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| In Celo Lands - near Mt. Celo Church |
My Meditations on Today’s Readings
(Ellipses are mine and are used for contemplation.)
What Will the Children Remember? - Jeremiah 17 and 18 – Facts: What It Says – Summarized) A
sobering thought, isn’t it? God
is telling the prophet Jeremiah that the mission on which he is sent, is
doomed. God’s conditional covenant with
His people has been habitually broken by the people. “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron…with the point of a
diamond it is engraved…on the tablet of their heart…and on the horns of the
altars…WHILE their children remember…their altars and wooden images…by
the green trees on the high hills.”
The sin, the forsaking of God has been and will continue to be
generational. Three times in this book
of the Bible thus far, God tells Jeremiah do NOT pray for this people. God will plunder their wealth, their high
places, will cause them to serve their enemies, “and you, even yourself, shall let go of your heritage, which I gave
you.” God’s
Proverbial Reminders to Jeremiah on Blessings and Curses: 1) “Cursed
is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength…whose heart departs
from the LORD….he is like a shrub in the desert…shall not see when good
comes…inhabits the parched places in the wilderness.” 2) “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD and whose hope is the
LORD…he is like a tree planted by waters….he will not fear WHEN heat comes nor be
anxious in drought…but green in leaf and yielding fruit.” 3)
“The heart is deceitful above all
things…and desperately wicked. Who can
know it? I, the LORD, search the heart…I
test the mind…even to give every man according to his ways, according to the
fruit of his doings.” 4) Those
who depart from Me shall be written in the earth BECAUSE they have forsaken the
LORD, the fountain of living waters.” Jeremiah’s plea to God for His Word: “Heal
me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are
my praise. Indeed they say to me, Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come
now!” God’s
response regarding His Word: “Go…stand
in the gate…Say to them…’Hear the word of the LORD…you kings and inhabitants of
Judah and Jerusalem.”’ Blessings are promised if they heed and obey the
word; curses will follow disobedience. Another object lesson for the unrepentant people – always
tied to His Word: “Arise,
(Jeremiah)…go down to the potter’s house…and there I will cause you…to hear My
words.” There the potter is making a
marred vessel into something good. The
LORD says, “O house of Israel…as the clay
is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand!...to pluck up, to pull down, to
destroy.” God
is yet merciful: “IF that nation…
against whom I have spoken…turns from its evil…I will relent of the disaster I
thought to bring upon it. IF that
nation…I speak concerning to build and to plant it, does evil in My sight so
that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which
I would benefit it. Turn now…ever
one…from his evil way…and make your ways and your doings good.” But the people chose “to walk according to their own plans – every one obeying the dictates
of his evil heart.” Then they
verbally attack the prophet for bringing them God’s Word. Principle: Our walk of faith or of faithlessness has
generational, earthly, and eternal consequences. God continued to call His Chosen Nation and
People and he continues to call us through His Word today to obedience. The choice, and the resultant consequences,
are ours.
A Prayer for the Soul Wishing to Turn to God – Psalm 118:25-29 (Facts: What It Says – Summarized) “Save now…I pray, O
LORD. O LORD, I pray…send now
prosperity…Blessed is he who comes in the name of the LORD! We have blessed you from the house of the
LORD. God is the LORD, and He has given
us light…You are my God…I will praise You…exalt You. Give thanks to the LORD…for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” Principle: The psalmist wrote this centuries before
Christ, yet the principle is the same:
Acknowledge God as sovereign, acknowledge Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior (He who comes in the name of the LORD), praise Him, exalt Him, give
thanks to Him for His mercy that endures forever. (Matthew 23:39 – Jesus said, “…for I say
to you, you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes
in the name of the Lord!’)
Enduring Faith in the
Midst of Persecution and Affliction – 1 Thessalonians 3 – (Facts: What It Says Summarized) – Paul has likely retreated
to Athens after the Jews there cast his team out of Thessalonica for his
effective teaching leading to many conversions (See Background – Grace to You). Timothy was sent back to the Thessalonian new
believers to “establish and encourage you
concerning your faith…that no one should be shaken…by these afflictions; for
you yourselves know…that we are appointed to this.” But Timothy finds the young church “with faith and love and having a good
remembrance of Paul and his fellow laborers in the gospel.” The Thessalonians are encouraged to “stand fast in the Lord.” Then the Apostle Paul prays for them – and
us, “May the Lord make you increase…and
abound…in love to one another and to all…SO THAT He may establish your
hearts…blameless…in holiness…before our God and Father at the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints.” Principle: True faith will endure, stand fast and grow in
the midst of persecution and affliction.
Often those persecutions and afflictions will come as a result of
genuine faith, which is “sharing in the sufferings of Christ."
My Lessons and
Applications: Note in the OT reading God's emphasis on hearing His Word and the prophet seeing the absence of God's Word as being tied directly to the downward spiral of the people. It is also noteworthy that both Jeremiah and Paul were persecuted for
fulfilling their mission callings - taking God's Word to specific people. They
both knew beforehand, that they would suffer tribulation. From today’s OT reading: “Come
and let us devise plans against Jeremiah…for the word will not perish from the
prophet…come, and let us attack him with the tongue, and let us not give heed
to any of his words.” In the OT
reading, Paul says “no one should be
shaken for these afflictions…for you yourselves know that that we are appointed
to this. For, in fact, we told you
before when we were with you that we would suffer tribulation, just as it
happened.” As believers today we are
mocked and ridiculed at every turn of the corner – especially through media
that shapes most thinking in contemporary society. There are times when we need to get alone,
need to be together to build each other up, always need time alone with God and
in His Word with the Holy Spirit , need to constantly keep our eyes focused on
Jesus, not the world. In Philippians
2:15, Paul exhorted us to “be blameless and unoffending, the sons of
God, without rebuke in the midst of
a crooked and perverse nation, among
whom ye shine as lights in the world." In today’s reading, he exhorts us to “be blameless in holiness before
our God." This is His kingdom call for
believers is to be separate (holy) unto God while living to God’s glory within
the world and fulfilling our great commission.
Then there is the individual call from God that each of has. Oswald Chambers speaks to that personal calling in his beloved book:
"Fellow laborer in the gospel of Christ" 1 Thessalonians
3:2
After sanctification it is difficult to state what your aim in
life is, because God has taken you up into His purpose by the Holy Ghost; He is
using you now for His purposes throughout the world as He used His Son for the
purpose of salvation…I have to learn that the aim in life is God’s, not mine. God is using me from His great personal
standpoint, and all He asks of me is that I trust Him. Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest
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