PRIDE OF MOAB - Louis Gervais

PRIDE OF MOAB

Hello and greetings in the Name of the Son of Him Who Destroyed the Pride of Moab, Jesus Christ! “We have heard of the pride of Moab—he is very proud—Of his haughtiness, his pride, his arrogance and his self-exaltation. “I know his fury,” declares the LORD, “But it is futile; his idle boasts have accomplished nothing.” –Jeremiah 48:29-30 The pride of Moab. Very proud. Haughtiness. Pride. Arrogance. Self-exaltation. The NAS footnote says that what is translated as “self-exaltation” literally reads as “elevation of his heart.” The Moabites elevated their hearts. “ ‘I know his fury,’ declares the LORD.” They made “idle boasts,” or as the KJV puts it: “lies.” And it was all in vain. Moab’s pride and his idle boasts “accomplished nothing.” And what did God think of all this? What was His response to this national sin? “I will make an end of Moab,” declares the LORD, “the one who offers sacrifice on the high place and the one who burns incense to his gods.” –Jeremiah 48:35 . Their idolatry also did not deliver them on the day of wrath. All of their sacrifices and their religious traditions and in-grained beliefs did not keep their enemies away. “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.” –Proverbs 16:18 KJV

Note well what the LORD says: “Moab will be destroyed from being a people Because he has become arrogant toward the LORD.” –Jeremiah 48:42 . Have you noticed that the country of Moab isn’t on the map anymore? Why such a judgment? “Because he has become arrogant against the LORD.” Let us each guard our own heart and be careful not to do the same, “for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God,” –1 Peter 5:5b-6a KJV Leonard Ravenhill once preached, “If a man knows himself he’s bound to be humble, and if a man knows God he can’t be proud.” Now, just between you and me, we Americans are also internationally renowned for our arrogance.

Thankfully, we Christians are always easily distinguishable as a separate group, a “holy nation, a peculiar people…” (1 Peter 2:9 KJV) or at least… we’re supposed to be. Thank you for your prayers for the persecuted family. They really needed it this week, and during this next week, too. We may continue to pray for Mr. Van Niekerk, Mr. Kussman and my grandmother because none of us know what tomorrow may bring. Thank you for praying for God’s leading as to where I should stay in the future. We believe the Lord has led us to the right house and now we are praying for His help and guidance. Having become convinced that the right time had come to sell the Faithmobile, I did so this week because we’re looking for a more dependable vehicle. I’m very thankful towards the Lord for providing it—and for y’all’s prayers—that we were always able to identify and fix the problems before they caused a breakdown (especially that time that the water pump sprung a leak which I didn’t tell y’all about). We drove all the way from Swaziland to Cape Town with the Faithmobile and many places in between. Yesterday I drove a friend’s car from Johannesburg to Bloemfontein and then went further south; Lord-willing we’ll be working in the Free State for the next several months with different camps and outreaches. May God grant us the grace to do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8). “The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate.” –Proverbs 8:13 NAS –Louis Gervais