Daily Devo

The Greatest Fall in History

By: Wendy Sanders

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

How you have fallen from heaven, morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to the heavens, I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High. “But you are brought down to the realm of the dead, to the depths of the pit.” Isaiah 14:12-15

In his heart, Satan thought he would ascend to the heavens and be raised above God. Satan's plan was to put God in second place! He wanted God's throne, and He wanted to become the Most High. In this verse from Isaiah, he is called "morning star, son of the dawn", so he already had some sort of elevated position. But when pride took hold of him, Satan got carried away by his evil desires.

God knew Satan's heart, so He knew about his pride. But it isn't just Satan... human history is full of stories about prideful people. Most of them wanted to be "number one" and they thought their plans were unstoppable. But none of them were as prideful as Satan.

Becoming prideful is something everyone must guard their heart against. For example, have you ever refused to ask for help because you didn’t want to appear weak? Has it ever been difficult to ask someone for forgiveness? Are you willing to admit your mistakes? Do you have difficulty submitting to leadership or being corrected? Are you worried about how others perceive you? We could continue, but many of us could already answer "yes" to at least one of these questions. So, what do we do? How do we combat our pride?

We combat pride with humility.

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. Philippians 2:2-4

For most of us, this command isn't an easy one to follow. Jesus is our ultimate example. Everything He did was for the sake of others. He never elevated himself; He just pointed others to their Heavenly Father.

Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up. James 4:10

Let's try to be more like Jesus! Let's focus on others and seek nothing in return. That may include asking someone for forgiveness or humbly asking for help. Or maybe, we just need to humbly submit to our leaders without grumbling!