AUGUST 10 READINGS...Jeremiah 16:1-18:23 & 35:1-19
Here is how you know that a people have moved past the possibility of redemption, and in to a place of the full judgment of God. The Lord has now instructed Jeremiah that there are things he is not to do. First, the Lord tells Jeremiah he is not to marry…he is not to have children. This comes because there is no hope for those who then existed in the nation of Judah. The judgment of God was about to fall and all would die of terrible diseases…and they would lie on open ground and become as fertilizer. They would also die from the war and famine that was coming…and their bodies would become food for the vultures and wild animals. Second, Jeremiah is told not to go to funerals to mourn or show sympathy for these people. They were not to be mourned for…they died by the judgment of God, they brought this judgment upon themselves. Finally, is told not to go to any feasts or parties, he is instructed not even to sit down and eat with these people…for the hand of God’s judgment is upon them. The people will not like it when Jeremiah tells them this message of judgment from the Lord, but Jeremiah must speak it, because it is the Lord’s message. Here is a truism from the pen of Jeremiah to a nation, to our nation as we await the pending judgment of God for our disobedience and unbelieve…” Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans, who rely on human strength and turn their hearts away from the Lord.” Yet here is what is also true, the people will say, “Don’t waste your breath. We will continue to live as we want to, stubbornly following our own evil desires.”
I love the reading we had this morning in Jeremiah 35…I want to be a “Recabite.” I want to be faithful to the Lord in all things. I want to be one who when that which is pleasing to my eye is set before me, I remain faithful to my commitment to the Lord, and do not give in to temptation. I want to remember what I have been called to by God in Christ Jesus. I want to spend my life faithfully following the Lord. Not doing what my flesh desires to do…but only doing the will of God, and fulfilling the assignment that He has given me. Our reputation needs to remain unstained by this world…we should always want to be known as the people of God. When I am gone…all I care about the epithet of my life is that it says, “He believed God…He preached and lived Jesus…He was a man of biblical faith”. Lord, by your grace, make me a “Recabite!”
Please share any thoughts you have from today’s readings. Pray that the Lord would always give you what you need to be faithful. Determine that all you want is to be God’s person…faithful in all you have been called to.
TOMORROW’S READINGS…Jeremiah 49:1-33, 2 Kings 24:5-7, 2 Chronicles 36:6-8,
2 Kings 24:8-9, 2 Chronicles 36:9 & Jeremiah 22:24-23:32
Comments