“Because you have trusted in your wealth and skill, you will be taken captive. Your god Chemosh, with his priests and officials, will be hauled off to distant lands!”
The mob did not become the mob without the help of many people. Yes, it might have started in Italy with a family or two, but it grew into a crime syndicate that would eventually rule even the government of the United States. At the height of the mob, it controlled the entire Eastern Seaboard and all its shipping. They had filtered into nearly every major city, controlling politicians and local governments, among many other powerful positions. It wasn’t until a little-known, young Attorney General named Bobby Kennedy came along and went to war with the mob that the beginning of the end of great Italian mob rule was marked.
Moab was a group of people who persecuted the Israelites, the mob of that day. Their nation was just east of the Dead Sea. They refused to let them pass through their territory with Moses, and all throughout the early life of Israel as a nation, they became a thorn in their side. Their main god, Chemosh, was a Canaanite god that upheld all the detestable practices of the Canaanites, like child sacrifice and many more ungodly customs.
Even though Israel was known as God’s people, God also loves all people, even the Moabites. That is very clear when Jeremiah receives a word from the Lord concerning Moab. Our verse above addresses their reliance on their own wealth and skill. And just like misery loves company, foolish behavior always has a following. In Moab’s case, the priests and officials acted as the ringleaders, mob bosses, urging the people to believe in Chemosh and rely on their own talents and skills.
While we can have faith in our own talents for performing certain jobs, those talents and skills can never become a god to us, replacing the Lord in our lives. Some common practices include climbing the corporate ladder, feverishly building a retirement fund, or constantly networking for the future of your job. These things are not sinful in themselves, but when they become your god, when they replace the Lord as your provider and the one who gives you the power to create wealth, they become the author of sin in your life.
Today, make sure you are not committing the same sin as the Moabites, trusting in your talents and skills over trusting the Lord. Jesus wants us to acknowledge Him in all our ways, not just a few or only when we go to church. Moab was rebuked for their reliance on such things. Verse 10 in the same chapter also tells us that cursed are those who refuse to do the Lord’s work, who hold back their swords from shedding blood! If God is telling you to cut that sin out of your life, He is saying it for a reason. He knows the detriment of sin and what it does to His creation. You have to shed some blood and cut it out of your life. Don’t wait until that sin festers and becomes your identity. We read about Moab in Jeremiah because they refused to cut it out. The mob’s rule ended eventually, as is the fate of all foolish and ungodly rule. Don’t pull a Moab. Return to the Lord and give Him all of your everything today.
Prayer: Father, I pray that we submit it all to You. Everything in my life, everything in my world, everything in my head, heart, soul, and body, it’s all under Your control. I pray we cut away that nasty sin from our lives with the help of Jesus. Help us take the authority You have given us and cut it away. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Let It Go 
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