by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Jeremiah 18-20
Prophets are very visual in their presentations, and no one shows that any more than Jeremiah. The Lord paints pictures which demonstrate His message. Sometimes they are word pictures and sometimes they are actual demonstrations.
Jeremiah is now geting into demonstrations.
He is directed to go to the potter’s house and watch the potter at work. The vessel is “spoiled in the hand of the potter” (18:4), so he destroys it and remakes it. The Lord says that this is the way He sees His relationship with Israel. They have their position in the earth because of God’s blessing. Yet they have turned away from their Creator. What an abomination.
So to take the message to the next level, Jeremiah buys an earthernware jar and gathers some elders and priests. Taking them to the Valley of Ben-hinnom, he breaks the pot, shattering it to pieces. This is a demonstration of God’s dealings with Judah. If they don’t turn back to Him, He will no longer bless them. They will be destroyed.
With such an unpopular message, it’s no surprise that Jeremiah is hated by many. In fact, Pashhur the priest has the p[rophet beaten and puts him in stocks.
Though Jeremiah knows that the message he is delivering wil bring him harm – and isolation from his friends – he can’t help it. The Word of the Lord is like “fire shut up in his bones” (20:9). He can’t stop speaking what the Lord has for him to say.
It’s a hard, dark time in the nation of Israel. The Lord is holding nothing back to keep His peopole from suffering the fate which is coming their way. But they won’t listen. The more Jeremiah pleads, the more he is hated.
Even when the message is not one which we want to hear, we have to be willing to listen to the word from God. And if we love Him, we will obey.
II Timothy 3
The thoughts in Jeremiah take us right into this chapter. Paul speaks of the end times, and surely we are there. If you see the list of traits of the ungodly, you can’t help but recognize the times. “Lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant,..lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God.” (V.2-4).
So what can we do about it? For one thing, we must get our marching orders from the Bible and Holy Spirit, rather than from the world. That’s always been true, but even more so when the culture around is so counter to His ways. Our standard is Jesus; not the world.
Then when we run counter to the world, we suffer rejection from some. Those who don’t want to run with God malign those who do. Paul warns of this when he says that “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (V.12) That’s just part of it.
When we fall in love with Jesus, pleasing Him is more important than anything else. With that perspective, standing strong and tall – as lights in a dark world – is our goal. We want to represent Him and not ourselves – or anyone else.
So what if everyone doesn’t like our stance? We are pleasing our Lord and that’s all that’s important.
Our faithful God will reward us with His presence and his refreshing here – and eternal rewards in the hereafter.
It’s all worth it.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Jeremiah 15-17
God has a purpose to achieve, and He chose Israel, the children of Abraham to help Him bring it to pass. He is going to bring a Savior (His own Son) into the world through this nation. For their part, they have to remain worthy of the charge. They have to be faithful to Him, as He is to them – like in a marriage.
In the meantime, we have the enemy on the scene, Satan, trying to thwart the plan. (He actually doesn’t know God’s plan, but He knows that these are His people, so the devil tries to infiltrate their culture).
The way the devil works is that he tempts God’s people to be like the culture around them. In doing so, they follow him, and not God. They get into pride and trust in themselves, rather than God.
Their unfaithfulness takes the Israelites out of the covenant, and God’s people will become a mockery to all the world.
Jeremiah has the hardest job possible. He has to tell these people the truth, even when they don’t want to hear it. They are angered against him, and want him to be quiet. But God has given him a job to do, and he must do it!
He complains to God. “Everyone curses me.”(15:10)
God says to him, “If you extract the precious from the vile, you will become My spokesperson.” (15:19) Jeremiah is to stop complaining and trust in the Lord. “They may turn to you, but you are not to turn to them.” … “I will deliver you from their hand.” (15:20)
Jeremiah gets refreshed and restored, and is ready to go again.
Sometimes, as we are doing God’s will, things get tough. Of course, His grace is with us, but we are human, and sometimes we get tired and weary. Yet He is with us, and will always refresh us, if we allow Him to.
The rewards of walking with God are great, if we continue with Him. He is faithful to restore us to a place of peace and confidence.
I want to be faithful to Him, don’t you?
II Timothy 2
“Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” (V. 3)
After spending time in Jeremiah, our hardship doesn’t seem like such a big deal, does it? Yet we can get tired of the antagonistic attitude of those who don’t want to walk with God. And the sinful lifestyles of those who walk away from Him.
We will be misunderstood and even maligned by those who don’t know Him.
The key here is to remain in fellowship with our Father and to remain true to what He tells us to do.
The energy which our Father brings to us is beyond anything we can imagine. He comforts us, renews us, and puts us back in the game. God’s grace is sufficient for anything that comes our way. We just have to stay in that grace – through spending time with Him and His word.
As we “handle accurately the Word of truth” (V.15), we will grow in our ability to understand and overcome the opposition we face.
The rewards are great – both here on earth, and in the hereafter.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Jeremiah 14
We are backing up a little today to get into something important as we study God’s dealings with mankind.
This chapter alludes to the origins of Satan. At one time, he was Lucifer, the angel closest to God in heaven. He was called “Star of the heaven” and “Son of the dawn.”
Later (in Ezekiel), we will read that he was beautiful and gifted. In fact, it was his great beauty and talent that led him to fall. Pride entered in, and it was all over for him.
In verses 13-14, Lucifer says in his heart that he is going to ascend to the heights and be like the Most High. He thinks that he can overthrow God.,but he is going to be thrown down to the Sheol, the recesses of the pit.
So the beautiful Lucifer becomes the lowest of the low. Eventually he will be cast into hell forever.
One day men will look on him and say, “Is this the one who made the whole earth tremble? Who shook kingdoms?” (V.16)
He’s crafty. He wants to trick us into rebelling against God along with him, and he does it by tempting us with pride. When under the influence of the devil, God’s creation can put themselves up to be God. They can exalt themselves, thinking that all of the keys to life reside within themselves.
From the fall of Adam to Jesus, man had no power over the devil. He can’t be seen, so men didn’t know who their enemy was. They thought that their ideas were their own – whether it included hate, murder, sexual perversion, or pursuit of drugs and alcohol. They didn’t realize that their enemy was trying to woo them down the wrong path.
In the meantime, Satan was out to destroy mankind.
But God had a plan. He would initiate a covenant with a man who would be true to him – the best that he could. (Abraham). Through that man He would bring forth a Son to die for the sinful nature of the world, and then men could be empowered back to their original state.
They would have wisdom and discernment. They would understand the ways of God, and they would commit to His will in the earth.
So you can see where we are now. Some day we will look on Satan and be shocked that this is the one who troubled the whole earth. He will not look beautiful and gifted as he once was; instead he will look shriveled and inept. In the meantime, we need to know who our enemy is – trying to get us into pride.
But we will resist him, and he will have to flee. In fact, the gates of hell will not prevail against us plundering his territory and helping others to escape.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Jeremiah 12-14
Jeremiah complains to the Lord. He’s been speaking God’s words to the nation, and has received nothing but flack. In fact, as he is telling the people that they need to turn back to the Lord, they ignore him and continue to prosper.
The Lord’s answer is one we should take to heart, if we really want to represent Him in the earth. He says, “If you have run with footmen and they have tired you out, then how can you compete with horses?” (12:5)
It takes courage to run with the Lord. Very often we will be misunderstood or even vilified because of our stand for Him. Even if we aren’t saying anything, sometimes our actions tend to annoy those who want to ignore God.
The Lord is telling Jeremiah, “You haven’t seen anything yet. This is minor when compared to what you will encounter in the future.”
For us to be ignored or maligned by those who don’t want Jesus in their lives is a price we pay for walking with Him. But life is not a popularity contest. In fact, when we try to make it one, we always get off track. So let’s forget that.
Let’s look to Jesus. He is the One with the real answers – and eventually we will be rewarded for our faithfulness. He is the “author and finisher of our faith,” and He never makes a mistake.
Even though our God loves every human on the earth, not everyone will follow Him – and reap the eventual reward promised to those who are His.
So let’s run this race with a desire to win it. Keeping our eyes on the One who matters most.
II Timothy 1
“Guard, through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us, the treasure which has been entrusted to you.” (V. 14)
At the end of Paul’s life, he is giving this advice to young Timothy, who is his protegé. The gift of the Holy Spirit was introduced to Timothy by a godly mother and grandmother, and then activated by Paul’s laying on of hands. This tremendous grace is there for him, but Timothy is the one who has to guard and keep it.
If we belong to Jesus, we too have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit – residing within us. He is our comforter, our teacher, and our guide for a life well lived.
So let’s not take the gift lightly. Let’s cherish what our Father has given us and realize that He has trusted us with this gift.
As we study, pray, fast, and do what He bids, we will fulfill our purpose in this life. His love for us is so significant. His purpose is also.
We can say with Paul, “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (V.12)
Each day starting afresh – devoting our lives to Him. He won’t let us down.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Jeremiah 9-11
Human nature is strange, but predictable. Strange, because if left unchecked, human nature breeds foolishness. Speculation from within a vacuum is always absurd. And it exalts itself above any God.
It’s predictable, because whether the people are living in cavemen days or in our present time, it’s the same. Self-centered and unwise.
So we see the children of Judah (called the children of Israel) in the 6th century before Christ. They have watched their sister nation, Israel, be taken into captivity by the Assyrians. Yet they think that this will never happen to them. Why would they think that?
They have taken refuge in the vanity of their minds, and we see the same happening today.
I’m amazed at some of the thoughts people express in the media. Arrogance, selfishness, and often shallow in thinking. Professing to be wise, they are indeed very foolish.
So as we look at Jeremiah, we are not surprised to see him speaking to the people God’s words and having them shun him, from the prophets and priests down to the common man.
By this time in their history there are probably many who think that the old stories of God’s miracles in leading them are just fairy tales. They are too busy serving Baal (the God of prosperity), to pay much attention to the true God. They go through the motions, but their hearts are far away.
It’s sad to see a nation which was created and guided by the mighty hand of God, decide that they don’t need Him. Jeremiah weeps as he delivers the word to them
So what is their response? They want him to shut up! They want to kill him. They want him to just go away and leave them alone.
After all, they know more than God. Right?
Sound familiar?
We need to keep praying.
I Timothy 6
One of the most misquoted scriptures is found in this chapter.
“The love of money is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith, and pierced themselves with many a pang.”(V.10)
Some people shorten this to “Money is the root of all evil…” Well, that’s not what it says. It says, “the love of money…”
You can have the love of money without a penny in your pocket. That’s what causes someone to spend the family wages on lottery tickets or gambling. It’s a lust that makes someone think that if they just had money, their problems would be solved.
In those cases, people are making money out to be a god. As if that’s all they need: money.
Throughout the scriptures, a lot is said about money and riches. Even later in this chapter Paul goes on to say that if someone is rich, be rich in giving.
What is so important about money? That’s how Satan runs his kingdom. The only reason a person would be a prostitute or a pimp or a drug dealer is so that they can get money. Why do people steal? What do people kill for? What do people lie and cheat to get? Riches.
When someone has a lust for riches, they open themselves up to all sorts of evil from the devil.
They also substitute riches (Baal) for the one true God.
Actually, there are those whom God will raise up to fund His purposes. They are those who are not looking to riches as their answer, but to God. They are willing to obey Him in their giving – even when He asks for more than they expect.
There is another scripture which says that “the wealth of the sinner is laid up for the righteous.”(Prov 13:22). The righteous are those who will be obedient to God in their giving – and who will trust in their God and not in their riches.
Something to think about, isn’t it? It’s good to give ourselves an attitude check every now and then.
