Focus On God First...Then He Will Give You What You Need

Jeremiah 48:7 and 29-31 -  Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.

"We have heard of Moab's pride-- her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.  I know her insolence but it is futile," declares the LORD, "and her boasts accomplish nothing.  Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.

 

Jeremiah was also given a word from God to give to the Moabites. They were the race of people that descended from Lot’s incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. They had become a proud nation…growing their arrogant attitude from the things they had accomplished and the many skills they succeeded at.

 

God was not happy with them.  They had based their spirituality in the idol named Chemosh…and ignored the laws that God had tried to instill in Lot before his fall. Because of their arrogance….worship of idols…and the pride they had let keep them from realizing the sin in their lives…God had added tem to the list of nations that would be destroyed.

 

It is not the first place in the Bible that God warns us not to place our trust in wealth….skills….or anything else that gives us a sense of success or accomplishment. David warned us in Psalm 62:10… “Don't trust in your power to take things by force. Don't think you will gain anything by stealing. And if you become wealthy, don't put your trust in riches.” And in Matthew 6:19-21 it says… “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

It is a reminder to me to constantly guard against letting my trust be formed in anything material. If I keep my heart looking and focused on the things of Heaven…then I will be less likely to be influenced by the material things of this world that will try to become my master. I want my greatest legacy to be the faith that God has given me to follow him.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that nothing in this world is worth more than my relationship with you.  You are my greatest treasure….and I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to even know you. Forgive me for the times that I have taken my eyes and heart off of you and focused on selfish things here on Earth.  Help me to internalize Matthew 6:33 which tells me that  you know exactly what I need….and to focus on you first.  For verse 33 says…."But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Amen.