Hear,Israel : You are now about to cross theto go in and dispossess nations greater and stronger than you… After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, “The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness.” No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is going to drive them out before you. It is not because of your righteousness or your integrity that you are going in to take possession of their land; but on account of the wickedness of these nations, the LORD your God will drive them out before you… Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people. Deuteronomy 9:1a, 4-5b, 6, NIV Jordan
When things are going well for us, we fall so easily into that miry pit of pride, believing, 1) how very talented, how smart, how great, etc., we are to have accomplished so much and 2) how very deserving we are of all we have accomplished. Our bodies become misaligned by stretching our arms around to pat ourselves on the back!
But pride is the miry pit of sin and we need to be acutely aware of that fact. Since the time of Adam and Eve we have all been born into sin; we are all born prideful. For example, have you ever seen a baby cry because they did not get what they wanted, when they wanted it?
When Eve succumbed to temptation, it was because of pride. She saw the fruit of the forbidden tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, but she ate the fruit because the serpent told her, “You will not certainly die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil,” Genesis 3:4-5, 6, NIV. And thus, sin entered into the perfection of God’s creation because of pride.
When Isaiah speaks of the fall of Lucifer from heaven in chapter 14 and you hear the words Lucifer speaks in his heart in verses 13 and 14, NIV, they reek of pride: “I will ascend to the heavens; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of assembly, on the utmost heights of Mount Zaphon (the most sacred mountain of the Canaanites). I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.”
When we think of the destruction of Sodom , we tend to think of sodomy and homosexuality; but Ezekiel 16:49, NIV, says: “Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom
Beware the sin of pride! The book of Proverbs says where there is strife, there is pride (13:10); pride goes before destruction (16:18); and that pride brings a person low (29:23). It is not about us; it is not about our righteousness; it is all about God; God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s grace.
Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves, (we are His);
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Psalm 100:3, NKJV
We only have an opportunity for greater things because God provided us with a way of escape—a way of redemption; through His Son, Jesus Christ.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16, NIVFor it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8-9, NIVNow to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, Ephesians 3:20, NIV
And finally, faith is the victory:
For everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. 1 John 5:4-5, NIV
AMEN!
God Bless!
