When the serpent tempted Adam and Eve in the garden, he attacked a vulnerable area: pride. First, he cast doubt on God’s promised provisions (Gen. 3:1). Then he deceptively undermined God’s authority by casting suspect on sin’s fallout (Gen. 3:4). Finally, he fueled their arrogance by questioning God’s motive for keeping them away from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Gen. 3:5). In their new found inflated ego, they wanted a “piece of the pie” or a “piece of the action.” God was holding out on them, they believed. Since the fruit looked like it was ripe and juicy to the taste buds (Gen. 3:6), they ate it, dealing with the consequences later.
They say “pride comes before the fall” (see Prov. 16:18), and the ominous overtones to such a statement carries cataclysmic ramifications with the Genesis 3 narrative overlaying Proverbs 16.
Pride. As the world moved into the 20th Century, the uptake was positive and filled with optimistic hope. The world felt like it was sailing on a sea of blue skies and gentle breezes. Humanity was maturing, evolving and advancing. The Industrial Revolution created wealth while fast-tracking international trade. Science based engineering was producing better sanitation and living conditions while long plaguing diseases were about to meet their end through vaccinations. Air conditions, radio waves, steam engine turbines, gas-motored and manned airplanes were sweeping the country. Albert Einstein developed the theory of relativity while Thomas Edison unveiled talking motion pictures. Wars, regulated only to the history books, were no longer susceptible to dawn out affairs and were now far more sanitized. Yes, man was on top of the world and nothing was going to stop him now.
Fall. The very nature of man’s existence was challenged when a massive, four year-drawn-out war engulfed the world. Machines, intended to shorten the war, only exasperated it. Picturesque terrain was burned and destroyed. Trenches were dug, ripe for diseases to spread. And spread they did. Men were sickened by lice, rats and its feces. Kidneys were inflamed and feet swelled; amputations were far too common. The soldiers could not escape the cold and damp winter days leading to multiple infectious diseases. Twenty million deaths with nearly 21 million casualties suffered during the war. Those who survived lost more than their limbs, they lost their humanity. No, they lost their soul. Modern technology, the glory of mankind, became the very element that dehumanized and destroyed humanity.
Scripture reminds us that humility is the path to walk. Both James and Peter quote the verse from Proverbs 3:34, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble” (Jam. 4:6; 1 Pet.5:5). Peter is the one who adds for us to clothe ourselves in humility and to humble ourselves before God for he will be the one who lifts us up (1 Pet. 5:6). Micah tells us to embrace mercy and justice while walking humbly with God (Mic. 6:8b). Some of Jesus’ teachings were prefaced with a rebuke to those who were prideful of their own self-righteousness (e.g., Lk. 18:9).
Since pride and humility are abstract concepts, the need to describe them in concrete terms is a difficult process. They are also polar opposites, so that sometimes the best way to experience them is to see them in contrast.
Pride forces people to serve themselves while humility willingly serves others. When Jesus addressed leadership concerns among the Twelve, he described the power-down model where the guy at the top tells those below him what to do. Then he turns the table and admonishes them to invert the pyramid by using their position to serve others (see Mk.10:42-45). A humble person hears the voice of Jesus to model his behavior after him and look for an opportunity to help aid others. Serving maybe as simple as bussing a table or as complex as cooking a meal or as degrading as washing feet.
Pride demands to be right while humility allows room for error. That “room for error” part is the key, because none of us have a monopoly on perspective. We don’t see perfectly, as we’re blinded by our own bias. So Paul’s plea for the Philippi church (Phil. 2:3-4) is to stop pushing and pursuing a personal agenda, but entertain the possibility that your neighbor may actually be right, or just be more right than you.
Pride seeks a God who performs loudly while humility knows God acts in the stillness. One of the problems with Elijah was that he felt that his God always did the big stuff, like the fire from heaven to consume the altar (1 King. 18:16-39). But God works far more behind the scenes and in the quietness of the heart (1 King. 19:11-14). Instead of seeking God to outdo what he did last week, we simply seek God for his continual presence. We slow down and listen to a God who already is speaking to us (Ps. 46:10).
The problem in the garden was pride and it has continued to be humanity’s Achilles heel. We can figure out how to deflate our egos and tone down the rhetoric ourselves and begin walking humbly with God, or we can take the fall when it comes. Because it will come.
Soli Deo Gloria!
(i.e., only God is glorified!)