Psalm 119:21 – Pride and Staggering
You rebuke the proud, accursed ones,
Who stagger away from your commands.
As with each verses, there are lots of directions my mind goes with this, for example, what it means to be “accursed” and what, in particular, one might be proud of.
But the direction my mind went was simply this: Pride goes before destruction (Proverbs 16:18). How is that?
Now first let me distinguish pride from pride. That is, there is a good feeling at doing something right, or even more at seeing someone else do something well. I’m frequently proud when I hear or read about what my grandchildren have done.
The difference between one kind or another is not one of degree, but one of truth. A pride in knowledge that is simply accurate acknowledgment of one’s accomplishments can be a positive part of living and growth. But there is a different quality of inaccurate pride, which can also be called arrogance–the assumption that one knows things and has skills when one does not, in fact have that knowledge or capability.
I’ve certainly experience the latter form of pride when I assumed I had something covered, and then encountered a test that proved I had no such knowledge. As I read 1 Corinthians, I see a whole book directed at forms of spiritual pride. It’s not doing good things, or even knowing you’ve done good things that’s condemned, but rather the thought that you are better than other people when you do those things.
It’s not wrong to believe you have gifts from God. It’s wrong to believe your gifts make you better than other people.
Pride often results from not looking at the standard. If I take my eyes off of God’s standards (his law or instruction) as is noted in this Psalm, then I can decide that I have attained when I have not.
An overestimate of my own accomplishments or capabilities can also make me attempt things for which I am not actually qualified. My wife and I have had a number of discussions over the years about continuing to drive after a certain point as we get older. We know many stories of people who thought, “I can still do this. I’m good!” It turned out, they were not so good. Pride in skill as a driver when one’s eyesight or attention has deteriorated has frequently resulted in injury or death, and not just of the proud one.
To again distinguish pride, let me say I’m proud of my parents (first sense), who each made a decision not to continue driving after a certain point. They decided they were no longer capable of handling their vehicle safely on the road. They sold it, and used other means of transportation.
Psalm 119 points us repeatedly to God’s standards as something to study, even as a mirror to look at. If we imagine ourselves better than we are, we’ve fallen into pride and arrogance and we’re going to stagger off the way.
But as we look at that law, we know we serve one to whom we can also say, “Don’t let me wander!” (Psalm 119:8).
Are you assessing yourself by looking at the right standard?