Zechariah 9:1-4 “The word of the LORD is against the land of Hadrak … Hamath too, which borders on it, and on Tyre and Sidon, though they are very skillful. Tyre has built herself a stronghold; she has heaped up silver like dust, and gold like the dirt of the streets. But the Lord will take away her possessions and destroy her power on the sea, and she will be consumed by fire.”
The people of Tyre built a strong, rich enterprise economy based on natural resources, location, trade, ambition, and skill. They fortified themselves to protect their system, building a strong national defense. Their trading partners wished them well and their enemies realized the difficulty in defeating them. Tyre did everything “right” except acknowledge that God was the source of their prosperity and protection. They were proud of their achievement.
Principle: Pride is an abomination for a nation, business or individual.
In 1974, Sears, a hundred-year-old company, proudly unveiled plans for the world’s tallest building. Built in Chicago, it was 11,454 feet high with 16,000 tinted windows and 80 miles of elevator cable. For Sears, it was one-upmanship over their competitor, Montgomery Ward. The concept was that a big company with a 110 story tower must be an organization that could last for hundreds of years, offer life-time careers to employees, guarantee a reliable return of investment to stockholders, etc.
Within a decade of the opening of the tower, America’s biggest retailer was fighting for its life. While Sears’ managers had been going about their age-old business of battling Montgomery Ward, the department store market was disappearing, undermined partly by WalMart. By 1992, Sam Walton of WalMart died as America’s richest retailer, In the same year, Sears reported a net loss of $39 billion. By 2000, Montgomery Ward had gone out of business laying off 37,000 people.
Pride and self-dependency are not limited to nations or companies. Anyone, by comparing himself with those who have less talent, success or popularity can have a feeling of satisfaction that is the opposite of humility.
Pride is all too common among God’s people, though God warns us that no one has anything to boast about, since all our gifts come from Him. Pride goes before a fall.
Discussion:
1. Does your business have a story of pride-gone-wrong?
2. Who do you compare yourself or your business to? Does that comparison leave you feeling better or worse about yourself or company?
3. What steps can you take to combat pride?
