates with you. Share it with a friend.

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Subscribe so you don't miss the next episode where we will discuss game number

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four, rebellion against God's order.

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Until next time, stay humble, stay rooted, and be blessed. Amen.