The Roadblock of Pride

A proud man is always looking down on things and people; and, of course, as long as you are looking down, you cannot see something that is above you.

— C. S. LEWIS

Several years ago we were asked to work with an organization that had plateaued in its growth and was looking to identify why. A couple of our team members flew into their city for a few days, met with the leaders and the members of their team, and then prepared for our usual debriefing session before flying back to Florida.

But the debriefing didn't go the way we planned. Every time one of our team began to offer suggestions, the leader of this organization would cut us off. "Yep. Got it," he'd say. "What else? Keep moving." It was clear this leader didn't really want to hear what we had to say, and he certainly didn't want to talk about any of the issues our team had observed. He thought he knew best how to run his organization, and he wasn't open to hearing any possibilities from outsiders like us.

At one point this man's wife, who was present in the debriefing session, grew frustrated. "Why don't you stop cutting them off," she said, "and just listen to what they have to say?" He ignored her.

Sadly, a few years ago the organization closed its doors and went out of business. It didn't have to happen. We could have helped them. The pride of this leader was a roadblock that kept him from being teachable.

Pride will do that. Pride will keep us from teachability and will keep us from getting where we want to go. Pride is a major hindrance to everything good in your life because, as we are about to see, pride breeds presumption, and presumption kills teachability.

Terrible Odds

In this first part of the book, we are looking at a leader from history, King Saul, whose lack of teachability cost him greatly. In 1 Samuel 13, we find a particular instance when Saul let the roadblock of pride get in his way. Let me unpack the scenario for you.

Under Saul's leadership, the army of Israel found itself in a precarious situation. To put it mildly, the odds were not in their favor. Their archenemies, the Philistines, were preparing to attack them and do major damage to them. Their intention was to take the Israelites captive, or worse, destroy them. The biblical account says that Israel only had about three thousand troops and the Philistines had way more, some translations say as many as thirty thousand chariots! — and a whole heck of a lot of people on foot.

As a leader, Saul was feeling pretty unsure of himself and his army. Can you blame him? Any of us would feel the same way when facing those odds. But how Saul reacted when he felt unsure was what got him in trouble.

A Divine Safety Net

In those days, because Israel was God's chosen people, God guided them through special spokespersons called prophets. Only the prophets or priests were allowed to approach God on behalf of the people. So, before a king went out to fight a battle, he would seek out the prophet to ask God if what he was about to do was a good idea.

The prophet would make sacrifices and listen to what God said. And if the prophet said, "Yes, God is in this," then the king could go forward in confidence. But if the prophet said, "No, God isn't in this," then the king would call off the mission. At least that was the way it was supposed to work.

Needless to say, King Saul needed some guidance before he led his army into battle against that huge Philistine army. So there they stood, ready to go into battle. Samuel, the prophet, had promised to come and ask God what to do. But Samuel was nowhere to be found.

They waited one day. Nothing.

Two days. Nothing.

Three days. Still nothing. Not a word from the prophet.

And Saul's men were getting restless. Most of them, in fact, were completely terrified, and many were running away. Each day Saul's army was growing smaller and smaller. And the prophet was nowhere to be found.

Saul must have felt like a complete idiot waiting there day after day while his army dwindled and the Philistines loomed. Why was he standing around waiting on a prophet anyway? He was the king, after all. Why couldn't he approach God on his own? So Saul decided to do just that. The Bible describes it this way:

Saul remained at Gilgal, and all the troops with him were quaking with fear. He waited seven days, the time set by Samuel; but Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and Saul's men began to scatter. So he said, "Bring me the burnt offering and the fellowship offerings." And Saul offered up the burnt offering.

Saul let the pressure to do something — anything — get to him. He couldn't stand having his men see him just standing there, waiting, and he really couldn't stand seeing his army waste away. So rather than do things the right way, Saul just went ahead and did what he wanted. He let his pride make him presumptuous. And as soon as he did, everything began to unravel.

The minute Saul was finished doing Samuel's job, sure enough, Samuel showed up. He wasn't even really late — he had told Saul from the beginning that he would be away seven days. Needless to say, the prophet was ticked when he found out what Saul had done. For King Saul to do an end run around the system was completely unacceptable, and it would eventually have severe consequences:

"You have done a foolish thing," Samuel said. "You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people."

Saul presumed that because of his title and position he could do what he wanted — a big mistake. But as Samuel pointed out, Saul's presumption had made him untrustworthy, and that in turn made him dangerous as a leader. His kingdom would eventually topple, and someone else would be raised up to lead his people.

It didn't happen right away. In fact, Saul and his son Jonathan went on to win quite a few battles against the Philistines. But in the end, Samuel was right. God did...