Bible in 90, Day 10: Purity and the New Temple

Leviticus 27-Numbers 8

Originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 58: He stands ready

Jeremiah 48 – Lamentations 5

*image courtesy of lcs9 at stock.xchng

A small note before we start, I’ve deviated somewhat from the reading plan today.  I couldn’t stand to do just one of the five chapters of Lamentations, so I actually did all five.  This will be reflected in today’s devotional.

Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.  ~ Lamentations 3:22-23

The verse may seem a little out of place in today’s reading.  We read about the terrible judgment that fell on Jerusalem, with all the horrible tragedies that resulted.  We are in the midst of thinking about the wrath of God and the suffering of the people of Israel, and then we come across these verses.  How is it that Jeremiah could say that God had great love for His people, and that His compassions are new every morning?  Were they new the morning the Babylonians invaded and carried away hundreds of people into exile?  Were they new when people were starving to death during the siege?  How can God be seen as renewing His compassion and mercy every morning if one morning He brings destruction?

Just because God’s compassion is new every morning does not mean that everyday is an automatic do-over.

Did you have do-overs when you were a kid?  You goof up in kickball and call “Do over!”  The ball hits too close to the line in foursquare, no one can agree on the call… “Do over!”  Sometimes we expect God to grant automatic do-overs.  But it’s not quite like that.

At any point, the people of Jerusalem could have repented and God would have forgiven them.  God sent messenger after messenger to plead with the people to do just that.  They refused to listen, even killing the messengers God sent.  As we saw yesterday, they continued to reject the message even after witnessing the destruction of Jerusalem.  Through it all, God stood ready to forgive His wayward people.

Just like the dew that falls fresh every morning, so God’s compassion and mercy are fresh every morning.  But God’s mercy being new everyday doesn’t make our sin go away.  It doesn’t mean that God has amnesia every morning.  It means that everyday is a new opportunity to turn back to God.  If we don’t seek God’s forgiveness we won’t receive it.  But if we turn from our sin, and return to God, his mercy is new every morning and He stands ready to forgive us.

Let’s never take God forgiveness or mercy for granted.  His grace is not something we deserve, but something He gives out His own love.  Let’s never assume that our sins are forgiven each new day.  Let’s remember to confess our sins, trusting that He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us (1 John 1:9).  Let’s awake each day, knowing that if we have confessed our sins, they are behind us, and today is a new day to walk in the light as He is in the light (1 John 1:7).

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 57: Safe amid the danger

Jeremiah 34-47

*image courtesy of firehawk77 at stock.xchng

God had warned the people through Jeremiah’s preaching (as well as many other prophets) that if they did not repent and turn from their evil ways, He would destroy Jerusalem.  They saw this happen already to the northern kingdom of Israel, and yet they did not believe.  They refused to turn from evil, and so God brought destruction through the Babylonians.

At this point (Jeremiah 41-43), the people asked Jeremiah to find out where God wanted them to go because they feared the Babylonians.  God specifically told them not to go to Egypt, but to stay in the land and obey the Babylonians.  If they would do this, Jeremiah prophesied, God would protect them.  The people did not believe Jeremiah’s words.  In fact, they called him a liar, and rebelled against the word of God and went into Egypt.  Just as God told them ahead of time, they found death there instead of safety.

The difficulty for the people was that God was telling them to stay in the place that seemed most dangerous in order to be safe.  The land had been plagued by war and conflict for years, and it didn’t seem that it was stopping anytime soon.  The safe place seemed to be Egypt, far from the fighting of Babylon.  But God insisted that He would watch over them and protect them in the dangerous place, and that they would die in the place of safety.

It’s all flipped.

It doesn’t seem to make any sense.  Why would God ask them to stay in the midst of the battle zone in order to be safe?  Doesn’t it stand to reason that fleeing would be the safest course of action?  What reason is there to stay?  Jeremiah’s words don’t seem to logical.

Not much has changed.

In the New Testament, we’re told things like, “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,” “many who are first will be last,” and “whoever loses his life… will find it” (Luke 6:27, Matthew 19:30, 16:25).  Sometimes God’s standards or commands don’t make sense to us.  That’s a good thing!  If everything God did made total sense to us, then we would totally understand God, and would be God.  We are not God, and so it shouldn’t surprise us when His logic is different than ours.

Despite the seeming illogical nature of some of the things we read in the Bible, we must still follow His commands.  The people in today’s passage didn’t think it wise to stay in Israel, but God had promised to protect them.  It may not seem right to us to pray for those who mistreat us, but God has promised to deal with them in His own way, perhaps even by saving them.

Let’s not make the mistake of the remnant who rejected Jeremiah’s words.  Let’s not assume to know better than the King of the Universe.  Let’s follow God’s clearly revealed truth in the Bible, even when it goes against the norms of society.  Let’s trust the One who made us, and know that He is faithful to His promises, no matter how illogical they may seem to us.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 56: Don’t name your kid Uriah

Jeremiah 24-33

*image courtesy of kirsche222 at stock.xchng

“A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow.  When the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”

~ Matthew 13:3-9

Jeremiah 26 tells a couple of interesting stories.  In 7:12, God commanded Jeremiah to go to Shiloh to see what He had done to that place because of the wickedness of the people.  It’s apparent from these comments that something bad had happened, and archaeological evidence tells us that the town was destroyed by the Philistines around 1050B.C.  Shiloh was the first dwelling place of the Tabernacle, along with the Ark of the Covenant.  The Israelites set up a graven image of  that Micah had made (Judges 17, 18:31), and so God destroyed that place.  In chapter 26, God commands Jeremiah to go to the Temple and preach a message that God would destroy Jerusalem like He had destroyed Shiloh, and for the same reasons.

This didn’t go over well.

The prophets and priests surrounded him and brought him up on charges of treason and demanded he be killed.  But the people and the officials sided with Jeremiah, saying that he had spoken in the name of the Lord.  Some of the elders reminded everyone of a time when the prophet Micah spoke a similar message (Micah 3:12).  In that case, King Hezekiah listened to his words and received them as God’s words, heeded them, repented, and avoided the disaster God would have brought had there been no repentance.

This is contrasted by an editorial comment by Jeremiah with the story of Uriah, son of Shemaiah.  Uriah prophesied not long before Jeremiah, also during the reign of King Jehoiakim.  He had the same message that Jeremiah and Micah had, but Jehoiakim threatened him, had him chased down, and killed him.  Same kind of prophet, same message, different results.  It’s interesting to note that another Uriah was killed even while faithfully serving God and having done no wrong (2 Samuel 11).

Don’t ever name your kid Uriah, it just won’t go well for him.

These little stories remind me of the Parable of the Soils (Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23).  The same message is delivered to four different kinds of people, and with four different kinds of result.  The prophets & priests, as well as King Jehoiakim, heard a message that Jerusalem was doomed if they did not repent.  They didn’t like this.  They reject the Word of God, and do not accept it, much like the path in the parable.  The people, officials, & elders, as well as King Hezekiah heard a message that Jerusalem was doomed if they did not repent.  They didn’t like this, so they accepted the Word of God, repented resulting in blessing, much like the good soil in the parable.

Let’s always remember that when we are faithfully serving Christ, and we are rejected and hated by men that it is we who are being rejected.  Each hearer has to choose to accept or reject the Word of God.  If we proclaim the Word faithfully, and sow the seed as it truly is, the results are up to God and the hearers.  Let’s also remember that we have a choice every time we hear the Word proclaimed.  Many of us would never be the path, rejecting the Word as no truth at all.  We may, however, be the rocky soil.  When things get hard, the Word finds no root in our hearts and comes to nothing.  When obeying the Scripture isn’t easy, will we be good soil, or rocky?  Let’s choose to accept the Word, obey it, repent if necessary, and receive God’s blessing instead of His wrath.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 55: The Bad Shepherd

Jeremiah 11-23

*image courtesy of costi at stock.xchng

Today’s reading includes a passage that serves as a warning both to those who serve as shepherds, and to those who have a shepherd in their life.  Through Jeremiah, God lays down some stringent demands on the shepherds of His people.  He condemns the shepherds of Israel for failing in their duty in Jeremiah 23.  They have scattered the flocks.  They have not cared for the sheep.  They prophesy falsely.  The live sinful lives.  Because of this, God says He will punish these unfaithful shepherds, and will replace them with ones who will serve properly.

God places shepherds in the lives of His people to care for them, to feed them, to protect them from wolves, to bring back the straying, to bind up the broken, and to lead the flock.  We who are shepherds care for God’s people by visiting them when they’re sick, praying for them, showing kindness and brotherly love.  We feed them by faithfully preaching and teaching the Word of God.  We protect them from the wolves that are false teachers with their subtle scheming and wrong teaching.  We bring back the straying by keeping up with those who disappear from the flock, addressing needs and hurts, and occasionally rebuking those in sin.  We bind up the broken by praying for, encouraging, and helping those who are hurting and in need spiritually.  We lead the flock by seeking God’s leadership in our own lives, which includes godly living.  Those shepherds who do not do these things faithfully are not serving their Master well, and may find themselves in the same boat with those in Jeremiah 23.

This is a warning to those of us who serve as shepherds.  Let’s live up to these standards, and more.  Let’s be faithful in our service to the Chief Shepherd.  Let’s not give God cause to replace us.

This is also a warning to others as well.  Let’s follow our shepherds, not harassing them or being stubborn or difficult (Hebrews 13:17).  Also, let’s not follow shepherds who are following the Master.  If we find ourselves following a shepherd who is not faithful, who is not a good example, who is not teaching the Word faithfully, who does not care for the flock, who, worse yet, scatters the flock, we must not follow such a one.  We must pray for him, and seek God’s wisdom in handling the situation, but we cannot allow a shepherd to remain unfaithful.

Let’s all work together for God’s glory and increased Kingdom.

*originally at Words of Reason

Bible in 90, Day 54: Thank God for me!

Jeremiah 1-10

*image courtesy of christgr at stock.xchng

Last week, I was praying with my youngest son, Tripp.  He hears me thanking God for him and his brother a lot, and so I guess he’s learning by example.  Without my prompting, he prayed, “God, thank you for Corbin (his brother), and mommy, and daddy.”  I thought that was great!  The next night was even better.  He prayed, “God, thank you for Corbin, and mommy, and daddy, and me!”

A few days ago we looked at God’s special creation of every human being as described in Psalm 139 (Day 45).  Today, we see another instance of God’s knowledge of the unborn.  In Jeremiah 1, God tells Jeremiah that he knew (or possibly “chose”) him before He formed him in the womb.  Even before he was fearfully and wonderfully made, God knew all about Jeremiah and his life.  Each person is made by God, on purpose.

We are no accident.

We know even more than this – that God knew all about Jeremiah before He formed him, and that He then formed him in the womb.  God also tells Jeremiah that before he was even conceived, God appointed him as a prophet.  This means that God had a plan for Jeremiah’s life before it ever even began.  God had something for Jeremiah to do before his parents even knew he existed.

We are created on purpose, with a purpose.

Jeremiah is initially scared of God’s call on his life.  He is afraid because he is young.  But to God, this is irrelevant.  God set him apart for this task before he was even a single cell of life.  How could he be too young now?!  God gives Jeremiah courage, even putting His own words in his mouth.  Jeremiah goes through the rest of his life and ministry with a great boldness and confidence because he knows that God has sent him (see Jeremiah 20:9).

Was it conceited of my 2-year-old to thank God for himself?  Well, for a 2-year-old, we might shrug it off.  If we heard a grown man pray that prayer, we might think it arrogant.  However, I think it’s perfectly biblical to thank God for ourselves.  If we recognize that we are God’s special creation and have value and worth because of that, then it is perfectly acceptable to thank God for us!  If we recognize that we have a divine purpose for existing because of God’s plan, then why wouldn’t we thank God for us?

Also, we can have the same confidence in our own lives that Jeremiah had.  When we realize that God has a specific plan for our lives, something great for us to accomplish, we can live life boldly.  We don’t have to be a great prophet or write  a book of the Bible.  We simply have to find out what God wants us to do, and do it!

When we were young, we believed there was something big out there for us to do.  There was a whole world of possibilities just outside.  Let’s recover that.  Let’s seek out what pleases the Lord (Ephesians 5:8-10), and then do it!  Let’s thank God for us, not because we are great in ourselves, but because we were made on purpose with a purpose.

*via Words of Reason