BEFORE DESTRUCTION - Proverbs 18:12
Proverbs 18:12 Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility.
Have you ever met a young man who acted like he was invincible? He has not yet had a major accident nor has he seen just how frail he is in this world. Through the hard knocks of life, he will learn to mellow out and be more humble.
Job was a perfect man who God brought through great testing in order to prove to Satan and the entire world that Job loved God more than his riches. While one would not call Job a haughty man, one will say that Job had a whole new understanding of God after he lost his wealth, health, and children. Once Job had to face God one-on-one, Job truly learned just who God was and was able to be more humble.
Samson was a man who was granted great strength by God. Samson went where he wanted when he wanted and he feared no one. Samson was not afraid of being surrounded by 1,000 of his enemies without a weapon because he knew he could kill them all. However, there came a day when his pride got the best of Samson and he told Delilah the secret of his strength. Samson was woken up by Delilah and he went out to defeat his enemies as he had in the past and quickly was humbled to realize he had no strength.
Samson was very haughty about his strength as if there was nothing that could take it away. He had already broken a couple of the terms of his Nazarite vow and God had not taken away his strength. However, Samson had no strength and he was captured by the enemy, his eyes were plucked out, and he was forced to work as an oxan grinding the wheat of the Philistines. However, Samson humbled himself once more before God and God gave him back the supernatural strength so that he took down the house of the Philistines and killed more Philistines that day then he had his entire life.
Before you are tested you are always pretty sure of yourself. Take for example Joseph. Joseph had been given a couple dreams that revealed he was going to be a great leader. Joseph did not use discretion as to whom he shared those dreams with, but instead, he was so excited he shared the news with everyone. Joseph was soon betrayed by his brothers, sold as a slave, falsely accused, and forgotten about. All this testing made Joseph a new man so that many years later, Joseph was able to forgive his brothers and recognize that his brothers meant harm to him, but God meant it for God.
You must not allow your circumstances to control your relationship with God. You cannot afford to be on speaking terms with God only when God is giving you what you want when you want it. Instead, you need to be careful and learn to accept the trials that God brings your way as an opportunity to grow in your faith so that God can be glorified by your life. Just as a young man grows up by experiencing the hardness of life a couple of times, so you too will grow in your faith and become humble in spirit as you survive the trials that God allows you to face.
When trials arise in your life, you need to turn back to the basics; go back to the foundations of why you are doing what you are doing. If you are following a path that God has directed you, why should you fear when obstacles are put into your path? Instead, continue to add knowledge of the ways of God so that you can face your trials with assurance knowing that this is what God has directed you to do.