The Bible tells us that pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. Be careful of being lured into unnecessary battle and destruction because of pride. In today’s Bible reading, after God had granted Jephthah victory over his enemies, he then had to face friendly fire. Similar to the posture that they took in the past with Gideon, the men of Ephraim again felt slighted that they were not invited into battle by their brothers. They probably prided themselves a lot in being men of war that despite victory already granted by God, they always felt the need to put their stamp on it.  Unfortunately in this case, Jephthah took them up because according to him, when they were under opression, Ephraim did not help. To cut the long story short, as seen in the excerpted text, forty two thousand souls of Ephraim were lost over a battle that did not concern them. This is an important reminder that we should be careful of the pedestals that we place ourselves as children of God. That God used you mightily in a season does not mean you are the only one that he can use. Don’t let pride lure you into a battle against the Lord and his chosen.  Don’t take on a battle that you are no longer qualified to take. Don’t be like Samson who thought that he would just go out like before only to be taken down.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank you for your faithfulness always. Thank you because you are the all-knowing God whose ways are different from our ways. Please Lord don’t let me ever be full of myself and become a victim of pride. Help me Lord to remain humble in the victory that you grant me in Jesus name 🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾. ‎