Wile E. Coyote's Downfall

 

The highway of the upright turns aside from evil; whoever guards his way preserves his life. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor than to divide the spoil with the proud. (Proverbs 16:17-19 ESV).

 

Perhaps you are old enough to have grown up watching Saturday morning cartoons as I did. One of the staples of the morning was the Roadrunner and his exploits in avoiding Wile E. Coyote. Sometimes I felt sorry for the coyote. No matter how intricate his plans or how extensive his preparations, he always ended the chase in some personal catastrophe. Later I questioned why he couldn’t simply stop chasing the roadrunner. I’ve since come to understand it was simply because he was too proud to believe he would fail. Isn’t that a familiar repetition in our lives? How often have we done the same things repeatedly, expecting different results? That is not perseverance, it is are two kinds insanity!

 

Of course, there are two kinds of pride. Both have to do with being majestic or exalted in some way. One kind of pride is good, for example, when parents view the development of their children as remarkable. But the other kind of pride is very bad. That’s the one that gets us into trouble. Throughout Proverbs we read about the good development that can happen when someone pursues wisdom. True wisdom is gained through God. And even though a wise person can go through many ups and downs in life, the wisdom they’ve gained will help to hold their life together.

 

But beware of trying to keep it all together on your own. Beware of the pride that makes you think that anything you built on your own is worth more. Or that because you built it by yourself you won’t need anyone’s help to hold it together. Or, most dangerous of all, because you have been self-sufficient, you are a greater person than people who have relied on others.

 

That kind of pride leads to destruction. Poetically this verse is saying that if you have built something without God, then it isn’t built very well. It’s not built to last. Sooner or later, the so-called majestic life you built without God will simply fall apart. Do better that Wile E. Coyote… be wise, not arrogantly prideful.