JEREMIAH 13:8-11 – Then the word of the Lord came to me: “Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen.”
THEME OF THE DAY: WHEN GOD GOES TO WAR AGAINST US. Did the theme of the day cause you to pause, maybe even say, “I don’t think so.” Before you write off today’s nugget as heresy, wait. God does go to war against His people. Not as an adversary when we were His enemies as sinners, but as a loving Heavenly Father who knows what is best for us, and what is best for us is His warring against our greatest enemy – pride. The Apostle Peter tells us “God opposes the proud” and that verb, “opposes” means to resist, rebel against (1 Peter 5:5). In classical Greek language it was usually used in a military context of armies in a battle against one another. So, yes, God does go to war against us and that to rid us of the destructive nature of pride. He did so in today’s scripture.
In reading the account of Judah and Jerusalem, the Lord makes clear two things. First, He is going to remove pride from His people – Thus says the Lord: Even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. God will spare us no pain in His war against our pride. Why? Pride is so destructive. Everything it touches, it ruins and that primarily in relationships, first and foremost with God, and then with people. Pride refuses to admit wrong. Pride fights against humility. Pride is the ultimate display of selfishness and leads to nothing but misery. And those are just a few reasons why God’s love for us demands He attacks our pride.
Another thing made clear in today’s scripture is what pride does; it hardens a heart – This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing. For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory, but they would not listen. Notice twice in the text the response of a pride-filled people – they refused to listen to God. Here is the ultimate consequence of pride. There is no reasoning. There is no teachable spirit. And this can happen in Christians especially when they are corrected or sinned against. If sinful pride controls them, they will be defensive, blind to their sin, and withhold forgiveness to those seeking it.
Yes, child of God, He will go to war against us. It is a war of love that is committed to protecting us from our worst enemy – ourselves and our pride. Let’s learn to raise the “white flag of surrender” as God does what is necessary to rid us of the sin of pride.
PRAYER: “Father, thank You for loving me so much that You will do whatever it takes to remove pride from me.”
QUOTE: “Pride is the mother of all sin. It destroys everything it touches, and God will do what it takes to rid us of it.”
In the affection of Christ Jesus,
Pastor Jim