A Proud Look

God hates a proud look. That is interesting to me. I would expect God to start the list of things He hates with “hands that shed innocent blood” or adultery, maybe. But no. Number one on His list is a proud look (see Proverbs 6:16–19).

Why is this such a big deal? After all, in our culture today, pride is seen as a virtue. Be proud of your heritage, we’re told. Be proud of who you are.

But the Bible says that God hates a proud look. What does this mean? Well, a proud look speaks of a person who would want his or her will above the will of God and the will of others. It speaks of people who are arrogant and full of themselves.

Did you know that pride was the first sin ever committed? Even before Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, the sin of pride was committed by Lucifer. He wasn’t satisfied to be an angel serving the Lord. He wanted to be God. And God banished him because of his pride.

So what did he do? He tempted Eve with the forbidden fruit. He basically said, “Go ahead and eat of it, Eve, because when you eat of it, you will be as a god, knowing good and evil. You will know more than everyone else” (see Genesis 3:5). What was he appealing to? Her pride. And she gave in.

You see, pride is probably at the root of most of the problems in our culture today. It is probably at the root of so many of our sins today. When we say, “I don’t need to live God’s way. I will do what I want to do when I want to do it,” that is pride.

God hates a proud look. So let’s not put our will above the will of God.