Protection from Pride

For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom
and the splendor and glory of his majesty.
Esther 1:4

Do you see the pride dripping from those words?

If we were playing The 25,000 Pyramid and the category was King Xerxes Banquet, we would use words like:

• Lavish
• Elegant
• Extravagant
• Excessive
• Unrestrained

You learn a lot about a man – or a woman – by the way he or she entertains guests.  Xerxes is all about showing off what he has got.  He is rich, pompous, arrogant, and prideful.

The Psalmist conveys this caution regarding pride:

For in his own eyes he flatters himself too much
to detect or hate his sin.
Psalm 36:2

Do you see the truth here? Pride has us so self-focused and self-absorbed that we can’t even sometimes make a course correction. We believe we are always right–that our ideas and our ways are always the best and everybody else is wrong.

Pride keeps wisdom captive. It hinders a teachable spirit & keeps us paralyzed at the same level of maturity. It stumps our spiritual growth.

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Our flattery of ourselves renders us unable to see our own sin – -much less acknowledge it, hate it, confess it, and repent of it.

The antidote for pride is worship.  Coming into the presence of God reveals clearly who we are and who we are not…and who He is.  Our daily time with Him…our choice to stay tethered to Him continuously…to walk in worship …is our protection against the insidious and destructive nature of pride.

We must, as women of God, make time.  We must allow room for the Spirit of God to take the Word of God and lovingly, kindly but also specifically and truthfully show us His truth and His way.  We were created for HIS GLORY.  As we place ourselves in His presence daily and as we put ourselves in a position to hear from HIM, we are protected from pride – protected from the addiction to self. We are equipped to live for HIS glory and not our own.  We are able to respond in humility and not pride to life’s situations and challenges.

The woman of God is protected from pride as she worships God.

Pride is the root of Xerxes problems, but pride doesn’t have to be our problem.  Our worship of God can release us from its hold.

You can listen to the entire teaching lecture for Esther chapter 1 here:

http://fbcsiloam.podbean.com/e/esther-lesson-1-laura-macfarlan/