Walking with the Wise #247: The Harbinger of Destruction

“Pride goes before destruction,

and a haughty spirit before a fall."

—Proverbs 16:18

One of the most interesting characters in United States history is George Custer (1839-1876). A hero of the Civil War, notching victories and heroic feats in several battles, his prowess was only surpassed by his overconfidence, which resulted in his making a very foolish decision in fighting the Battle of Little Bighorn, where he, along with his soldiers were killed.

On June 25, 1876, Custer was waiting for reinforcements at the mouth of the Little Big Horn River before attacking the much larger Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne tribes. Boasting a fighting unit of 208 officers and soldiers, he was grossly outnumbered by the approximately 3,500 Indian warriors and chiefs. However, Chief Sitting Bull had been spotted nearby—so Custer—being impatient and unwilling to wait for reinforcements fearing that he would lose his opportunity, foolishly ordered his men into battle losing quite handedly in under an hour.

Custer clearly epitomizes today’s verse and if we are honest with ourselves, us as well. Today’s verse speaks of “pride” and being “haughty.” The Hebrew word for haughty is gobah, which is literally translated as “height.” The thought is that one thinks of oneself higher than one actually is.

How often have we been assured of our own importance or abilities? We are grossly self-centered, like bit actors in a feature film. We may think that we are great, but our parts may only consist of one line, if any at all. We may simply be a stand in, or extra. Rest assured God is the center star of the feature film of life, and we are just lucky to be on screen at all.

It’s as the great Teddy Roosevelt once wrote,

“It is a humbling matter to consider the wide gulf, the gaping chasm that exists in this poor sin-besotted world, between creature and Creator.”[1]

Once we consider how great God is, we see how small and dependent we are and God is glorified because of it. May each one of us, with eyes wide open, see the sublime majesty of God in His infinite glory. May we see Him in the wondrous mystery of the incarnation as deity slipped in to broken humanity. May we tremble at the crucifixion as we stare upon the costly price borne by His divinity, and may we marvel in awesome wonder when considering the death of death in His death and the bestowal of life afforded to us by His resurrection. Amen.

[1]Teddy Roosevelt, “The Letters and Speeches of Theodore Roosevelt,” p.67.