The frightening fact about pride is that, not only will their life be miserable but their death and eternity too will be most miserable.Look at Saul, the first king of Israel. Normally, people who sin ask pardon from God when they realize their sin. But look at what Saul said when his sin was pointed out - "I have sinned: yet honour me now" (I Sam 15:30). How sad that, instead of seeking forgiveness, Saul was seeking honour, knowing he had sinned against God. When a man seeks honour, it is a sure sign of the presence of hidden (unwashed) sins in his life.
When Saul was "sore wounded of the archers" he knew he was dying, and yet, instead of using the last few seconds or minutes to repent and prepare for his eternity, he was still seeking dignity and honour! (I Sam 31:4). Obviously he did not want anybody to say after his death that he had been killed by an uncircumcised person. Whoever it was who killed him, he was going to go to hell; but that appeared to be his least concern!
The armourbearer refused to kill him. Saul therefore took a sword and fell on it. But his suicidal attempt failed. He realized that even death was hating to kill him. The Amalekite stood upon him and cut off his head. In what pathetic backslidden state he ended his life!
Saul's end is a warning to every one of us. It proves how pride can make our life and death and eternity most miserable. Saul did not want an uncircumcised Philistine to kill him, but what a disgrace it was to have to ask an Amalekite - the Amalekites were worse and more abominable than the Philistined - to kill him. The honour of this world is like a shadow - the more we follow it, the more it flees from us.
- Late Pastor T.U.Thomas, in "Morning Manna"
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