Pastors and Christian leaders face a subtle but deadly temptation.

And it's this. Following a huge success, it's tempting to assume that the outcome is tied to one's brilliance rather than God's blessing.

Today, on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindall recounts the tragic story of a king who had everything,

military victories, national fame, and decades of God's favor.

Yet in a single moment of pride, it all came crashing down.

Through this forgotten account, Chuck reveals the crucial difference between

movements of God and monuments to self, offering a sobering warning to anyone who serves in ministry.

Centuries ago, Isaiah painted a grand mural of the Lord's glorious coming back to earth.

The scene is out in the wilderness, rugged and formidable.

In the distance, a voice cries out, clear the way.

Listen, it's the voice of someone shouting. Clear the way through the wilderness

for the Lord. Make a straight highway through the wasteland for our God. Fill in the valleys

and level the mountains and hills. Straighten the curves and smooth out the rough places.

Then the glory of the Lord will be revealed,

and all people will see it together.

The Lord has spoken.

Those words appear in Isaiah 40, verses 3 through 5.

The picture of God's glory, his cavode, as we read in the Hebrew language,

Cavod, its basic meaning is to be heavy, weighty. God is heavy with splendor and weighty magnificence.

That's the idea. In contrast to God's cavode, man's glory is as

insubstantial as a blade of grass that withers when the breath of the Lord blows on it. Isaiah

writes in verse 7. Yet how we loathe to admit that. How tempting it is to claim the credit

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