Blessings and the Pride Cycle

Part of my lesson on Gideon included a lesson on the pride cycle and on how God often revokes and withholds blessings from the unrighteous. At the start of the lesson, the Israelites were struggling against the Midianites largely because they had been worshiping Baal instead of God. After they had suffered and repented, the Lord agreed to help them again, but He did so in a way that discouraged the Israelites from becoming prideful about their God-given success against the Midianites. God wants us to be righteous and humble, and the desire is reflected in when and how God blesses us. He's not likely to bless us when we're being unrighteous, and He's not likely to bless us in a way that would promote sins like pride or sloth. There are some who've been blessed with pride-enabling power, like Ammon and David the giant-slayer have been, but those people were generally already humble enough to give credit to God, despite their own miraculous accomplishments. So, if you want blessings, try to be righteous, and try not to let the blessings you hope to get lead you into more sin.