Jeremiah 26:1-27 ~ 2 Thessalonians 3:1-18 ~ Psalm 85:1-13 ~ Proverbs 25:16
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Old Testament - Today in Jeremiah 26 we are reminded again how tough it is to be a prophet - the people of Judah want to kill him! It is an interesting series of events with the courts and priests. It reminds me of some ways of Jesus and his last hours. Except that Jeremiah of course gets reprieved. However, at the end of the chapter we hear about the prophet Uriah and he was not so fortunate. He was chased into Egypt (interesting escape into Egypt parallel w/ Christ's early life), captured and killed. The lesson for us in this chapter 26 may be this - when we are confronted with a call to repent from sins, do we? Or do we rage back and accuse the accuser of sins? Do we repent or do we deny? Do we return to the Lord?
Jeremiah Chapter 27 seems to be a chapter of "obedience" to me. Jeremiah is called once again to be obedient to preach - and to wear an ox yoke this time! And the people of Judah are called to be obedient to the Babylonian conquest. Let it happen. Be exiled. And eventually you will return. Fight this call to obedience - and you will die. I know obedience is not a very popular term in our culture today. But, I do think it is still so relevant to our relationship with God. In what area of your life is God calling you to be obedient? Will you be obedient? Below is a portrait by Guy Rowe of Jeremiah's obedience of wearing a yoke from today's readings:
New Testament - Second Thessalonians chapter 3 is a nice closing chapter to this 2nd letter of Paul's! The first few verses remind us of the need to pray. Pray for those doing the Lord's work! How are you doing in praying for your pastors, your church, other ministries you support?
Paul then goes into an exhortation for proper living. These verses remind me of the importance of work in our lives. We are not called to be blissful aesthetics - but called to work. Paul worked hard during his time of ministry. He was at times a "tentmaker" - making a living during the day and preaching and conducting ministry in the evenings and weekends. How are you doing with work these days? Are you giving your all, your 100% for the hours you are at work? No matter where you are working - are you working as if you were working for God?
Bible.org's commentary on today's readings in Second Thessalonians chapter 3 titled "Final Exhortations Regarding Idleness in the Church" is at this link.
Psalms - Psalm 85 is awesome today! So many great verses... I love verse 8 - "I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying, for he speaks peace to his people, his faithful ones. But let them not return to their foolish ways." I like that thought - God speaks peace to his people. Are we listening carefully to what God is saying? Are we receiving his peace into our hearts? And so importantly - are we not returning to our foolish ways? Verse 6 reminds me of the Jeremy Camp tune "Revive Me", which is an amazing tune - "Won't you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?" Do you need God to revive you? Will you pray for revival?
Proverbs - Today in Proverbs 25 verse 16 we read – “If you find honey, eat just enough— too much of it, and you will vomit.” This is a great teaching about not eating junk food! :) Well, a little bit is okay on occasion – but not too much! Seriously, I do think we should be mindful of what we are eating. There are so many studies out there that show that so many of us are not eating well. We are eating way too much “honey.” I simply pray that each of us realizes that our body is a temple that is indwelled by the Holy Spirit. We should not worship our bodies. But we should not neglect them either. Let us care for our bodies so that we may serve God and serve others for a long time in this life. God has so many great things for you to do in this life – please eat healthy and exercise regularly so that he can work through you fully and for a good length of time! I think the culture sells us junk food – just like it sells us sexual immorality or materialism. These things might seem appealing on the surface initially – but give them too much attention and they can literally kill you. Leave the junk food alone. Eat God’s good food that is good for you! How are your eating habits these days? How is your exercise life? Is God calling you to improve in either your eating habits or your exercise habits? Why might it be a very good idea to improve your eating habits or exercise habits? Will you do so? Today?
Worship God: I mention Jeremy Camp's song "Revive Me" in the Psalm 85 reflection above. Unfortunately I couldn't find Jeremy performing that song on YouTube. However, I did find a video for his song "I'll Take You Back," which I think works well for the call to repentance from our readings in Jeremiah today. This song also reminds me of Jesus' parable of the Prodigal Son!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMkXRcIDRjs
Have you allowed God to take you back? Click here and be taken back!
Please join us in memorizing and meditating on a verse of Scripture today: "If you find honey, eat just enough — too much of it, and you will vomit." Proverbs 25:16 (NIV)
Prayer Point: Pray for healthy eating habits in your life. Pray that you don't eat too many sweets. Pray that you realize your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, and that you are disciplined and loving as to what goes into your body. Pray for strength and energy for each day to complete the work the Lord has given you to do.
Comments from You: What verses or insights stand out to you from today's readings? Please post up by clicking on the "Comments" link below!
Grace, love, peace, and joy!
Mike
Jeremiah 26:1-27: 2
Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth? (Galatians 4:16 HCSB)
Jesus told them, "My time has not yet arrived, but your time is always at hand. The world cannot hate you, but it does hate Me because I testify about it--that its deeds are evil. (John 7:6-7 HCSB)
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. (Romans 1:25 HCSB)
As I read through today’s text a multitude of scriptures from different books of the Bible crossed my mind, then I realized that God’s message has been the same through out time: God is the Truth, the only truth. Man has been given the freedom to choose Truth or a lie from the time in The Garden to our present day, Truth is crying out to us to not only to be heard but be listened too and applied to our lives. The choices given to us have always been, life or death, even when it seems like there are many choices and roads to go down only one leads to life. If you do not choose life, all other roads lead, no matter the terrain, to death the exact opposite of the other view that all roads lead to God.
Funny how we are presented the argument that there are many roads leading to God, yet God says there is only Him or no one. He is the only God. In chapter twenty-six, we see Jeremiah positioned at the front of the Temple to give the “worshipers” the Truth, which they quickly reject. What saved the prophet is the recognition that he is speaking, “Thus saith the Lord …” Interestingly, the message is not given its rightful place because He has stated that the Lord gave him the Words, it is only tolerated because Jeremiah has evoked the Lords name. They are hearing and not listening—and because they haven’t listened, it is not applied to their lives.
Mike asks the question regarding obedience, what part of our lives do we need to submit to God’s obedience. I don’t think that you can be partially out of or in obedience nor more than you can be a little bit pregnant; you either are or are not. You are either submitted to God’s yoke that is easy and light or you are submitted to the hard yoke of sin no matter how it is disguised.
In the 27th chapter, Jeremiah is told to become a performance artist by wearing a wooden yoke to symbolize the yoke that Babylon will first place on the nations, then place on Judah because the nations and Judah failed to submit themselves under the yoke of God. God states His authority to do this by declaring, By My great strength and outstretched arm, I made the earth, and the people, and animals on the face of the earth. I give it to anyone I please. (Jeremiah 27:5 HCSB). He is the Creator and He can do as He pleases. Paul declares this very same principle in the book of Acts when He is hanging around Athens observing all the gods they had built statues too,
And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; (Acts 17:26 KJV)
God stands in control of the nations and their boundaries even when to us it appears that chaos is the rule of the day.
Since Truth is not welcomed, the world loves the prophets of lies. I notice that in the text, the false prophets are called, “your false prophets”(27:9). If these false prophets belong to the people they are prophesying too, then they will speak to them what the people want to hear. A lie does not become truth when the lie is repeated over and over again so that people deceive themselves into believing what is false.
When there are brave souls who are honest enough to speak out against the lie, they are considered treasonous. The game is to go along to get along, loyalty to the person, ideal, or concept instead of to the Truth. Funny thing about lies, liars and loyalty, loyalty can only be anchored to the Truth, which is a Rock. Loyalty to a person not grounded on the Truth will have you being tossed to and fro because you and it are not grounded.
A technical objection is the first refuge of a scoundrel.
Heywood Broun, ''Jam-Tomorrow' Progressives,' New Republic, December 15, 1937
US journalist (1888 - 1939)
Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
Samuel Johnson, quoted in Boswell's Life of Johnson
English author, critic, & lexicographer (1709 - 1784)
Jeremiah was accused of being what both of the above quotes state. Have I done the above when I am confronted with Truth? And truth is confrontational, especially the truth about oneself. Have I used technicalities to try to wiggle out of dealing in Truth? Have I accused the person bringing me Truth of being against God, country, mom and apple pie?
For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will accumulate teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear something new. (2 Timothy 4:3 HCSB)
There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. (1 Corinthians 14:10 KJV)
Grace and peace,
Ramona
Posted by: Ramona | October 14, 2013 at 06:06 PM