Pride Comes Before the Fall – September 23, 2024

Read: Numbers 12:1-15

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this. (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words: “When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.
Numbers 12:1-9

Pride Comes Before the Fall

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“It’s not fair that he gets to play with it! I want to!”
“Why does she get to stay up later? I should be able to stay up that late, too!”

Maybe those words, or something like them, have been spoken in your house. Sometimes, we want something or think we deserve something that someone else has—maybe even a brother or sister. When we feel that way, we can treat them poorly. We can even treat our parents poorly because they are the ones who get to decide in our house who gets to do what and when.

Something like that happened when God’s Old Testament people were wandering in the wilderness. During that time, three grown-up siblings—Moses, Aaron, and Miriam—had important roles among the Israelites, but Moses was the leader. That’s because the Lord chose Moses to be the leader. The Lord, who had rescued them from slavery in Egypt, always knew what was best for his people. But Miriam and Aaron began to question what God thought was best. They talked badly about Moses. They thought they should be the leaders because they spoke God’s words too, and because Moses had married a woman who wasn’t from where they were from, which is not only very silly but also very sinful. Miriam and Aaron thought they were better than Moses. They thought they were smarter than God. That sin is called pride, and it leads to all kinds of other sins. That’s why there is a wise saying that says, “Pride comes before the fall.”

That saying points back to the Garden of Eden. Pride was the reason that the once good angel, Satan, rebelled against his God. He wanted what God had—his power and position. Pride was the reason Adam and Eve fell into Satan’s temptation to eat the forbidden fruit. They thought they should get to be like God. But pride always leads to more sin, and it always leads to a fall. There were painful consequences for Miriam’s and Aaron’s sinful pride. There are painful consequences for ours, too.

Thank God for the forgiveness he gives through Jesus. The glorious Son of God had every reason to be prideful, but in humility, he gave up everything to come and be the Savior of sinful people like you and me.

Closing Prayer:

Heavenly Father, forgive us for our selfish sins of pride for humble, selfless Jesus’ sake. Help us remember pride comes before the fall so that we guard our hearts against it. Amen.

The questions below are to help families discuss this devotion. The questions are divided by age group as suggestions, but anyone could reflect on any of the questions as they desire.

Questions for Younger Children

• Remember the last time you didn’t treat someone nicely (brother or sister or parent) because you wanted something you could not have?
• What do we need to say when we’ve acted that way? What is the very nice thing Jesus has done for us, even when we haven’t been nice to others?

Questions for Elementary Age Children

• In your own words, what is pride?
• How does pride lead to all kinds of other sins?

Questions for Middle School and Above

• A famous Christian teacher named St. Augustine once said: “It was pride that changed angels into devils; it is humility that makes men as angels.” What is he trying to say?
• Contrast pride and humility. How are they complete opposites?