he is very proud—
of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance,
and the haughtiness of his heart.
30 I know his insolence, declares the Lord;
his boasts are false,
his deeds are false.
Jeremiah 48:29-30 ESV
Jeremiah prophesied to Moab about the pride that has consumed them. He was heartbroken and compassionate, but he drew a beautiful word picture about why this had to be stopped, why God was about to destroy them in order to stop this beast called pride.
Pride makes us think we're independent from God, that all the blessings he has provided were merely created or earned by us. It leads us down a dangerous road- where if God doesn't destroy it, it will consume with us a whole lineage.
Whenever we claim Gods works as our own, we've overstepped a spiritual boundary that, if not stopped, threatens humanity as a whole. Pride is a contagious beast; it causes us to think like Satan- that we are gods and we don't need our one, true protector to protect us from our spiritual enemy. You see, pride is a subtle lie straight from Satan himself that is meant to separate us from God so he can consume our lives. Satan knows God is fiercely protective of us, so he works to convince us that we don't need God in order to bring division and ultimately spiritual destruction.
Make no doubt about it, Satan doesn't want to see us flourish; he is jealous of us and how dearly God loves us - so much that he wants to destroy us. We have to be aware of every thought, every mindset, every lie in order to survive. It's quite overwhelming for us to do alone.
But God! God disciplines us, teaches us, changes us using everything Satan throws at us. He uses those schemes meant to harm us to strengthen us into warriors who can be both offensive and defensive against Satan. We need intimacy with God to battle Satan's lies and schemes. God's presence alone brings light and overcomes the darkness.
In this chapter of Jeremiah, God talks about destruction that is coming to the Moabites, and how He will strip away all those lies, exposing every part to the light so that the darkness cannot hide. Whatever is to be healed must be revealed. We must be "broken" in order to be put back together the right way. We must have all our faulty thinking and heart troubles broken so that we can be restored. We must be willing to give up everything in order to see what we were made for.
The process is painful, but it a gift of mercy from God. He is doing it to make us better! He wants to set us free and He cares more about our long term growth than our short term comfort. He has a great plan, although through human eyes, it doesn't always look that way. His Word promises so and his spirit reassures us when we are willing to listen.
We must ask ourselves- Where do we put our hope? What/who do we trust in? What do we boast of? If those things aren't centered on God, if the answer isn't God, we have some pride in us. We should then ask ourselves whether we deal with others in an understanding manner or in an abrasive and hardened manner. Do we show mercy and love graciously or do we make people feel they have to earn it? Do we readily apologize even we may not be fully at fault? Dp we insist on being right? These are all signs of how humble we really are.
We can claim to be humble but our relationships and our attitudes tell the truth. It may even disguise as good, healthy things and even societally acceptable- but pride is pride. And scripture tells us over and over that every little root of pride must be ripped out. Having roots ripped out of us is going to hurt for a while, but it must be done. It's like cancer- not even the smallest trace is safe.
"But afterward I will restore the fortunes..." He says over and over. This isn't necessary financial or monetary treasures like we tend to think. Our greatest fortunes are in our hearts, when they are pure and whole and free. Why? Because God looks at and cares about the heart.
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