Pride

Proverbs 13:10 (NLT)

10 Pride leads to conflict; those who take advice are wise.
 

Matthew Henry says, “Foolish pride is the great make-bate. Would you know whence come wars and fighting? They come from this root of bitterness. Whatever hand other lusts may have in contention (passion, envy, covetousness), pride has the great hand; it is its pride that it will itself sow discord and needs no help. Pride makes men impatient of contradiction in either their opinions or their desires, impatient of competition and rival ship, impatient of contempt, or anything that looks like a slight, and impatient of concession, and receding, from a conceit of certain right and truth on their side; and hence arise quarrels among relations and neighbors, quarrels in states and kingdoms, in churches and Christian societies. Men will be revenged; will not forgive, because they are proud. [However] those that are humble and peaceable are wise and well advised. Those that will ask and take advice, that will consult their own consciences, their Bibles, their ministers, their friends, and will do nothing rashly, are wise, as in other things, so in this, that they will humble themselves, will stoop and yield, to preserve quietness and prevent quarrels.”

There are decisions that will lead us away from a relationship with God.  Our choices may not just have negative effects on us and our own walk with Jesus, but it’s very possible that those choices will damage other people’s relationship with Jesus.

“During a 1923 training exercise, a naval destroyer called the USS Delphy led a flotilla of seven vessels down the California coast. The USS Delphy was captained by Lieutenant Commander Donald T. Hunter, an experienced navigator and instructor at the Naval Academy. Without warning, about half way on their training mission, a thick blanket of fog descended on the ships. In the midst of the fog (Hunter claimed it looked like "pea soup"), Hunter couldn't get an accurate evaluation of his location. Contrary to Hunter's calculations, the lead ship was headed right into Devil's Jaw, a scant two miles off the California coast. But that didn't stop Hunter from plowing ahead. That is not surprising, for Hunter was known for his self-confident decisiveness [pride] and what others called his ‘magic infallibility’ to guide his ship.

“Traveling at 20 knots, suddenly the USS Delphy smashed broadside into the rocky Point Arguello shoreline. The force of the massive collision of welded steel and jagged rock split the hull of the USS Delphy in half. One by one, the other destroyers followed the Delphy's lead and smashed into the rocks. Twenty-two naval men died. The accident resulted in the loss of all seven ships. It still stands as one of the worst peacetime naval disasters in history.” [Robert McKenna, The Dictionary of Nautical Literacy (McGraw Hill, 2003), p. 97; Charles Lockwood & Hans Christian Adamson, Tragedy at Honda (Naval Institute Press, 1986), pp. 29-49]

I’m sure someone on the deck was trying to give advice about ship’s course, which the captain falsely believed to be correct. In the end one man’s decisions lead to both ships and life being lost. The accident was one of the worst recorded and to this day no other ship has been named Delphy.

Listening to advice is a wise thing to do; and putting that advice to use ever wiser. Pride that holds back from listening to sound advice will often to lead to disaster and serious conflict in life. Are you taking time to listen wisely and make sure pride is not getting in your way?