SIN IS A REPROACH TO ANY PEOPLE; PRIDE IS A GREAT SIN. Pride swelled the king's heart and he was lifted up with vanity. Yet Hezekiah was a good man, and had just received a remarkable proof of God's distinguishing love. We are by nature so proud that we are always in danger of being unduly elevated if God favours us; or of taking offence at God's dealings if He should try us. The strongest temptations often follow the sweetest manifestations; therefore we ought to be on our guard. There is nothing that God hates more than pride. He cannot tolerate it, and yet it is the very thing to which we are most prone. A proud heart is sure to be unfruitful; only the humble bring forth the fruits of righteousness. Pride generates fretfulness, discontent, envy, ill-will, hardness of heart, and a thousand other evils; let us beware lest our hearts be lifted up, for if they are, God will pull them down, and the means, as in Hezekiah's case, may be very severe. If Satan can make us proud, he will soon make us prayerless; if we become prayerless, we shall soon be careless; and if careless, we put ourselves into his power. Let us consider what we were before we received grace, and what we might have been but for grace.

For Meditation:
Jesus to us Thy grace impart,
Which flows so free from Thee;
The humble, meek, and lowly heart,
From pride and envy free.