This is Spoken Gospel.

We are dedicated to seeing
Jesus in all of scripture.

In each episode, we see what’s happening in a Biblical
text and  how it sheds light on Jesus and His Gospel.

Let’s jump in.

Much of Proverbs is made up of individual 
or small collections of sayings  

meant to be enjoyed in isolation 
from the verses around them.

But it’s also valuable to zoom out and collect all 
that Proverbs teaches about a particular topic.  

Today we’ll look at pride and humility.

The book of Proverbs is blunt 
about pride—God hates it.

God is dedicated to tearing down the homes of the
proud with the same ferocity that he protects the humble.

Solomon warns his readers that 
God will punish prideful people.

God hates pride because pride
is never private.

Pride inevitably leads to violence.

And that violence is normally directed 
at the weak, timid, and disadvantaged.

This is why some proverbs contrast God’s destruction
of the proud with his protection of the disenfranchised.

The antidote to pride is humility.

Solomon says we get both humility 
and wisdom when we fear the Lord.

In fact, humility comes before wisdom 
just like pride comes before a fall.

Proverbs tells us humility is wisely refusing to trust
our claims about right and wrong, leaving those
determinations entirely to God.

When we humbly accept God’s word and instruction 
above our own, we gain honor and avoid shame.

Jesus, in one of his confrontations with the 
Pharisees, calls out their massive pride.

Their pride causes them to neglect the poor; 
it even shows up in their seating arrangements.

So, Jesus tells a story about a wedding where 
a guest presumes upon his relationship with the  

groom and sits at the family’s table, only to be 
shamed and humiliated when asked to sit elsewhere.

We are just like the proud Pharisees.

We presume our place in history.

We assume our intelligence, or some other qualification or
life experience grants us the authority to sit wherever we want. 

And our favorite seat is normally the one that decides
between wisdom and foolishness, between right and wrong.

But both Jesus and the book of Proverbs warn us that
it's like sitting in the groom’s chair at a wedding— 

everyone will watch as we’re
seated where we truly belong.

Those who exalt themselves will be humbled. But Jesus also
says those who humble themselves will be exalted. 

On the cross, Jesus takes the lowest 
and most humiliating seat at the table.

Jesus died a shameful death for crimes
he did not commit; for pride he did not have.

But God raises Jesus from the dead and 
seats a humble Jesus in a place of honor.

He guarantees humility’s final reward.

When we humble ourselves, we’re promised 
that we will experience honor instead of  

shame as God raises us from our low places and 
seats us at his right hand in heavenly places.

May the Holy Spirit open your eyes
to see the God who is humble.

And may you see Jesus as the one entrusted with 
God’s wisdom so that we might receive his honor.