Jeremiah 48

The Moabites were descendants of Lot through an incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. They led the israelites into idolatry and joined the raiders of Nebuchadnezzar sent into Judah. They were ultimately later conquered by Babylon and disappeared as a nation.

The Moabites were pretty messed up, they were wicked. Ultimately we know they were a fallen group of people who ceased to exist. In V 29 we read of the pride of Moab, “We have heard of the pride of Moab— he is very proud— of his loftiness, his pride, and his arrogance, and the haughtiness of his heart.” Does the description of Moab sound like a description of you? If it does you have a lot in common not only with Moab, but also with Satan.

Satan’s downfall was his pride. He thought he could be above God, “You said in your heart, ‘I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north” (Isaiah 14:13). You see this attitude is the root of Moab’s downfall, as well as our own downfall. Moab was powerful and prosperous but most of all she was proud.

Are you letting pride creep into your life? How have you been praying, have your prayers been consumed with what God can do for you, or are you recognizing what God has already done for you through Christ. See, so many of us love to pray and ask God for this or for that, but our purpose in life isn’t to just have God do this and that for us. Our purpose in life is to worship God. Colossians 1:16 says, “For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.” We were created through Him and FOR Him.

Check yourself today, and most importantly analyze your prayer life. How are you praying, is it full of I’s or is it full of You’s. We need to realize our purpose in this life and we all have the exact same purpose, there is no need to try to find your purpose or to think we have a different purpose than your neighbor. Our purpose is to worship the Lord and to just be all about Him and what He has done for us on the cross of calvary.

Jeremiah 43

Have you ever told someone the truth about them only for them to become angry toward you because they did not like what they heard? Maybe they were in some kind of performance and they wanted to know what you thought. They even told you that they wanted the truth. So you tell them and it upsets them. Do you think they really wanted the truth? Probably not.

Jeremiah was in a similar situation with the people of Judah in this chapter. In the previous chapter the people went to Jeremiah to have him talk to God about them going to Egypt for safety. So the Lord speaks to Jeremiah and tells him to tell the people not to go but to stay where they were and He would bless them. The Lord also gave a warning of destruction to those who go to Egypt. The bottom line of the message from the Lord was don’t go to Egypt.

Did they listen? Did they heed the promise of blessing or warning of destruction? Nope. They called Jeremiah a liar(v. 2). They were convinced that Jeremiah was trying to give them over to the Chaldeans. So they went ahead to Egypt and took Jeremiah along with them.

I am beginning to think that when they went to Jeremiah to speak to God, they were not really concerned about what God wanted for them. All they wanted was for God to back them up in their plan. Do you treat God like that? Do you go to Him when you have a big decision to make and ask for direction but when you don’t get the answer you want you ignore God?

So many times people will ask “should I date this guy or girl?” My first response is “is he a Christian?” When they tell me no I explain to them why they shouldn’t and why the Bible says it is wrong but instead of being obedient to the Word and God they do what they want. It is not much time after that they stop going to church as often or even at all.

When Jesus was in the garden praying before his trial and crucifixion He said “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.” (Luke 22:42). He was asking God for another way for salvation BUT He wanted the will of the Father to be done. Not only did ask for the will of the Father to be done but He was obedient. Jesus went to the cross and died for our sin in obedience to the Father. He was not looking forward to being put to death and being separated from God but He did it because of love and because it was God’s will.

Jesus is out ultimate example. We strive to be more like Him. I pray that you would grow into the likeness of His character everyday through the reading of the Word and time spent in prayer!

Jeremiah 42

An impersonal prayer

When I was in Jr. High I had a friend that really liked a girl that we knew. He would talk about her all the time. The only problem was that he was to scared to talk to her. He could not just go up to her and tell her how he felt and ask if she felt the same way. So I was stuck in the awkward middle man spot and he wanted me to go and ask her if she liked him. Seems like a funny way to try and start a deep and committed relationship. It’s a very impersonal way to ask a very personal question. In this chapter we see a similar encounter happen with the people of Judah and God with Jeremiah in the middle.

At the end of chapter 41 we see the remaining people of Judah planning to go to Egypt to escape the Chaldeans(41:17). It is ironic that they would go to Egypt to flee from slavery when they were delivered from the slavery of the Egyptians. This was a bad idea. But, after they had packed and got ready to go they started having second thoughts and decided to talk to Jeremiah(42:1-3).

Asking for direction is always the right thing to do. What does God want me to do with my life? Should I date that person? Does God want me to hang out with those people? These are all important questions. The trouble is to many people do not start asking these questions until they are already on their way to Egypt. They pretend to want to know the will of God but what they really want is for God to tell them what they want to hear. Many people start to act before they start to pray.

The other problem with these people is that they were unwilling to pray for themselves. They told Jeremiah “Pray to the Lord your God” (v. 2). They felt like they had to get someone else to pray for them. They did not have a personal relationship with God. They believed He existed but that He was “somewhere out there.” They were not close enough to God to practice meaningful prayer.

Prayer is a good test of your relationship with God. Do you pray? Do you know how to pray? It might be because God is not your God.

In our natural sinful state we are enemies of God. The only way to become a friend of God is to believe in Jesus Christ. God sent His son to die a death that we deserve to pay for our sins so that we can be friends of God. Once you believe that Jesus dies for your sins, you can enter a personal friendship with God. You are able to communicate with God through prayer. But this only happens through faith in Jesus Christ, which is why we pray “in Jesus name.”

For more on prayer click here

Jeremiah 41

Heed the Warnings

Yesterday we read in Jeremiah 40:14, “Do you know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?” But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.” Gedaliah would not listen to the warnings of the people around him regarding his impending death. Today we read about how Gedaliah was indeed murdered.

How many of you out there aren’t listening to the warnings of your impending death. Everyone is trying to tell you that one day your going to die, and then you are doing to be judged by God. Throughout the scriptures God is always warning His people of their impending judgement. Most of the time they fail to listen and are destroyed just like we read about Gedaliah. There was one instance we know about where someone heeded the warnings — Noah.

Noah is talked about in Hebrews 11:7, “By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.” Noah heeded the warnings of God and was moved with fear. Are we still moved with fear regarding God’s holiness? How is your view of sin? See, our view of sin will ultimately impact our view of what Christ has done on the cross. If we view sin in the reality of how offensive it is to God, then we will see the reality and power of what Christ did on the cross to pay and atone for our sins. However, if we have a low view of sin, and think it isn’t that big of a deal, then likewise we won’t really see what Christ has done as that big of a deal. Think and reflect on your view of sin and compare that with scripture.

We begin passion week where it sets the final stage for Christ to go to the cross. See, God loved us so much that He sent His son to come to earth and to die the death we deserve. Passion week wraps up with the focus on the death and resurrection of Christ. He was punished for our sins and rose again the third day as a sign that he defeated the wages of sin which is death. Now the question remains will you heed the warnings of your impending death if you don’t have faith in the one who already suffered death on your part, or will you end up like Gedaliah ignoring the warnings that ultimately lead to you being cast in to utter darkness? Heed the words of Jesus in Matthew 4:17 where He warns us first hand, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

Jeremiah 36

Book Burning

How important is the Word of God to you? In today’s chapter we see the King of Judah burn the scroll that the Lord inspired Jeremiah to write. On the scroll was all of the prophesy’s that the Lord had given to Jeremiah which up to this point have not been the good news for the people of Judah. Obviously the King did not like what he was hearing.

What would your reaction be if you saw someone burning a Bible? Would you be shocked? Would you be offended? Even some of the kings servants were shocked at what he was doing and urged him to stop(36:25). This would be like you showing a friend a Bible verse that you think would be good for him to hear only for him to turn and throw it into his fireplace at home. That would not be cool. That would show a lack of respect toward the Word of God.

Is the Bible just a book or is it just words written on a page? It is definitely more than just words on a paper. It is for sure more important than ANY of the Twilight books. 2 Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is breathed out by God.” Every word was inspired by God. Does that make the actual Bible(paper, binding, cover, ink, etc) more important and valuable than any other book? Would you anger God if you burned it or tore pages out of it?

Those are secondary issues. The better question is what will happen if you ignore what it says. As Christians we are forgiven of our sin but we are still sinners. We are going through a process called sanctification where God is taking the bad out of our lives and replacing it with Christ. But we sometimes hold onto or ignore sin in our lives and we don’t allow God to do anything about it. When we do this, it’s as if we have ripped out the parts of the Bible that call that thing sin.

So what do you think is more offensive to God: ripping out pages of the Bible or living your life as if those pages did not exist? Too often we hold the Bible(paper, binding, cover, ink, etc) in high esteem but we do not esteem parts of the message contained within by the way we live our lives. May we have a high regard for the Bible(paper, binding, cover, ink, etc) and have a higher regard for the WHOLE message contained within and prove it with the lives we live.

Jeremiah 35

The Blessing of Obedience

When I was younger my family had a dog named Moe. This dog was an escape artist. there was no way to keep in the backyard. If we closed the hole he dug, he would find a way over the fence. If we put up a higher fence he would still find a way over it. He was more like a cat than a dog in that sense. And everytime he got out we would have to chase him down to get him to come home. My parents were fed up with it and our mail man hated us so we had to get rid of him. Because of his disobedience.

In the chapter before us today the Lord gives word to Jeremiah about a certain family who had been obedient to their fathers rules. The never drank wine, built a house, or planted a crop. Now these rules were not ones established by God but in the end God will still bless them for their obedience to their father. This is directly connected to the 5th commandment: “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.”

Did you know what this is the only command given to youth in the Bible? There are other verses that repeat the 5th commandment but it is the only direction given to young people. So if you are ever wondering what God’s will is for you, honor your father and mother. Are you practicing that?

What does it mean to honor to your father and mother? How do you do that? Does this mean to just obey them? Though obedience is one very important way to honor your parents(biological, step-parents, legal guardians, grand-parents, etc) it is not the only way. Not talking bad about them behind their backs, being honest with them about everything(friends, relationships, God, school, text messages, internet history, etc), and praying for them are a few other ways of honoring your parents.

Remember: Your parents are not perfect. You probably know their flaws better than they do but that does not change the fact you are Biblically called to honor them. It is not your job to punish them for their faults. Just look at the examples set by Rechabites. Their ancestors told them not to drink wine(which was allowable by God for the Israelites[it is also illegal and sinful for you if you are under the age of 21]), not to build homes for themselves, and not to grow their own food. I am sure that was not easy for them. They saw all the people around them drinking, and living in their own homes and growing their own food but they remained obedient even when they were offered wine by Jeremiah in 35:5. It did not matter what others were doing and they were rewarded for their obedience(35:19)