Herod Agrippa the First facilitated the murder of James and had Peter put in prison. He also received the praises of the Jewish people under his rule as though he were a god. As a result God punished him.
Scripture tells us in Acts 12:23 what happened as Herod was addressing the people – “Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died.” Herod died in a horrible way because he did not recognize God for the deity that He is.
In Exodus 20:3 we are told by God, “You must not have any other god but me.” God does not want us to have other gods or idols in our life nor does He want us to be so proud that we act like a god. As we can see in the case of Herod, if we maintain this kind of attitude there will probably be consequences. We may not experience the type of ugly sickness and death that Herod did, but we can be sure that there will be consequences. Pride and self-righteousness leads to control, conflict and frustration in our relationships with other people. It can also put a big wedge in between us and God and He doesn’t want that to happen.
Take some time to reflect deep into your heart and check your pride level. Are you taking or receiving the praise and glory in a situation without redirecting it to God? He placed each of us on this earth to glorify Him, not ourselves, by using our unique gifts and talents. Let’s make sure to do that!
Stay close to God and with His power, be humble.
