David in the bible was a worshipper. He praised God in total surrender because he was able to move in the direction God wanted his life to be through singing praises to God and staying in the place of prayer. Thereafter, things began to change for David; he began to prosper but it got into his head.
Pride is a damning character flaw that caused the downfall of Lucifer in the beginning. This is a spirit that can creep into the heart of a man and take him completely out of God’s ordained plan and purpose for his life. This spirit brings about displeasure from God in the direction of such an individual who displays such behavioural trait. It can cause God to hide his face from that person such that he begins to experience drought and dryness in life. David, saw things in his life that made him boast and he began to attribute the blessings of God in his life as his own doing; as a result, he ran into serious trouble with God. Afterwards; he came to himself and said “In my prosperity, I shall never be moved (Psalm 30:60). From his experience, he learnt to be humble no matter the increase that came into his life and that was what made him say the above scripture.
The cure to pride as a believer is to regularly remind yourself of where you started your life. That is the times when you were as intelligent or gifted as you are today but still confused about life and what the future holds. The Bible says that “a man cannot receive anything except it be granted unto him from heaven”. In other words; to look back and not attribute the goodness of God to Him is being ungrateful and proud.
For instance, a person might lose a job he’s had for years and then start wondering what happened along the way. It might be that the individual was working with a team of people and then suddenly starts to feel it was by his intellect that things were working in that organization or he may think he is the smartest person there and then begin to attribute the progress of the collective as his own individual brilliance; this is where his problem starts. This is what David came to realize, he said I got into God’s plan for my life, things turned around and, in my prosperity, I began to say I cannot be moved and then God hid his face from me and allowed things in my life to fall into pit. Then he went back to God in prayer and understood the covenant that the only reason God will bring him out of the pit is because death cannot praise Him (God). In other words, God brought him out of the pit to give Him praise. This means that after coming to himself and understanding his place in God he said; I am therefore coming out to declare God’s truth to my generation, to tell people about God’s loving-kindness, to attribute everything to the faithfulness and to the loving kindness of who God is in my life.
Inclusion as believers we need to realize and understand that we are created to serve and worship God. Everything that happens in our lives is to show forth the faithfulness of God and his power in our lives. Not giving God praise for the blessing in our lives is like not fulfilling what God has created us to do. The scripture says God has created us for signs and wonders; thus not showing the world the One who has made us so bright for all to see is depriving them of their salvation, redemption and godliness within. Do not forget that a heart of gratitude to the father shows and brings forth a life filled with God’s blessing every step of the way.
Author: Pst. Poju Oyemade
Source: Insight for Living
