Tag Archives: Pride

Day 188: Taken Down by God

Jeremiah 48:29-38

“We have heard of the pride of Moab.
He is very proud in his loftiness, his pride,
his arrogance, and the arrogance of his heart.
I know his wrath,” says Yahweh, “that it is nothing;
his boastings have done nothing.
Therefore I will wail for Moab.
Yes, I will cry out for all Moab.
They will mourn for the men of Kir Heres.
With more than the weeping of Jazer
I will weep for you, vine of Sibmah.
Your branches passed over the sea.
They reached even to the sea of Jazer.
The destroyer has fallen on your summer fruits
and on your vintage.
Gladness and joy is taken away from the fruitful field
and from the land of Moab.
I have caused wine to cease from the wine presses.
No one will tread with shouting.
The shouting will be no shouting.
From the cry of Heshbon even to Elealeh,
even to Jahaz they have uttered their voice,
from Zoar even to Horonaim, to Eglath Shelishiyah;
for the waters of Nimrim will also become desolate.
Moreover I will cause to cease in Moab,” says Yahweh,
“him who offers in the high place,
and him who burns incense to his gods.
Therefore my heart sounds for Moab like flutes,
and my heart sounds like flutes for the men of Kir Heres.
Therefore the abundance that he has gotten has perished.
For every head is bald,
and every beard clipped.
There are cuttings on all the hands,
and sackcloth on the waist.
On all the housetops of Moab,
and in its streets, there is lamentation everywhere;
for I have broken Moab like a vessel in which no one delights,” says Yahweh.

We read in this prophesy that not only was Moab successful and rich, they were also proud and arrogant. God took them down from the hights of beauty, wealth and arrogance, to the depths of ugliness, poverty and shame. There was a time when they had everything and they thought that it was because of their own excellence. God chose to punish this group of people by completely removing all beauty, wealth and respect. Moab becomes an illustration of the teaching of the Bible about pride. Let’s look at that again.

Proverbs 16:18

Pride goes before destruction,
and an arrogant spirit before a fall.

This also reminds me of what Paul wrote to the Corinthians about being careful not to fall into sin and believe that everything is fine. Here’s what he said:

1 Corinthians 10:12

Therefore let him who thinks he stands be careful that he doesn’t fall.

Just because you have it good, doesn’t mean that you are right. It could mean that you are about to be completely destroyed by God Himself. That’s what the nation of Moab discovered and it actually scares me when I think about the United States. It is true that we have had some excellence here, but now it is very obvious that sin has taken over the lives of a huge number of people. I believe that there is arrogance here and clearly we have a problem with the worship of money. God is the same God that brought Moab down to the dirt. May God help us before it is too late and we are completely ruined like Moab was.

Day 187: Respecting Israel’s God

Jeremiah 48:18-28

“You daughter who dwells in Dibon,
come down from your glory,
and sit in thirst;
for the destroyer of Moab has come up against you.
He has destroyed your strongholds.
Inhabitant of Aroer, stand by the way and watch.
Ask him who flees, and her who escapes;
say, ‘What has been done?’
Moab is disappointed;
for it is broken down.
Wail and cry!
Tell it by the Arnon, that Moab is laid waste.
Judgment has come on the plain country—
on Holon, on Jahzah, on Mephaath,
on Dibon, on Nebo, on Beth Diblathaim,
on Kiriathaim, on Beth Gamul, on Beth Meon,
on Kerioth, on Bozrah,
and on all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near.
The horn of Moab is cut off,
and his arm is broken,” says Yahweh.

“Make him drunk,
for he magnified himself against Yahweh.
Moab will wallow in his vomit,
and he also will be in derision.
For wasn’t Israel a derision to you?
Was he found among thieves?
For as often as you speak of him,
you shake your head.
You inhabitants of Moab, leave the cities, and dwell in the rock.
Be like the dove that makes her nest over the mouth of the abyss.

In this part of Jeremiah’s prophesy against Moab, God goes into detail and specifies some of the cities that will be destroyed. God said that “all the cities of the land of Moab, far or near” were going to experience His judgment. God also explains that the reason for all this is that Moab was acting proudly against God and God was taking revenge against them for how they treated Israel.

God accuses the Moabites of magnifying themselves against God. He also says that He saw them mocking the Jews. They treated the Jews as if they were theives. It’s interesting to me that this is being done by many today. They accuse the Jews of taking money out of the economy while ridiculing them for things that they haven’t actually done. God told Moab that in their day of judgment, they would be the ones being mocked. They would also be the ones that people shake their heads at in disgust. They will end up living in hiding places like wild animals.

This is a lesson to us about how to treat the nation of Israel. Obviously, Israel had been doing evil. In one sense, they didn’t deserve respect. It was so bad that they were in the process of being judged by God for their sin, yet, God still judged Moab for their their treatment of Israel. Just because Israel does evil, doesn’t mean that we are free to start mocking them. The reason is quite simple. God decided to attach His Name to a nation and a place on earth. Even when Israel is wicked, we are to respect God’s Name. In other words, we don’t mock Israel even when they deserve it, because God’s Name is attached to them. God will be the One to mock them and when He does, they will be purified. Our job is to continue to respect God’s will in the matter. If we don’t then we are also acting wickedly like Moab was here.

Day 183: Why Israel and Egypt?

Jeremiah 46:25-28

Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Behold, I will punish Amon of No, and Pharaoh, and Egypt, with her gods and her kings, even Pharaoh, and those who trust in him. I will deliver them into the hand of those who seek their lives, and into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of his servants. Afterwards it will be inhabited, as in the days of old,” says Yahweh.
“But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant.
Don’t be dismayed, Israel;
for, behold, I will save you from afar,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return,
and will be quiet and at ease.
No one will make him afraid.
Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says Yahweh,
“for I am with you;
for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you,
but I will not make a full end of you,
but I will correct you in measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”

One of the interesting things that I see in this passage is that God intended for Egypt to be “inhabited, as in the days of old.” His prophesy against Egypt was not permanent and God makes a small statement about that here. Then, God goes on to reassure His people Israel for the rest of this passage.

There is an interesting contrast between Israel and Egypt, and Babylon. God promises that both Israel and Egypt will rise again, and also says to Israel: “I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you.” God says that His punishments against Israel are measured, or have a limit. I think that this spells out the difference between how God disciplines His children and how He disciplines those who aren’t. God’s children will only be punished for a limited period of time. Those who are outside of God’s family will be destroyed forever. This brings up an important question.

What did Israel and Egypt do to deserve to continue to exist? It is obvious that they both were filled with evil. Israel had been sacrificing their own children. Egypt was worshiping everything under the sun and encouraging God’s people to do the same. How is it that they were allowed to continue to exist? Perhaps the easy way to answer this question is to point it at ourselves. Why did God allow you and I to exist as Christians? What did we do to deserve it? I hope that the answer is obvious: we didn’t do anything to deserve it and neither did Israel or Egypt. The reason they were saved is the same reason you and I were saved. God simply decided to do it. When God does things like this, it removes all pride doesn’t it? It also builds a living demonstration of His grace. Both Israel and Egypt stand today as examples of what happens when God decides to save.

Day 64: An Object Lesson

Jeremiah 13:1-11

Yahweh said to me, “Go, and buy yourself a linen belt, and put it on your waist, and don’t put it in water.”

So I bought a belt according to Yahweh’s word, and put it on my waist.

Yahweh’s word came to me the second time, saying, “Take the belt that you have bought, which is on your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a cleft of the rock.”

So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as Yahweh commanded me.

After many days, Yahweh said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take the belt from there, which I commanded you to hide there.”

Then I went to the Euphrates, and dug, and took the belt from the place where I had hidden it; and behold, the belt was ruined. It was profitable for nothing.

Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying, “Yahweh says, ‘In this way I, will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who walk in the stubbornness of their heart, and have gone after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, will even be as this belt, which is profitable for nothing. For as the belt clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me,’ says Yahweh; ‘that they may be to me for a people, for a name, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’

God’s teaching style is one that even a child can understand. In this case, He told His prophet to buy a belt, wear it for a while and then hide it by the river. Then, after a long time, God told him to go back and find it. Jeremiah had to dig to find his belt and discovered that it was now ruined. God used this to describe Israel’s pride.

Israel is like a belt to God. When God wears them, they have pride, but when they are stubborn and go after other gods, they rot and become worthless.

God expects mankind to have pride because they cling to Him, not because they have found or created their own way. It’s really too late for mankind to correct the problem though. We are ruined because we have already gone away from God, but God has prepared a miracle. Just as Jesus was ruined when He died for us, He came back from the dead. The Bible says that Jesus is the first one to rise again like this. Anyone who trusts in what the Bible says about Jesus, will be resurrected like Jesus. They are also to be made useful again. They won’t just be resurrected after they die, they are also new inside right away.

Day 63
Contents
Day 65