When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom.
– Proverbs 11:2
What a great contrast that God’s Word gives us here. So, when you are prideful, that leads to disgrace. And nobody wants disgrace. None of us want or go out seeking disgrace. But that’s where pride leads, which we’re all prone to. But, so here’s the contrast, with the humble is wisdom.
Proverbs 11:2 teaches that God gives wisdom to the humble.
So do you want wisdom? Then be humble. Do you want disgrace? Then be prideful. That’s the picture we’re getting here in Proverbs 11:2. And even just this phrase, “With the humble is wisdom.” They go together, and we see this all over the Bible, that humility and wisdom go together, and pride and foolishness, pride and disgrace go together.
So why are we still so prone to pride? Well, it’s part of the sinful nature in us. Think about pride. This tendency to want what we want more than what God wants. To think like we want to think instead of the way God thinks. To choose our ways instead of God’s ways. And it is humility to say, “God, I want your ways more than my ways. I want to think what you think.” Even when you think about humility and thoughts about yourself, it doesn’t mean thinking bad about yourself.
No. It means thinking what God thinks about you, and when you think about what God thinks about you, how much he values you, and treasures you. “Here is crowned glory and splendor in creation,” Psalm 8 says. You’re made in his image to enjoy him for all who’ve trusted in Jesus. You are clothed in righteousness and holiness and redemption. You’re his child. Oh, having a humble view of yourself means having a God-centered view of yourself. And a God-centered view of yourself is really good.
Proverbs 11:2 encourages us to lay down our pride.
So we pray. God, remove pride from us. We pray, all the pride in us, take it away today. God, we pray that all day long you would help us to think according to your thoughts, not our own. You’d help us to choose your ways over our ways, not to think that we know better than you, God, even in things that are going on in our lives right now that we don’t understand. God, we pray that you would help us to trust in you.
Help us not to be prideful, thinking that we know better than you or that we are in some way a judge of whether or not you are good and right. God, we pray for humility and for the wisdom that Proverbs 11:2 promises comes through it. We pray for the humility of Jesus in our lives, who humbled himself and became obedient to death on a cross for us.
Prayer for the Khmer Krom People
And God, we pray for the spread of Jesus’ glory through our lives, for the spread of Jesus’ glory in the world among the Khmer Krom people of Cambodia, 284,000 of them, most of whom have never heard the truth about Jesus. God, we pray that the glory of Jesus would spread to them, that they would be reached with the gospel of Jesus, that they might be saved by your humble sacrifice on the cross and victorious resurrection from the grave. Oh God, we pray all of this according to your Word in Proverbs 11:2. Keep us from the disgrace that comes from pride and grant us the wisdom that comes from humility. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
