One Thing Right....Three things Wrong = Wrong Direction

Jeremiah 51:2 and 17  -   I will send foreigners to Babylon to winnow her and to devastate her land; they will oppose her on every side in the day of her disaster.

"Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols. His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them.

 

One of Jeremiah’s last messages was to the great empire of Babylon. God had used it to punish his people for their great sins of idol worship and pride….but he was done and now Babylon would be punished for its great sins too. God wanted to spare the remnant of people he had allowed to survive there…so now was the time to separate them back apart from the people he would destroy.

 

God used the process of winnowing wheat to help the people understand his intentions. The wheat was harvested in its entirety….then the pieces that had been cut were thrown high in the air.  The wind naturally blew the unwanted pieces of the plant away so they could gather the important grain from the pile of harvested pieces.

 

It struck me as I read that God constantly winnows us still to this day. We live in a world that is a mixed bag of believers in God and all the other idols or false gods people create to worship.  He allows strong winds…or sometimes easier breezes…to toss us up into a confusion….so our well laid plans are interrupted while he allows that wind to blow the unneeded chaff from our lives.

 

I had a week like that.  No real strong winds…just an easy constant breeze of friends he sent my way…supervisors over my teaching job…and scripture that I read each night…that reminded me that I am definitely far from perfect.  I had a sense of the one thing I had done right each morning…but throughout the day were small situations that reminded me I have much work to do before he can fully use me. I didn’t fully realize that God was trying to speak to me till I read this chapter last night…and heard all my selfish responses to the people he sent to teach me this past week replayed in my head.  I definitely did one thing right…but the three things I did wrong each day had me traveling in the wrong direction.

 

If I truly want to fall madly in love with God…I have to be open and willing…even eager to go to the threshing floor every day. I have to be always thinking about what needs to be winnowed from my life…and allow God to separate it from my daily routines. Then I need to let him burn that chaff up…so I cannot return to it ever again. John the Baptist put it best in Matthew 3:11-12… “I baptize you with water for repentance. But after me will come one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not fit to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire.  His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire."

 

Father…thank you for the reminders that I am still a sinner and sin multiple times a day. Forgive me for puffing myself up once again to the point that I didn’t even recognize your soft voice trying to help me. Show me how to place myself regularly in your threshing room…so you can help me remove all traces of sin from my life. Show me how to let it blow completely away…even let your spirit consume it with holy fire so it cannot return to my life. Amen.

Fall Madly In Love With God

Jeremiah 50:4-5 -  "In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God.  They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.

 

Babylon had served its purpose in punishing the wayward people of God.  It too would be crushed and destroyed by God.  Israel would be lifted up and renewed….their hearts would turn once again to the need they had for God’s care and love.  They would fall so deeply in love with God this time that they would not forget the covenant they had made with him.

 

God had punished his people enough…he had watched the other nations treat them as lions treat the sheep of prey long enough. God was calling them home….collecting the scattered remnants of his people and restoring them to him once again.

 

Honestly…my first thought was very selfish…for I saw the words ‘come home’ and visualized my own return to my childhood town of Sevierville Tennessee. I have longed for several years to return closer to my mom and dad in their aging years…and reestablish the sparse relationship I have with my family and sisters that live close by.

 

I know in my heart that this scripture goes far beyond any desire of my heart…and God is saying that all his people will return so completely to him one day that they will fall madly in love with him instead of the worldly thing they cling to now. Whatever struggle or storm he asked us to walk through will come to an end….and the end of that lesson in faith will usher in a feeling of radical love that we have never known before.  He will begin to raise us up with wings like eagles…and renew our strength….and show us how to soar on his strength and love.

 

We will be so madly in love with God that we will understand the importance of praising him through and for our storms. We will return home to tell of God’s lessons in our lives that taught us how to love him more than anything this world can offer us. He will use our success in overcoming and weathering the worst of life to help someone else come to know his love.

 

Father…I thank you for the reminder that a love for you is the most important factor in my life. Forgive me for the times that I fell in love with worldly things.  Show me how to fall madly in love with you. Help me to write the story of how you helped me weather the storms of life so completely on my heart that I can share exactly the part of how you helped me with each person I meet.  Use me Lord to help others…deepen the love I have so the well of resources I have in you never runs dry.  Amen.

Pride Is A Dangerous Emotion

Jeremiah 49:4 and 16   -  Why do you boast of your valleys, boast of your valleys so fruitful? O unfaithful daughter, you trust in your riches and say, 'Who will attack me?'

The terror you inspire and the pride of your heart have deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks, who occupy the heights of the hill. Though you build your nest as high as the eagle's, from there I will bring you down," declares the LORD.

 

This chapter gives messages of destruction to four other nations that had settled in or around the land that God had given to the Israelites.  God was not happy with any of them.  Their lives had become a tribute to what they could accomplish on their own…none of them thought they needed God for any success.  Only the widows and the fatherless orphans would escape the punishments God had planned to stop their prideful hearts.

 

Pride is built in our heart when the successes we experience give us a false sense that we can exist without God’s help.   Wealth….fame….recognition…power…even beauty can cause our minds to believe in the material thing that gave us attention…not the God that blessed us with that natural ability or grace. 

 

Jeremiah is not the only Bible writer to warn us about the dangers of pride.  Read the whole chapter of Ezekiel 28…and listen to what Mark had to say in 7:20-23…. “He went on: "What comes out of a man is what makes him 'unclean.'  For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery,  greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly.  All these evils come from inside and make a man 'unclean.' "

 

God wants us to be completely dependent on him. He grants us wealth…fame…recognition…beauty…or power because he lives us. He wants us to use these great gifts to draw attention to him….because he gave them to us. He wants us to use them to lift him up so the world will know who he is and realize the greatest power in the world is realizing that we are nothing without him. It isn’t a weakness to admit that you are powerless…it is empowering to admit that your strength comes from God.

 

I admit that I needed this reminder today.  God has been very good to me most of my life….and especially good to me since I crawled up in his lap after my sweet second husband passed away. I understood exactly why God spared those orphans and widows.  Our tender hearts are very vulnerable….they need to learn to completely trust in the future purposes for our loss …before we can take even one step forward from our pain.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that you are completely in control of everything I have been blessed with.  I thank you for the blessings of life….the resources to care for myself….and everything else that you have given me to help me be thankful…even for the losses in my life. Forgive me for letting any pride take root for even a moment in my heart.  If any resides there this morning….remove it from there promptly before it causes me to stop depending on you for what I need. Let all my confidence be completely in you….for the rest of the days you grant me on this earth…no matter what.   Amen.

Focus On God First...Then He Will Give You What You Need

Jeremiah 48:7 and 29-31 -  Since you trust in your deeds and riches, you too will be taken captive, and Chemosh will go into exile, together with his priests and officials.

"We have heard of Moab's pride-- her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart.  I know her insolence but it is futile," declares the LORD, "and her boasts accomplish nothing.  Therefore I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out, I moan for the men of Kir Hareseth.

 

Jeremiah was also given a word from God to give to the Moabites. They were the race of people that descended from Lot’s incestuous relationship with one of his daughters. They had become a proud nation…growing their arrogant attitude from the things they had accomplished and the many skills they succeeded at.

 

God was not happy with them.  They had based their spirituality in the idol named Chemosh…and ignored the laws that God had tried to instill in Lot before his fall. Because of their arrogance….worship of idols…and the pride they had let keep them from realizing the sin in their lives…God had added tem to the list of nations that would be destroyed.

 

It is not the first place in the Bible that God warns us not to place our trust in wealth….skills….or anything else that gives us a sense of success or accomplishment. David warned us in Psalm 62:10… “Don't trust in your power to take things by force. Don't think you will gain anything by stealing. And if you become wealthy, don't put your trust in riches.” And in Matthew 6:19-21 it says… “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal.  But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

It is a reminder to me to constantly guard against letting my trust be formed in anything material. If I keep my heart looking and focused on the things of Heaven…then I will be less likely to be influenced by the material things of this world that will try to become my master. I want my greatest legacy to be the faith that God has given me to follow him.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that nothing in this world is worth more than my relationship with you.  You are my greatest treasure….and I thank you for allowing me the opportunity to even know you. Forgive me for the times that I have taken my eyes and heart off of you and focused on selfish things here on Earth.  Help me to internalize Matthew 6:33 which tells me that  you know exactly what I need….and to focus on you first.  For verse 33 says…."But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”  Amen.

Evil Will Have It's End

Jeremiah 47:3-4 -   at the sound of the hoofs of galloping steeds, at the noise of enemy chariots and the rumble of their wheels. Fathers will not turn to help their children; their hands will hang limp.  For the day has come to destroy all the Philistines and to cut off all survivors who could help Tyre and Sidon. The LORD is about to destroy the Philistines, the remnant from the coasts of Caphtor.

 

It was a short message to the people who had Israel’s enemy for many years.  This giant people ….who thought their statue and strength could carry them through anything had forgotten the God that let a small boy bring down a huge army. It was time that God intervened and let them know who was in control.

 

A picture is painted of such quick and complete destruction that the fathers would turn to want to help…but be helpless as their children were carried off in a great flood. They would be lowered to great cowards….all strength and courage removed from their hearts.

 

It is a reminder to me that God will only allow evil for so long.  His short-term plan may include a bit of hardship and suffering….but his long-term plan calls for evil to be completely stamped out. Anyone who doesn’t believe in God and follow his ways completely will be left behind to watch and endure the last 7 years that evil will be allowed to reign on the Earth. It became even more real for me as I watched the remake of the movie based on the book series….Left Behind.

 

The life we live should reflect an effort every moment to let people know just what is to come.  They can call us crazy….or radical….or just plain looney…but if one more person is raptured because of some effort on my part to tell them the truth….it is totally worth the name calling and persecution that might result.

 

Father….thank you for the reminder that evil will have an end. Thank you saving me with your great love and allowing me to be a part of helping others to understand the truth. Forgive me for not using enough of  my time and energy to spread the gospel.  Show me more ways to slip in a verse or two about the future…so more people can go with me to share in the home you have prepared in Heaven. Show me how to renew my faith so I can mount on the wings of eagles and soar in your strength when times get tough. Amen.

God Purifies And Redirects Our Wrong Choices

Jeremiah 46:28 -   Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you," declares the LORD. "Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished."

 

Jeremiah had just given the leaders of Egypt a word from God. He was not going to tolerate the idol worship in that land and wanted them to hear the reason he had allowed Nebuchadnezzar to overthrow them. Many of the Jews would also be destroyed in this war…but some would choose wisely to return to their own land as God had directed.

 

All those that had not followed God’s directions would be punished…and many would die. They would bear the natural consequences of making the wrong decision. They would die just as Jeremiah had told them they would if they left Judah in the first place.

 

Those of us that are parents understand the concept of punishment. It is a necessary sometimes for us to teach our children the consequences of an immoral decision…or sometimes just making the decision to do what they were told not to do. We want them to understand that while they are in our care…we are responsible for teaching them right from wrong.  We want them to understand that making the wrong choice will eventually catch up with them.

 

I am so glad that Jesus came and died on the cross…even though he had never done anything wrong…even though he did not need to be punished. He lessened my punishment for sin when he sacrificed his own life for mine....he did not eliminate the need for God to punish and redirect us sometimes.

 

God punishes us to purify and redirect us back to him. He wants us to love him more that the world around us.  He wants us to love him as much as his own son did. He wants us to listen to him and read the word he left us to direct our decisions.  He wants us to love him so much that we pray for his guidance instead of make our own decisions.

 

Father…thank you for the times that you have punished me for making the wrong choices. Thank you for redirecting me back to a healthier relationship with you. Forgive me for the times that I have sinned and caused you to discipline me at all.  Help me to see the punishments as ways to grow my character….as ways to know you in a deeper way.  Amen.

Keep Your Focus On God...And He Will Give you Strength And Peace

Jeremiah 45:3-5 -You said, 'Woe to me! The LORD has added sorrow to my pain; I am worn out with groaning and find no rest.' "  The LORD said, "Say this to him: 'This is what the LORD says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land.  Should you then seek great things for yourself ? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the LORD, but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.' "

 

It is one of Jeremiah’s shortest chapters…it contains a direct message for his faithful scribe Baruch.  He had followed Jerimiah everywhere…writing down on scrolls the important messages God had given Jeremiah for the people. Baruch’s life had been very hard…and he was tired. He reached that point where his frustration wanted an out…he thought he could take no more.

 

God’s answer came through his friend Jeremiah quickly.  He told him to just hold on…not to think about the pain and sorrow of the present…to take his focus off of himself. Jeremiah told him to just continue to serve God by being his scribe and God would take care of him for the rest of his life…wherever he went.

 

I have been a Baruch many times…for when life beats me down I have a tendency to want to run away too. It just seems too much to bear…and I let the pain and hardness of the moment turn my focus to myself. I pray exactly like Baruch did…and cry out to God with tears and frustration that I have had enough.

 

It is a reminder to me to stop letting my pain and frustration cause me to take my focus off of God…and convince myself to run or give up again. What I need to do is read these words to Baruch over and over and let them help me focus back on God again. For once I have my eyes back on God…and stop crying my pain is too great…he sends me a peace that helps me deal with my problem. The pain doesn’t always stop….but his peace helps me keep from worrying about it anymore.

 

If we focus on ourselves…and what we might be missing during our storms….the result is frustration and confusion. But if we keep our focus on God… we find the strength and peace to continue in our pain and finish the task he placed us there to do in the first place. I am so glad that our perfect model Jesus…in his most painful moment…showed me that it is okay to call out to God in our pain…but when we hand the reins over to our father in heaven…and concede that his will is the better plan…the tears of pain and frustration that for Jesus were even magnified to bloody sweat… become the strength to carry the cross to the spot where we die to ourselves…and fulfill the plan that God placed us here to do. When we understand fully that we are servants…and stop seeking great things for ourselves…we begin to internalize the strength and wisdom and discernment we need to complete God’s will in our life.

 

Father…thank you for the reminder that it’s not about me…but about what you need me to do while I have been granted life on your Earth. Forgive me for focusing too many times on myself…and letting my pan and confusion stop me from finishing the job you needed me to do. Forgive me for modeling to so many people how to run from my pain instead of how to let you give me peace and strength to work through it.  Help me to internalize a need to stay completely focused on you…so I can do a better job seeking your peace when things get hard the next time. Amen.