Psalm 140:8 Do not grant the wicked their desires, O Lord;
do not let their plans succeed,
or they will become proud.

David recognized that pride goes hand in hand with evil. (The Japanese here says, “They are proud,” while the NIV says, “They will become proud.”) Pride is actually a complicated subject, because a healthy self-image can look like pride to some people. However, it is good to have gratitude to God for what He has given us and enabled us to accomplish, but it isn’t good at all to take Him out of the equation. The pride that David is referring to is actually defiance against God, and that is the sin of Satan. We see it today in “gay pride,” which flaunts behavior that the Bible, from beginning to end, makes clear is a violation of God’s laws. However, it also comes up in much more subtle forms. Any time we ignore God in our plans and think we can “get ahead” on our own, we are operating in pride. Pride is perhaps the biggest obstacle to genuine repentance, and there is no salvation without repentance.

Pride has always been a snare to me, even though I was raised in a thoroughly Christian environment. I wasn’t deliberately intending to defy God, but by focusing on my desires and my abilities (which were gifts from Him in the first place) I was effectively cutting Him out of the equation. Some of my failures have been good lessons to me! Having been tripped up by pride myself, it’s not hard to see that sort of attitude and behavior in others. I don’t feel I have personal enemies, certainly not the way David did, but I see those who act as agents of evil all around me. I am to stand firm against them in prayer, while remembering that it is the grace of God that keeps me from being in their shoes. I am to pray for their repentance and salvation, certainly, but I am also to pray, as David did, that their plans not succeed. After all, I am to pray that God’s kingdom come as His will is done!

Father, thank You for the assurance that You are God and that You have a really good plan for the earth. Help me walk in consistent humility and gratitude so that I may be useful in that plan and not a hindrance. I pray for Your children around the world that they may be protected from the plans of the proud and the evil, to stand pure and tall in whatever circumstances they are in, for the blessing of many and for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!