“These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood…”
Proverbs 6:16-17 KJV
Hate, abomination: those are strong words, and at the front of God’s list of abominations is “a proud look.” It’s even more loathsome to the Lord than murder; for “hands that shed innocent blood” is third on the list. Why is that? Why does God place pride on his list as number one – the thing He hates worst of all?
To understand that, you must first catch a glimpse of God’s holiness and power. When we see God for who He really is, only then do we begin to recognize our helpless condition.
We can’t control the weather or prevent an earthquake.
We can’t make our crops grow.
We can’t live without oxygen or water or heat from the sun, and we have no ability to manufacture these for our survival.
We have no power to heal. Doctors and medicine only help the healing process. God has given the human body an amazing ability to heal itself, to repair broken bones, to fight off infection and certain diseases. Yet He has the power to halt the healing process at any time.
So then, what are we capable of doing without God? Nothing! Jesus said in John 15:5, “…without me ye can do nothing.” (By the way, Jesus is God. John 1:1-3)
Due to God’s incredible, never-ending love and mercy, He gives you the health, physical strength, and stamina to do whatever you need to do in this life, whether or not you believe in Him and recognize Him as the source. That’s how you go to work each day or take care of your family or enjoy recreational activities or attend school or volunteer. This list is as endless as God’s strength and power. So if God is our source of strength and power, what have we to boast about?
When you have pride in yourself without recognizing the ability, health, and strength given you by God, which enables you to accomplish the things that you desire, then you’ve elevated yourself above your Creator and Lord. By your attitude, you’ve basically told God that you did it by yourself. You didn’t need Him or anything He has to offer. That’s what Lucifer did when he said in Isaiah 14:13 “…I will exalt my throne above the stars of God…” Lucifer was a created being, but somewhere along the line, he decided that it was now all about him.
And just like pride made Satan believe that it was now all about him, human pride deceives us into thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought to. Romans 12:3 says, “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” We believe our own press, so to speak.
So then, why does God despise pride?
It causes people to elevate themselves above Him, which means they don’t recognize their need for a Savior; hence, they die and go to hell.
It keeps people in bondage to bitterness and unforgiveness.
It causes people to lie. (Jesus is the Truth. John 14:6)
It causes people to live self-centered lives, and others suffer tremendously as a result of the sin spawned from selfish actions: abused and neglected children, bullying, etc.
Due to the selfishness and greed birthed by pride, crime runs rampant, even murder from “hands that shed innocent blood.”
That’s why there’s nothing that God hates worse than pride! It is the forerunner of every other sin.