I am presently preaching an expository series through Deuteronomy. This final book of the Pentateuch is a compilation of Moses’s death-bed sermons as he prepares the Israelites to enter in and conquer the land of Canaan. Contrary to what we might expect, Moses doesn’t preach military strategy. Israel’s victory and prosperity in Canaan doesn’t depend on powerful weapons and clever tactics. Victory depends upon one thing alone—living faithfully in a loving communion bond with God. That bond is called a covenant, and Moses is a preacher of it. Israel does not need a great battle strategy because the God who goes before them is their great military Captain, and if they will walk with Him in faith and love, He will fight on their behalf and give them the victory according to His promise. 

But there is one problem. Israel is proud. And that pride will keep them from living in faithful devotion to their faithful Lord. It will lead them to deny God, break covenant, and fall under the covenant curse. So Moses the dying prophet uses his final words to wake them up to their natively proud hearts:

• “If you say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I. How can I dispossess them?’” (Deut. 7:17).

• “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth” (Deut. 8:17). 

• “Do not say in your heart, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land’” (Deut. 9:4). 

The proud heart is a chatterbox, speaking all manner of insanity. 

Pre-conquest, pride would lead to inflated views of their enemies: “There is no possible way we can overthrow these giants. They are too great!” Pop psychology calls this low self-esteem. But post-conquest, pride would lead to inflated views of themselves: “Our power and piety have brought this about. We are pretty great!” Rather than low self-esteem, this is a heart governed by high self-esteem. 

Pride lives upon creaturely comparison

The low self-esteem that declares its inferiority and the high self-esteem that declares its superiority are not two different heart dispositions; they suffer from the same root problem. They are both varied manifestations of a heart that exalts man to idolatrous proportions. This is the condition of a heart that compares itself to creatures rather than the Creator.

Have you ever done that? Have you ever compared yourself to another human being and been inflated or deflated as a result? The reality is we do this all the time. Our hearts are always chattering. And in our pride, our hearts babble man-exalting madness as we compare ourselves to fellow image-bearers. We become inflated with superiority because our muscles or bank account or IQ is bigger. We become deflated with inferiority because another’s beauty or popularity or holiness outshine our own. We make man the defining characteristic of the self. 

Moses understands that such an arrogant, man-exalting, loud-mouthed heart will destroy Israel. And it will do so because this creature-idolatry is rooted in a rejection of the true and living God. Pride is anti-God. If the key to Israel’s blessedness is living faithfully with God in a loving communion bond, then nothing is a greater threat to their welfare than pride. It will lead to their exile and destruction. And it will lead to ours as well.

That is why Moses pleads with Israel to get a new heart: “Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn” (Deut. 10:16). Our greatest need is a heart that is no longer governed by pride. We need a heart that doesn’t glory in man’s strength, wisdom, wealth, and righteousness, but instead glories in the Lord. For if pride lives upon the creature’s comparison of himself to fellow creatures, then humility lives upon the creature’s comparison of himself to the Creator. Humility is the lowly spirit that is produced by seeing ourselves before God. I like to call it the downward disposition of a Godward self-perception. 

The great need of us all is to see ourselves before God. That is why throughout Deuteronomy 6–11 Moses impresses upon Israel the multifaceted glory of the God who has condescended to graciously covenant with them. Only when the vision of the heart is framed by His majesty and holiness can we understand ourselves rightly and live accordingly. The downward disposition that is produced by this Godward view of self is the key to living in relationship with God both now and forever. 

The pastor-theologian Augustine was once asked, “What three graces does a minister need most?” He replied with three Latin words, “Humilitas; humilitas; humilitas.” Were an Israelite to ask the aged Moses, “What three graces ought I most to pursue?” it is no stretch to imagine him responding, “Humility; humility; humility.” Lest we fall short of entering God’s heavenly rest, we must labor to get hearts of God-exalting, Christ-magnifying humilitas. Nothing is more urgently needed than this.