Haven’t we all made a decision that we later regretted? Over my lifetime, I have painfully learned that a decision birthed from a willful, prideful heart only yields regret. Thus, it benefits me, before making plans, to first seek God’s council and direction, so that He can make my way straight (Proverbs 3:5-6). For He tells us that He knows the plans He has for us. They are plans for our welfare and not for evil, so that He can give us a future and a hope (Jeremiah 29:11).
Human nature is such that we want to move forward with our plans. This propensity to do things without first seeking God has been a problem since Adam and Eve made the regrettable decision to willfully disobey God—a decision that has affected humanity in perpetuity. Adam and Eve may have been the first to make what proved to be a fatal decision, but throughout biblical history, mighty men, devoted to God and chosen by Him to accomplish His will on earth, also had their moments of weakness, which led to decisions they would regret.
Hezekiah, the son of the very evil King Ahaz, was not like his father. There was no one like Hezekiah among all the kings of Judah, either before him or after him. He cleansed God’s house of all pagan altars and idols, and destroyed the temples. He destroyed the bronze serpent that Moses had made in the desert, because the people had made it an idol of worship (Numbers 21:9; 2 Kings 18:4). He reopened and cleansed the temple that his father had nailed shut. He reinstated the Levitical priesthood and the Passover and a new awareness of God was revived. He held fast to the Lord and did not stop following Him; he kept the commands the Lord had given Moses. The Lord was with him, and he was successful in all that he undertook (2 Kings 18:6-7).
Shortly after his victory over the Assyrians who had been a threat to Judah, Hezekiah became very sick, so he called for the prophet, Isaiah, who told him that he would die. Hezekiah pleaded with the Lord to spare his life and God extended his life 15 more years (2 Kings 20:10). Not long after Hezekiah’s healing, the Babylonians heard that he had recovered from an illness and asked to come under the pretense of bringing him a gift.
Hezekiah could have said that because Judah’s trust was in the one true God, he was not interested in partnering with pagan Babylon. Instead, his ego was stroked by their desire to bring a gift, so he accepted the Babylonian emissaries as his guests. He then showed them all of his treasures, all his wealth, possessions, and everything in his arsenal. He kept nothing from them, as if trusting that Judah would make a good partner with Babylon. God then sent Isaiah to confront Hezekiah for his pride and carelessness in entertaining the pagan Babylonians and revealing his vast wealth and arsenal. Thus, God pronounced that the day would arrive when the Babylonians would come and take all that Hezekiah had, along with some of his descendants. No doubt Hezekiah suffered tremendous regret.
When the Israelites complained to Moses that they did not have water, God told Moses to take the staff and assemble the congregation. Then God said, “Tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water (Numbers 20:8). Then Moses and Aaron gathered the people before the rock, and Moses said, “Hear now, you rebels! Shallwebringwater for you out of this rock?”Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water gushed forth, and the congregation and livestock drank. Moses’ prideful and willful disobedience had usurped God’s authority by displayingauthority not given by God. He must have felt great regret when God told him to stand atop Mount Pisgah and view from afar the Promise Land he would never be allowed to enter.
King David made a very regrettable choice. “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab (a Jewish military commander), out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army (2 Samuel 11:1). In the spring, after the rains, it was customary to resume military activity with the king leading his armies. Instead of joining his men, David ordered Joab to launch an invasion of Rabbah, the capital of Ammon. David made the unfortunate decision to remain in Jerusalem. That careless decision to avoid his duties as king, lead to the sins of adultery, lying, murder, and the eventual death of his son.
Jonah is another man whose pride led him to disobey God, who had ordered him to go to Nineveh and preach against wickedness. Jonah had decided in his own mind that the Ninevites were so wicked, that they did not deserve a chance to repent. Therefore, he disobeyed God and went to Joppa to catch a ship to Tarshish. If nothing else is learned about pride and disobedience, it should not be forgotten that there is no escaping God’s discipline.
God sent a great wind that threatened the destruction of the ship and the death of all the sailors. The sailors cast lots to determine the sinner, and with the lot falling to Jonah, he was thrown into the sea and swallowed by a whale. From inside the belly of the whale, Jonah (who was against the Ninevites repenting) ironically prayed a prayer of repentance and God caused the whale to vomit Jonah onto dry land. Only then did Jonah reluctantly obey God. The king and over 120,000 citizens repented of their wicked ways and God spared the city (Jonah 1-2).
We know that Satan lost his place in heaven because of his pride. How does the Bible define pride? Pride is hubris, arrogance, conceit, self-importance, egotism, and preferring self-will to God’s will. And it is self-will that gets us into trouble, because it opens the door to sin. For pride counters God’s will and His purposes. “Pride goes before destruction; a haughty spirit before a fall.” And what is haughtiness? It is arrogance, vanity, and self-importance? (Proverbs 16:18)
It is safe to say that we are not like Hezekiah, Moses, King David, and Jonah. Yet, what we do have in common is our fallibility and susceptibility to the sin of pride. Thankfully, regrets do not need to be an albatross hanging around the neck, for the Word tells us that all things work together for good for those who love God; therefore, God urges us to guard our heart above all else, for it determines the course of our life (Romans 8:28; Proverbs 4:23).
PRAYER: FATHER, I repent of those choices that brought about regrets. Help me to guard my heart from pride and self-will. Help me to trust You, so that I do not rely on my own limited understanding. Through Your Word and by the Holy Spirit, instruct, teach, and guide me in the way I should go, and open my heart to Your counsel. In Jesus’ name, amen.
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