Arrogance often comes across as an attitude of superiority, sometimes overtly offensive, sometimes well camouflaged under a managed exterior. Whether one or the other it is an attitude of the heart, and people eventually know it no matter how well managed.
Arrogance can also disguise itself as ‘cock-sure’, defiance, and underestimation of the situation.
The opposite of arrogance is humility and a grateful heart.
The One Person who is never fooled is God, and in my experience, He will go to great lengths to bring the arrogant to humility.
Proverbs 3:34 says “He scorns the scornful, but gives grace to the humble.”
James 4:6 makes it even more plain “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”
The root of arrogance is pride, and sooner or later we are called to account.
Here is my story, which is still unfolding as I write this piece.

Very early in my working career, I became a ‘successful’ businessman. Of course I had worked hard; of course I knew my product brilliantly; and of course I had accumulated knowledge which gave me an edge over the opposition. I had personally trained my sales staff not to be order takers, never to cut the price, but rather to offer solutions which other suppliers had not considered.
In typical arrogant style, I considered that this success was my natural entitlement, and the thought of failure was never in my thoughts. I took for granted that if I could build such a successful business from the ground, I could literally ‘do anything and it would be a success’. The result was the worst business decision I ever made. I sold the business to a willing buyer, and walked away with a substantial sum of money, with the reinforced conviction that I could indeed ‘do anything’.
I have covered the many options I had prior the sale of the business in other articles on this website, so there are more details there of the lessons learned.

Looking back, I must have been a very difficult person to live with, and to keep up with at the time. I knew everything; I could do anything; I was basically ‘bullet-proof’. There was enough money for a divorce without financial pain, because for years I had been eyeing the grass on the other side which looked greener. What I did not see was the angry bull fertilizing that greener field, and the amount of effort it would take to keep dodging when he charged. And so I went around for several years, making a pest of myself, always surrounded and followed by anybody who was interested in having a good time. I was a ‘smart-ass’ without being aware of it, and proud of it.

God was biding His time. He first drew me into His love, then allowed me to carry on with my life. Despite having totally fallen in love with Him and being more infatuated with Jesus Christ than I had ever been before, I was not changing some of my behaviour. As far as I was concerned, I had Jesus in my corner, and I was perhaps even more ‘bullet-proof’ than ever. I married a girl who I had been seeing because I figured that it was better to marry her than to live ‘in sin’. Life was going on merrily. I saw my children regularly, took them to church every Sunday and they both made the decision to become Christ followers independently and without my prompting. Life was good.

But the Lord has His methods of achieving His will, and He will take whatever time He needs and make use of whatever means at His disposal. Like a master chess player, he waited five years. He gave me time to feel the heat of some stock exchange reversals in which I was heavily invested, several other business ventures which did not go according to plan, and finally some commodity trades in West Africa which were disastrous and financially ruinous. In a matter of a few months I found myself with no money, no income, my wife left, and my older son became a cocaine addict.
I had gone full circle, from hero to zero. Everything which I thought mattered, vapourised. There was no more pretence, no more swagger, no more high life. There was also nowhere to hide. The fall was sudden and brutal. The life which I had taken for granted as my entitlement, and which I had treated so flippantly had just become unbearable, and the future was compromised and uncertain.

This massive reversal of fortune caught me completely by surprise. These sorts of things were not supposed to happen to people like me. They were the exclusive territory of other people without successful backgrounds or of a good upbringing like mine. Naturally, I began to ask questions. How could this have happened? Could I have prevented any of it? Was there anything or anyone I could blame? How was I going to get out of this hole? Was there a way out without losing my dignity? I had lost my identity, my wealth, my wife, and had a 20-year-old son on drugs. I could not go lower…and this was exactly where God wanted me. Now He could really start working in my life. I had the choice to turn toward Him or away from Him. I realised that the situation was completely out of my control and I did not have the tools to fix any one of the problems, let alone all three. I was in the furnace. No human endeavour could assist. There was nowhere to turn without coming face to face with the reality of the situation. No financial gifts were coming my way, I could not buy my wife back, and my son’s condition was not in my control. In any event my wife had shown her true colours, and the trust was gone. I chose to ask God for His help.

Thank you, Jesus, for having walked the road with me, for being patient even when I went astray again. That furnace reshaped me, changed my identity, renewed my mind, and enabled me to get a better perspective of God and eternity. It was a process which is still ongoing today. God has never stopped His work. He created me for a specific purpose and how many of you know that He will complete the work He began in us?

Alas, arrogance, like many others, is a disease which must be monitored and managed once identified. It has a way or rearing its ugly head without being noticed, and before you know, it’s back in your life. It also has many disguises and many facets. It took a long time to get used to my new situation. Where I had felt invincible before, I was now very vulnerable. I was realising my limitations. During those broken years, a very mature friend wrote me a note which I have in front of me, dated 16/06/96. That’s 30 years ago. In it she mentions that I feel that I’m on the same playing field, but the rules of the game had changed. It was a Word from God that He had heard my cries, that he was re-moulding me, that He was bringing about change, not to resist Him, to spend time with Him, and to surrender my life to Him. This hand-written note is in one of my bibles to this day. It was an encouragement, but not a magic wand. My life did not transform overnight. It was a slow grind, but I had the assurance that He was there with me. He was walking the road with me.

Fast forward 30 eventful years of business, success and failure, opportunities to learn, to grow, to understand, and to mature. God never left my side despite the many times I disappointed Him. He allowed me to make choices, often not good ones. He allowed me to feel the heat of my poor decisions hoping I would join the dots and get the message. Arrogance has a way of interfering with the way we hear God and interpret events.

I have just had a total knee replacement, probably several years too late. This was necessitated by the deterioration of my knee after a very old soccer injury, two surgeries, and my increasing lack of mobility. So to ensure the best possible quality of what is left of my life, and after much deliberation, discussions with my wife and my inner self, I used what courage I have and had the surgery. Here is where the dreaded disease of arrogance reappeared. I underestimated the severity of the surgery. I thought I would take it in my stride and treated it as though it was a sprained wrist. I poo-pooed the warnings and recovery expectations. These were obviously not for me. After all, I was fit and strong and I thought I could endure physical pain. I would rise above all the warnings and would be up and about in no time at all. Talk about arrogance!

As I have already mentioned, God bides His time and uses circumstances to refine and disciple us. Here is how He has used the surgery. I had left it late, but I don’t know whether having it a few years earlier would have made a difference. The surgeon eventually confessed that this was the worst knee he had worked on in a year. It means that in order do a proper job, he had to do loads of repair work before placing the prostheses. It also means loads of tissue trauma. The result was a level of pain I did not think possible. But God takes care of the details too. I am happily married to Inge, a specialist anaesthetist, and she could administer a nightly jab of pethidine…for the first few days only. She would wait until she saw that I was in distress before the jab with the quip “You have to earn it”.

Four weeks after the surgery, the recovery was slow. I thought I would be like a billy goat within weeks, mobile and starting strength exercises. I was delusional. I was hobbled, still in pain, using a crutch, walking around like an old man, and on the extreme edge of the recovery parameters, which I thought were reserved for mere humans. It is now ten weeks since the surgery, and my condition is much improved. I still have pain, but I have good mobility; the physio and surgeon are both happy with the progress. I seem to be the only one who thinks that my progress is too slow. This has been a reminder that, no matter the gifts, talents, knowledge, wisdom, or physical attributes and conditioning, I am not super-human, and am subjected to the same hardships as everyone else. The important and philosophical point that I never want to miss is the lesson in the hardship. What am I supposed to learn, Lord? Is it about endurance? Or patience? There are many possible answers to the question, but the biggest one is that God is dealing with the arrogance that still lingers in me. He is reinforcing the lesson of 30 years ago, shifting me from an attitude of entitlement towards one of gratitude.
James 1:2-4 reminds us to “count it all joy when we fall into various trials. It is a test of faith which produces patience, which in turn matures us to a place where we lack nothing.” This is a place of acceptance, surrender, humility, and peace ‘which surpasses all understanding’.

In conclusion, this fiery season is giving me another opportunity to reflect and introspect. What I have found is a character defect which needs ongoing attention, and God has found a way to do it. I am not cured of it, but I am intensely aware of it, and am cooperating with God to achieve a good result. Lastly, this is another reminder that whatever season of life you are in, it is never too late.

As in every one of my messages, I write only from lived personal experience, for the glory of God. I make use of many reference books from a wide variety of Godly and reliable sources.
I thank The Lord for the privilege of His discipleship in my life.

I do not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished in me, as an instrument for His glory.
God bless every one of you, as you live and learn.

Please refer to The Salvation Prayer on the website if you want a direct connection with the creator of the universe, and are seeking love and peace of mind, for now and for eternity.