Jeremiah 49:4 and 16
- Why do you boast of your
valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter,
you trust in your riches and say, 'Who will attack me?'
The terror you inspire and the pride of your
heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks,
who occupy the heights of the hill. Though you build your nest
as high as the eagle's, from there I will bring you down," declares the
LORD.
This chapter gives messages of destruction to four other
nations that had settled in or around the land that God had given to the
Israelites. God was not happy with any
of them. Their lives had become a tribute
to what they could accomplish on their own…none of them thought they needed God
for any success. Only the widows and the
fatherless orphans would escape the punishments God had planned to stop their prideful
hearts.
Pride is built in our heart when the successes we experience
give us a false sense that we can exist without God’s help. Wealth….fame….recognition…power…even
beauty can cause our minds to believe in the material thing that gave us
attention…not the God that blessed us with that natural ability or grace.
Jeremiah is not the only Bible writer to warn us about the dangers
of pride. Read the whole chapter of Ezekiel
28…and listen to what Mark had to say in 7:20-23…. “He went on: "What
comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.' For from within, out of men's hearts, come
evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit,
lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a
man 'unclean.' "
God wants us to be completely dependent on him. He grants us
wealth…fame…recognition…beauty…or power because he lives us. He wants us to use
these great gifts to draw attention to him….because he gave them to us. He wants
us to use them to lift him up so the world will know who he is and realize the
greatest power in the world is realizing that we are nothing without him. It
isn’t a weakness to admit that you are powerless…it is empowering to admit that
your strength comes from God.
I admit that I needed this reminder today. God has been very good to me most of my life….and
especially good to me since I crawled up in his lap after my sweet second
husband passed away. I understood exactly why God spared those orphans and widows. Our tender hearts are very vulnerable….they
need to learn to completely trust in the future purposes for our loss …before
we can take even one step forward from our pain.
Father…thank you for the reminder that you are completely in
control of everything I have been blessed with.
I thank you for the blessings of life….the resources to care for myself….and
everything else that you have given me to help me be thankful…even for the
losses in my life. Forgive me for letting any pride take root for even a moment
in my heart. If any resides there this
morning….remove it from there promptly before it causes me to stop depending on
you for what I need. Let all my confidence be completely in you….for the rest of
the days you grant me on this earth…no matter what. Amen.
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