Proverbs 6: 16-20 God hates a Proud Look
These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
God is a God of love, and according the the Bible, he loves us all with an everlasting love. But as much as God loves us and has shown us his love through his grace and mercy, there are some things that exists within us that God has serious issues with, in fact, he downright hate to see in any of us. If we were to draft a list of the many manifestations of the things we do, think and say that displeases God, they would too numerous to list in one article. I believe, if we were to categorize the "hates" of God as it pertains to the character of man in his "fleshy" state, we probably could narrow all of them down to 7 catagories. The Bible clearly tells us in Proverbs 6:16b that there are 6 things, even "7 things" that God really hate. In this article we will deal with God's hatred of "a proud look".
A "proud look" can be also classified as "haughty eyes" or possessing a "high Look". According to Proverbs 18:27, "High looks" are strong indicatives of the presence of pride and haughtiness in the heart of the individual. If you carefully observe a person that is steeped in pride, that proud man or woman usually carries their head up in a high position as if they are looking more in the sky than at the people in general. The late Rev. Dr. Leo Daniels once refered to them in one of his sermons as "high steppers". It has been said that the look of a "proud person" is in acuality the reflection of true things that are festering in their heart, that is, it is the evidence of pride, self-conceit, vanity, and a proud heart, from which the high look, the arrogance, and haughtiness others experience from them originates.
What is the danger in having a proud look?
The "grossness" of the pride, conceit and arrogance that's in the heart of a prideful person is to the extent that they tend to walk with their heads up high all the time. I've found that the more you attempt to talk with them, the more you feel a "condescending spirit" coming from them toward others as if all other people are beneath them and usually, they tend to talk scornfully and in derision about others, no matter who they might be. In fact, it hard to get some of them to look at you in the face when you engage in a conversation with them. Some are so agrrogant and self absorbed that they will turn face in other directions as they converse with you as to say that you aren't even worthy for them to look at you. It's one of the many "character traits" of "one ups-manship" in a person who believes in their arrogance that they are in a class way above everyone else!
In the Amplified Bible, a proud look is conveyed this way: A proud look is that spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate everybody else. Pride causes people to seek sufficiency in themselves rather than in the soverign all sufficiency and power of God. In the eyes of God, they are the children of Belial, because a proud look along with the other negative attributes in Proverbs 6:16-17 are the same attributes that comprises the character of Satan. Show you what I mean.
In Isaiah 14:13-15, you get a clear cut view of "over-estimation and arrogance" in the mind of Lucifer (Satan) in relationship of how he (in his pride) saw himself in comparision to and underestimation of the Soverignty of God and the lofty positions held by rest of the angelic host: Observe the 5 "I wills" in the following verses: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High". What arrogance and pride!
What was God's response to this arrogant and prideful declaration in that same chapter?
But you will come down to the underworld, even to its inmost parts. Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms?
Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house. All the kings of the earth are at rest in glory, every man in his house, But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot. Isaiah 14:15-19 BBE Version
This is to say that God hates a proud look so much that at some point, he will bring down the pride and that person steeped in pride if they will not turn from their wicked way and humble themselves under "the mighty hand of God". God has a way to both awaken and humble proud sinners, and then put them out of the misery of conceit which causes them to delight in and depend on, more than they depend upon God.
God will:
A. Startle and awaken self-secured sinners, who cry peace to themselves, and bid defiance to God and his judgments
B. Humble and abase proud sinners, that look big, and think highly of themselves, and scornfully of all others about them
Pride will, one way or other, ends both in a fall and in failure. All people in their haughtiness eventually are brought down, either by GRACE (God convincing them of the evil of their pride and after repentance and submission to Christ clothes them with humility), or by PROVIDENCE (God depriving them or taking away from them everything that made them proud and utterly bringing them low). Our Saviour said: "He who exalts himself shall be abased and he that abase himself shall abound". Either the proud person will abase (humble) himself in true repentance or God will abase (humble) him and pour contempt upon him.
Why this shall be done you ask?: Because the Lord alone will be exalted.
According to the Matthew Henry Commentary: "Proud men shall be vilified because the Lord alone will be magnified. It is for the honour of God's power tthat he humbles the proud. By this, he proves himself to be God, and disproves any person's pretensions to attempt to rival with him. (Job 40:11-14). "Behold every one that is proud, and abase him; then will I also confess unto thee". It is equally as true for the honour of his justice. God hates a proud look!
Remember: Proud men stand in competition with a "holy" God, who is jealous for his own glory, and will not under any circumstances allow anybody to take his glory either to themselves or give to someone else anything (glory, honor, praise, credit) that which is due to him only. Proud people with or without their proud looks stand in opposition to God. They are resistent to him in every way, and therefore he in response resists them. God will be exalted among the heathen (Ps 46:10), and there is soon coming a day in which God will be exalted alone by Himself besides no one else, when, as the Apostle Paul said, he shall have put down all oppositional rule, principalities, and power, 1 Cor 15:24.
These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:
A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother:
God is a God of love, and according the the Bible, he loves us all with an everlasting love. But as much as God loves us and has shown us his love through his grace and mercy, there are some things that exists within us that God has serious issues with, in fact, he downright hate to see in any of us. If we were to draft a list of the many manifestations of the things we do, think and say that displeases God, they would too numerous to list in one article. I believe, if we were to categorize the "hates" of God as it pertains to the character of man in his "fleshy" state, we probably could narrow all of them down to 7 catagories. The Bible clearly tells us in Proverbs 6:16b that there are 6 things, even "7 things" that God really hate. In this article we will deal with God's hatred of "a proud look".
A "proud look" can be also classified as "haughty eyes" or possessing a "high Look". According to Proverbs 18:27, "High looks" are strong indicatives of the presence of pride and haughtiness in the heart of the individual. If you carefully observe a person that is steeped in pride, that proud man or woman usually carries their head up in a high position as if they are looking more in the sky than at the people in general. The late Rev. Dr. Leo Daniels once refered to them in one of his sermons as "high steppers". It has been said that the look of a "proud person" is in acuality the reflection of true things that are festering in their heart, that is, it is the evidence of pride, self-conceit, vanity, and a proud heart, from which the high look, the arrogance, and haughtiness others experience from them originates.
What is the danger in having a proud look?
The "grossness" of the pride, conceit and arrogance that's in the heart of a prideful person is to the extent that they tend to walk with their heads up high all the time. I've found that the more you attempt to talk with them, the more you feel a "condescending spirit" coming from them toward others as if all other people are beneath them and usually, they tend to talk scornfully and in derision about others, no matter who they might be. In fact, it hard to get some of them to look at you in the face when you engage in a conversation with them. Some are so agrrogant and self absorbed that they will turn face in other directions as they converse with you as to say that you aren't even worthy for them to look at you. It's one of the many "character traits" of "one ups-manship" in a person who believes in their arrogance that they are in a class way above everyone else!
In the Amplified Bible, a proud look is conveyed this way: A proud look is that spirit that makes one overestimate himself and underestimate everybody else. Pride causes people to seek sufficiency in themselves rather than in the soverign all sufficiency and power of God. In the eyes of God, they are the children of Belial, because a proud look along with the other negative attributes in Proverbs 6:16-17 are the same attributes that comprises the character of Satan. Show you what I mean.
In Isaiah 14:13-15, you get a clear cut view of "over-estimation and arrogance" in the mind of Lucifer (Satan) in relationship of how he (in his pride) saw himself in comparision to and underestimation of the Soverignty of God and the lofty positions held by rest of the angelic host: Observe the 5 "I wills" in the following verses: "I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High". What arrogance and pride!
What was God's response to this arrogant and prideful declaration in that same chapter?
But you will come down to the underworld, even to its inmost parts. Those who see you will be looking on you with care, they will be in deep thought, saying, Is this the troubler of the earth, the shaker of kingdoms?
Who made the world a waste, overturning its towns; who did not let his prisoners loose from the prison-house. All the kings of the earth are at rest in glory, every man in his house, But you, like a birth before its time, are stretched out with no resting-place in the earth; clothed with the bodies of the dead who have been put to the sword, who go down to the lowest parts of the underworld; a dead body, crushed under foot. Isaiah 14:15-19 BBE Version
This is to say that God hates a proud look so much that at some point, he will bring down the pride and that person steeped in pride if they will not turn from their wicked way and humble themselves under "the mighty hand of God". God has a way to both awaken and humble proud sinners, and then put them out of the misery of conceit which causes them to delight in and depend on, more than they depend upon God.
God will:
A. Startle and awaken self-secured sinners, who cry peace to themselves, and bid defiance to God and his judgments
B. Humble and abase proud sinners, that look big, and think highly of themselves, and scornfully of all others about them
Pride will, one way or other, ends both in a fall and in failure. All people in their haughtiness eventually are brought down, either by GRACE (God convincing them of the evil of their pride and after repentance and submission to Christ clothes them with humility), or by PROVIDENCE (God depriving them or taking away from them everything that made them proud and utterly bringing them low). Our Saviour said: "He who exalts himself shall be abased and he that abase himself shall abound". Either the proud person will abase (humble) himself in true repentance or God will abase (humble) him and pour contempt upon him.
Why this shall be done you ask?: Because the Lord alone will be exalted.
According to the Matthew Henry Commentary: "Proud men shall be vilified because the Lord alone will be magnified. It is for the honour of God's power tthat he humbles the proud. By this, he proves himself to be God, and disproves any person's pretensions to attempt to rival with him. (Job 40:11-14). "Behold every one that is proud, and abase him; then will I also confess unto thee". It is equally as true for the honour of his justice. God hates a proud look!
Remember: Proud men stand in competition with a "holy" God, who is jealous for his own glory, and will not under any circumstances allow anybody to take his glory either to themselves or give to someone else anything (glory, honor, praise, credit) that which is due to him only. Proud people with or without their proud looks stand in opposition to God. They are resistent to him in every way, and therefore he in response resists them. God will be exalted among the heathen (Ps 46:10), and there is soon coming a day in which God will be exalted alone by Himself besides no one else, when, as the Apostle Paul said, he shall have put down all oppositional rule, principalities, and power, 1 Cor 15:24.
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