The Gravitational Pull of Pride Text: Proverbs 29:23
Introduction: The Cosmic Law of Moral Gravity
There are certain laws baked into the fabric of creation that are simply non negotiable. One of them is the law of gravity. If you step off a tall building, you will go down. It does not matter if you are a postmodernist who rejects metanarratives, or a Republican, or a Baptist. The law of gravity is entirely unimpressed with your personal opinions. It is an objective reality, and you will have dealings with it.
In the moral universe that God has made, there is a similar law, just as potent and just as inescapable. It is the law of moral gravity. And the principle is this: pride goes down, and humility goes up. This is not a suggestion. It is not a helpful hint for a better life. It is a divine statute, written into the code of the cosmos. Our text for today is one of the clearest expressions of this unyielding principle.
We live in an age that has declared war on this principle. Our entire culture is a monument to lofty pride. We are told to look within, to trust ourselves, to be the hero of our own story, to create our own truth. We have built a veritable Tower of Babel out of self-esteem, self-expression, and self-love. We are proud of our pride. We organize parades to celebrate it. But God is not mocked. What a man sows, that he will also reap. And a man who sows pride will reap a harvest of humiliation. The universe is hardwired for it.
This proverb, like all of Proverbs, is intensely practical. It is not abstract philosophy. It is wisdom for the street, for the marketplace, for the home. It describes the way the world actually works, because it describes the way God made the world to work. And it presents us with a stark choice. There are two paths, and only two. The path of self-exaltation, which is a parade route that leads directly off a cliff. And the path of self-abasement, which looks like a descent but is, in reality, the only way up.
The Text
A man’s lofty pride will bring him low,
But a lowly spirit will take hold of glory.
(Proverbs 29:23 LSB)
The Inevitable Descent (v. 23a)
Let us consider the first half of this divine law.
"A man’s lofty pride will bring him low..." (Proverbs 29:23a)
The word for pride here is not speaking of a healthy satisfaction in a job well done. It is not the pride a father has for his children. The Hebrew speaks of arrogance, haughtiness, a swelling up of the self. It is the spirit that says, "I am the captain of my soul. I am the master of my fate." It is the posture of autonomy. And autonomy is the original sin, the primordial lie. It is the whisper of the serpent in the Garden: "you will be like God" (Gen. 3:5).
Pride is essentially competitive. C.S. Lewis pointed this out with his usual clarity. Pride gets no pleasure out of having something, only out of having more of it than the next man. It is the comparison that makes you proud: the pleasure of being above the rest. Once the element of competition has gone, pride has gone. This is why it is so insidious, and why God hates it with such a perfect hatred. Pride is a declaration of war against God, because it seeks to dethrone Him and enthrone the self. It is an attempt to steal glory that belongs to God alone.
And notice the verb. Pride "will bring him low." It is not a possibility. It is a certainty. The sentence is already passed. The gravitational pull is already in effect. You can see this principle at work everywhere. You see it in the lives of individuals. Think of Nebuchadnezzar, strutting on the roof of his palace, saying, "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built?" (Daniel 4:30). And before the words were out of his mouth, God humbled him, and he was driven from men to eat grass like an ox. You see it in the history of nations. Empires built on arrogance and military might eventually crumble to dust. The proud Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Romans, the Third Reich. All of them were brought low.
Why is this so? Because pride is a lie about reality. It is a refusal to acknowledge our creatureliness. It is an attempt to live in a fantasy world where we are the center, where we are sovereign. But reality has a way of asserting itself. A man full of pride is like a man full of helium in a room full of pins. He is puffed up, floating, and detached from the solid ground of reality. Sooner or later, he is going to encounter the sharp point of God's truth, and the deflation will be sudden and complete.
The proud man is a fool because he has forgotten the Creator/creature distinction. He has forgotten that he is a dependent being, reliant upon God for his every breath. And so God, in His justice and sometimes in His mercy, orchestrates circumstances to remind him. The business fails. The reputation is ruined. The health gives way. God opposes the proud, and when God opposes you, you are going to lose.
The Surprising Ascent (v. 23b)
But there is another path. The world sees only one way to get ahead: climb, claw, push, and promote yourself. But God's economy is gloriously upside down.
"But a lowly spirit will take hold of glory." (Proverbs 29:23b)
What is a lowly spirit? Let us be clear about what it is not. It is not a mousy, Eeyore-like disposition. It is not self-hatred or a false, groveling piety. Biblical humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less. The truly humble man is not walking around thinking about how humble he is. He is too busy thinking about God and thinking about his neighbor. He has achieved a kind of self-forgetfulness in the service of God and others.
Humility is truth. It is seeing yourself as you actually are: a creature, made by God, dependent upon God, and, if you are a Christian, a sinner saved by the sheer, unmerited grace of God. The humble man knows he has nothing that he did not receive. His gifts, his talents, his successes, his very life, are all a gift. And so he holds them with an open hand, ready to use them for the Giver's glory.
And what is the result of this lowly spirit? It "will take hold of glory." The word for glory here is kavod, which means weight, substance, honor. The proud man, who is full of hot air, is brought low. The humble man, who has emptied himself, is filled with true substance and honor. God is the one who bestows this glory. Man cannot seize it for himself; he can only receive it as a gift.
This is the great paradox of the Christian life. The way up is down. The way to be exalted is to humble yourself. The way to be first is to be last. The way to live is to die. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the supreme example of this. He is the ultimate fulfillment of this proverb. Philippians 2 tells us that though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant. He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. That is the ultimate descent. That is being brought low.
And what was the result? "Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name" (Phil. 2:9). He took hold of glory. He descended into the grave, and God raised Him to the highest heaven. He is the pattern. He is the way. We are called to have this same mind in us.
The Gospel Reversal
This proverb is not simply good advice; it is a roadmap of redemption. It diagnoses our fundamental problem and prescribes the only cure.
Our problem, as a fallen race, is lofty pride. Adam wanted to be like God, and in that act of cosmic treason, he was brought low. He was cast out of the Garden, and we, his children, were born into that same state of humiliation, enslaved to sin and death. We are all born proud, and therefore we are all born heading for a fall.
But the gospel is the announcement of the great reversal. God did not leave us in our prideful ruin. He sent His Son to live out the second half of this proverb on our behalf. Christ, the truly humble one, the one with a lowly spirit, came to take hold of glory for us. He lived the life of perfect humility that we have failed to live. He died the death that our pride deserved.
When we, by faith, are united to Christ, we are joined to His story. His humiliation becomes our justification, and His exaltation becomes our hope. God looks at the proud sinner who has trusted in Jesus, and He sees not our pride, but Christ's perfect humility. He brings us low in repentance, forcing us to abandon all trust in our own righteousness, and then, in Christ, He raises us up and seats us with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6).
This is why the Christian life is a continual battle against pride. Every day, we must choose which path we will walk. Will we listen to the siren song of the world, which tells us to exalt ourselves? Or will we listen to the voice of our Savior, who tells us to take up our cross and follow Him down the path of humility? For that is the only path that leads to life. It is the only path that leads to glory.
The law of moral gravity is absolute. Pride will bring you down to hell. But in the gospel, there is a glorious exception. If you will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, if you will cling to the cross of Christ, He will catch you. And at the proper time, He will lift you up.