ESOCS Devotional 11 February 2025 – God Hates Pride
MEMORY VERSE: “Thus saith the Lord, after this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem” Jeremiah 13:9 KJV
TEXT: JEREMIAH 13:1-13
Thus the Lord said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” 2 So I got a sash according to the word of the Lord, and put it around my waist.
3 And the word of the Lord came to me the second time, saying, 4 “Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” 5 So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 Now it came to pass after many days that the Lord said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” 7 Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “Thus says the Lord: ‘In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. 10 This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. 11 For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the Lord, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’
12 “Therefore you shall speak to them this word: ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Every bottle shall be filled with wine.” ’
“And they will say to you, ‘Do we not certainly know that every bottle will be filled with wine?’
13 “Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord: “Behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land—even the kings who sit on David’s throne, the priests, the prophets, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem—with drunkenness!
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Actions speak louder than words. The message of the lesson was that God had clothed Himself with Israel, but the people did not seek to be clothed with Him; they followed after their own heart. They became spiritually marred while being worn by God. When Jeremiah retrieved the buried waistcloth/linen, it was rotten and ruined. So it would be with Israel. Israel was rotten with sin and ruined for God’s purpose for which He chose them. Judah, the remainder of Israel in the land, was to be cast away as a useless linen even though they had once been close to God. But their pride had made them useless.
The case is the same today whereby people live different lifestyles, fashion their own style of worship and go into various sins. Also, pride reigns supreme in the heart of many believers today. God hates every sin. The sin of pride ruined Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem, and they became good for nothing (verse 10). Pride can also ruin many believers today. God hates pride.
The message for us is that proud people may look important, but God says their pride makes them good for nothing. Pride rots our hearts until we lose our usefulness to God. It goes before a fall. God hates pride but regards the simple.
CHALLENGES
- Do you have this ungodly pride; what are the causes? What gain or profit have you derived from it?
PRAYER POINT
- Dear Lord, search me and see if there is any pride in me and purge me of it.
FURTHER READING: Proverbs 8:13; Isaiah 28:1; Jeremiah 49:16
ESOCS Devotional 11 February 2025
