Section 1

“Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” This truth cuts across all eras, reminding us that pride begins when people rely on their own strength, insight, or wisdom apart from God. Pride is when we start instructing God instead of listening to Him—telling Him how to fix things according to our estimation. Scripture leaves no ambiguity about the seriousness of this sin. In 1 Peter 5:5–6, believers are commanded to clothe themselves with humility, because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” That phrase—God opposes—is not mild. It means He actively resists the proud, fighting against their self-reliance.

Section 2

Peter understood that warning firsthand. After boldly confessing, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” pride swelled in him. When Jesus began explaining His coming suffering, Peter rebuked Him, and Jesus responded, “Get behind me, Satan.” It wasn’t an insult but a correction: Peter had embraced the reasoning of men instead of the will of God. That same man, later humbled through failure and forgiveness, could write to others, “Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may lift you up in due time.” His experience proves that humility isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom learned through surrender. God will often bring His servants down a peg or two, not to humiliate them, but to heal the pride that blocks grace.

Section 3

The story of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4 magnifies this principle on a royal scale. The Babylonian king, swollen with success, declared, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built by my mighty power?” In that moment, God stripped him of sanity and sovereignty, reducing him to live like an animal until he acknowledged that “the Most High rules over the kingdoms of men.” From king to cow, he learned that heaven alone reigns. When his understanding returned, he praised the God who restores the humble. The lesson remains: every accomplishment, every breath, every ounce of success flows from divine mercy. So before we act, speak, or boast, we must “put on humility” like clothing—remembering whose we are and who alone deserves the glory.