Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

If you have been reading with me, you will realize that we are at the end of the writings of Jeremiah.  He may have been nicknamed the “weeping prophet,” but by reading we commiserate with Him because of all that God’s rebellious people experienced. We understand Jeremiah’s lament and weeping.  When loved ones are lost from God and end up with great suffering because of their rebellion, we who believe weep with them!  Right?  (By the way, I pray for all who read Daily Manna.)

God’s anger is justified and comes from a place of compassion for His people.  He disciplines to pull them out of harm and back to Him.  His people conformed completely to the world around them behaving aggressively in all kinds of evil ways, leaving all that is good that God wanted to give them.  As we have read, we look over the situation and judge them with our thoughts; “Why would you leave your God who loves you so much?”  “Why disobey God’s ways and follow all that is evil when evil leads to death and destruction?”  “Why the rebellion against a God who gives?” 

Ah, then we realize we cannot be so critical or be judges of what they fell for when we fall for evil ourselves.  Yes, judge not, for the world today is offering the same temptations on a beautiful platter of pride and arrogance.  We are told we are not enough, hammered down, harassed, and coerced until we comply with worldview thinking and behaving because we think that is easier.  But where does that lead us?

We learn from God through Jeremiah what happens when we are out of step with Him, turning our backs on all that is good from God, while in complete rebellion against all that is God. And that is a terrible place to reside as opposed to abiding with the God who knows our name and simply wants us to love Him back.  God is the Giver of Life eternal.  God is our Healer, Provider and Protector who sent His Son to save us.  Why?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16

So, conforming to this world leads us down a road that is traveled by many who arrogantly think they don’t need God.  Are you one of them?

Jeremiah 52, The Message

The Destruction of Jerusalem and Exile of Judah

Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he started out as king. He was king in Jerusalem for eleven years. His mother’s name was Hamutal, the daughter of Jeremiah. Her hometown was Libnah.

² As far as God was concerned, Zedekiah was just one more evil king, a carbon copy of Jehoiakim.

^3-5 The source of all this doom to Jerusalem and Judah was God’s anger. God turned his back on them as an act of judgment.

Zedekiah revolted against the king of Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar set out for Jerusalem with a full army. He set up camp and sealed off the city by building siege mounds around it. He arrived on the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah’s reign. The city was under siege for nineteen months (until the eleventh year of Zedekiah).

^6-8 By the fourth month of Zedekiah’s eleventh year, on the ninth day of the month, the famine was so bad that there wasn’t so much as a crumb of bread for anyone. Then the Babylonians broke through the city walls. Under cover of the night darkness, the entire Judean army fled through an opening in the wall (it was the gate between the two walls above the King’s Garden). They slipped through the lines of the Babylonians who surrounded the city and headed for the Jordan into the Arabah Valley, but the Babylonians were in full pursuit. They caught up with them in the Plains of Jericho. But by then Zedekiah’s army had deserted and was scattered.

^9-11 The Babylonians captured Zedekiah and marched him off to the king of Babylon at Riblah in Hamath, who tried and sentenced him on the spot. The king of Babylon then killed Zedekiah’s sons right before his eyes. The summary murder of his sons was the last thing Zedekiah saw, for they then blinded him. The king of Babylon followed that up by killing all the officials of Judah. Securely handcuffed, Zedekiah was hauled off to Babylon. The king of Babylon threw him in prison, where he stayed until the day he died.

^12-16 In the nineteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon on the seventh day of the fifth month, Nebuzaradan, the king of Babylon’s chief deputy, arrived in Jerusalem. He burned the Temple of God to the ground, went on to the royal palace, and then finished off the city. He burned the whole place down. He put the Babylonian troops he had with him to work knocking down the city walls. Finally, he rounded up everyone left in the city, including those who had earlier deserted to the king of Babylon, and took them off into exile. He left a few poor dirt farmers behind to tend the vineyards and what was left of the fields.

^17-19 The Babylonians broke up the bronze pillars, the bronze washstands, and the huge bronze basin (the Sea) that were in the Temple of God, and hauled the bronze off to Babylon. They also took the various bronze-crafted liturgical accessories, as well as the gold and silver censers and sprinkling bowls, used in the services of Temple worship. The king’s deputy didn’t miss a thing. He took every scrap of precious metal he could find.

^20-23 The amount of bronze they got from the two pillars, the Sea, the twelve bronze bulls that supported the Sea, and the ten washstands that Solomon had made for the Temple of God was enormous. They couldn’t weigh it all! Each pillar stood twenty-seven feet high with a circumference of eighteen feet. The pillars were hollow, the bronze a little less than an inch thick. Each pillar was topped with an ornate capital of bronze pomegranates and filigree, which added another seven and a half feet to its height. There were ninety-six pomegranates evenly spaced—in all, a hundred pomegranates worked into the filigree.

^24-27 The king’s deputy took a number of special prisoners: Seraiah the chief priest, Zephaniah the associate priest, three wardens, the chief remaining army officer, seven of the king’s counselors who happened to be in the city, the chief recruiting officer for the army, and sixty men of standing from among the people who were still there. Nebuzaradan the king’s deputy marched them all off to the king of Babylon at Riblah. And there at Riblah, in the land of Hamath, the king of Babylon killed the lot of them in cold blood.

Judah went into exile, orphaned from her land.

* * *

²⁸ 3,023 men of Judah were taken into exile by Nebuchadnezzar in the seventh year of his reign.

²⁹ 832 from Jerusalem were taken in the eighteenth year of his reign.

³⁰ 745 men from Judah were taken off by Nebuzaradan, the king’s chief deputy, in Nebuchadnezzar’s twenty-third year.

The total number of exiles was 4,600.

* * *

^31-34 When Jehoiachin king of Judah had been in exile for thirty-seven years, Evil-Merodach became king in Babylon and let Jehoiachin out of prison. This release took place on the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth month. The king treated him most courteously and gave him preferential treatment beyond anything experienced by the political prisoners held in Babylon. Jehoiachin took off his prison garb and from then on ate his meals in company with the king. The king provided everything he needed to live comfortably for the rest of his life.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This would not have happened if only one of the kings had listened to Jeremiah’s message. What can we learn from Jeremiah’s ministry?

• In difficult days, we need to hear and heed the Word of God. Since hindsight always has twenty-twenty vision, we can see that the leaders of Judah did a very stupid thing by resisting what Jeremiah told them to do. 
• Had they confessed their sins, turned to God, and submitted to Nebuchadnezzar, they would have saved their lives, their temple, and their city.
• True prophets of God are usually (if not always) persecuted. The civil and religious leaders of Judah preferred the pleasant messages of the false prophets to the strong words of God’s true servant, because the human heart wants to rest, not repent. It wants peace but without having to deal with the basic cause of unrest—unbelief.
• God’s servantsoccasionally have their doubts and failings. Jeremiah was weak before God but bold before men. Jeremiah was a prophet of the heart. He wasn’t content to give a message that dealt with surface matters; he wanted to penetrate the inner person and see the heart changed. 
• Any servant of God who tries to reach and change hearts is a candidate for sorrow and a sense of failure. But God knows our hearts and sustains us.
• God is King,and the nations of the world are under His sovereign control. Nothing catches God by surprise. The nations that defy Him and disobey His Word eventually suffer for it. 

Being out of step with the God who created all, is in all and knows what we need before we need it is not the place to be. Paul explains the process of daily abiding in God;

“So, here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12:1-2, MSG

NEED TO KNOW

The same Lord who enabled Jeremiah can enable us. The same world that opposed Jeremiah will oppose us. The time has come for God’s people to be decisive.  Who is on the Lord’s side?

Lord,

Thank you for all the lessons of Jeremiah that we needed to read and understand for growing in your character with grateful attitudes.  I repent of rebellious thoughts and ask for what you want in my life and behavior.  Help me to think more like you so I will behave more like you.  Most of all, help me to love others they way you love us—without conditions.

In Jesus Name, Amen

History should not be only about when an event happened that changed the world, but more about why it happened with what was learned from it.  Unfortunately, history repeats itself because humans are a flawed creation since the fall of Adam and Eve.  We are in need of extreme, divine help from a perfect, all-knowing God who is for us, not against us.  We need God who so loves that at the right time sent His Son, Jesus to save us once and for all. 

But until that day comes, God’s people who have turned their backs on Him, must deal with God’s anger and discipline through hurricanes of war that sweep over the land in order to cleanse His people of their sins that send them into captivity.  God is honest with His people.  God is Truth and cannot lie.  He tells them of their sins, warns them of the consequences, but to no avail. 

Only a remnant of His people who still believe hold on until God does His work in and through the land to rescue them.  The people are in bondage to their captors.  God makes a way for their release and return so they can come home.

Jesus is the Way for us to be released from our sins that bind us so we can come home to God forever.  May we learn from history so we avoid the hurricanes of hate that sin produces and live in Truth who is Jesus/God/Holy Spirit we can trust—in all honesty!

Jeremiah 51, The Message

Hurricane Persia

^1-5 There’s more. God says more:

“Watch this:
    I’m whipping up
A death-dealing hurricane against Babylon—‘Hurricane Persia’—
    against all who live in that perverse land.
I’m sending a cleanup crew into Babylon.
    They’ll clean the place out from top to bottom.
When they get through there’ll be nothing left of her
    worth taking or talking about.
They won’t miss a thing.
    A total and final Doomsday!
Fighters will fight with everything they’ve got.
    It’s no-holds-barred.
They will spare nothing and no one.
    It’s final and wholesale destruction—the end!
Babylon littered with the wounded,
    streets piled with corpses.
It turns out that Israel and Judah
    are not widowed after all.
As their God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, I am still alive and well,
    committed to them even though
They filled their land with sin
    against Israel’s most Holy God.

^6-8 “Get out of Babylon as fast as you can.
    Run for your lives! Save your necks!
Don’t linger and lose your lives to my vengeance on her
    as I pay her back for her sins.
Babylon was a fancy gold chalice
    held in my hand,
Filled with the wine of my anger
    to make the whole world drunk.
The nations drank the wine
    and they’ve all gone crazy.
Babylon herself will stagger and crash,
    senseless in a drunken stupor—tragic!
Get anointing balm for her wound.
    Maybe she can be cured.”

* * *

⁹ “We did our best, but she can’t be helped.
    Babylon is past fixing.
Give her up to her fate.
    Go home.
The judgment on her will be vast,
    a skyscraper-memorial of vengeance.

Your Lifeline Is Cut

¹⁰ “God has set everything right for us.
    Come! Let’s tell the good news
Back home in Zion.
    Let’s tell what our God did to set things right.

^11-13 “Sharpen the arrows!
    Fill the quivers!
God has stirred up the kings of the Medes,
    infecting them with war fever: ‘Destroy Babylon!’
God’s on the warpath.
    He’s out to avenge his Temple.
Give the signal to attack Babylon’s walls.
    Station guards around the clock.
Bring in reinforcements.
    Set men in ambush.
God will do what he planned,
    what he said he’d do to the people of Babylon.
You have more water than you need,
    you have more money than you need—
But your life is over,
    your lifeline cut.”

* * *

¹⁴ God-of-the-Angel-Armies has solemnly sworn:
    “I’ll fill this place with soldiers.
They’ll swarm through here like locusts
    chanting victory songs over you.”

* * *

^15-19 By his power he made earth.
    His wisdom gave shape to the world.
    He crafted the cosmos.
He thunders and rain pours down.
    He sends the clouds soaring.
He embellishes the storm with lightnings,
    launches the wind from his warehouse.
Stick-god worshipers look mighty foolish!
    god-makers embarrassed by their handmade gods!
Their gods are frauds, dead sticks—
    deadwood gods, tasteless jokes.
They’re nothing but stale smoke.
    When the smoke clears, they’re gone.
But the Portion-of-Jacob is the real thing;
    he put the whole universe together,
With special attention to Israel.
    His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

They’ll Sleep and Never Wake Up

^20-23 God says, “You, Babylon, are my hammer,
    my weapon of war.
I’ll use you to smash godless nations,
    use you to knock kingdoms to bits.
I’ll use you to smash horse and rider,
    use you to smash chariot and driver.
I’ll use you to smash man and woman,
    use you to smash the old man and the boy.
I’ll use you to smash the young man and young woman,
    use you to smash shepherd and sheep.
I’ll use you to smash farmer and yoked oxen,
    use you to smash governors and senators.

²⁴ “Judeans, you’ll see it with your own eyes. I’ll pay Babylon and all the Chaldeans back for all the evil they did in Zion.” God’s Decree.

^25-26 “I’m your enemy, Babylon, Mount Destroyer,
    you ravager of the whole earth.
I’ll reach out, I’ll take you in my hand,
    and I’ll crush you till there’s no mountain left.
I’ll turn you into a gravel pit—
    no more cornerstones cut from you,
No more foundation stones quarried from you!
    Nothing left of you but gravel.” God’s Decree.

* * *

^27-28 “Raise the signal in the land,
    blow the shofar-trumpet for the nations.
Consecrate the nations for holy work against her.
    Call kingdoms into service against her.
    Enlist Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz.
Appoint a field marshal against her,
    and round up horses, locust hordes of horses!
Consecrate the nations for holy work against her—
    the king of the Medes, his leaders and people.

^29-33 “The very land trembles in terror, writhes in pain,
    terrorized by my plans against Babylon,
Plans to turn the country of Babylon
    into a lifeless moonscape—a wasteland.
Babylon’s soldiers have quit fighting.
    They hide out in ruins and caves—
Cowards who’ve given up without a fight,
    exposed as cowering crybabies.
Babylon’s houses are going up in flames,
    the city gates torn off their hinges.
Runner after runner comes racing in,
    each on the heels of the last,
Bringing reports to the king of Babylon
    that his city is a lost cause.
The fords of the rivers are all taken.
    Wildfire rages through the swamp grass.
Soldiers desert left and right.
    I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, said it would happen:
‘Daughter Babylon is a threshing floor
    at threshing time.
Soon, oh very soon, her harvest will come
    and then the chaff will fly!’

* * *

^34-37 “Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
    chewed up my people and spit out the bones.
He wiped his dish clean, pushed back his chair,
    and belched—a huge gluttonous belch.
Lady Zion says,
    ‘The brutality done to me be done to Babylon!’
And Jerusalem says,
    ‘The blood spilled from me be charged to the Chaldeans!’
Then I, God, step in and say,
    ‘I’m on your side, taking up your cause.
I’m your Avenger. You’ll get your revenge.
    I’ll dry up her rivers, plug up her springs.
Babylon will be a pile of rubble,
    scavenged by stray dogs and cats,
A dumping ground for garbage,
    a godforsaken ghost town.’

* * *

^38-40 “The Babylonians will be like lions and their cubs,
    ravenous, roaring for food.
I’ll fix them a meal, all right—a banquet, in fact.
    They’ll drink themselves falling-down drunk.
Dead drunk, they’ll sleep—and sleep, and sleep . . . 
    and they’ll never wake up.” God’s Decree.
“I’ll haul these ‘lions’ off to the slaughterhouse
    like the lambs, rams, and goats,
    never to be heard of again.

* * *

^41-48 “Babylon is finished—
    the pride of the whole earth is flat on her face.
What a comedown for Babylon,
    to end up inglorious in the sewer!
Babylon drowned in chaos,
    battered by waves of enemy soldiers.
Her towns stink with decay and rot,
    the land empty and bare and sterile.
No one lives in these towns anymore.
    Travelers give them a wide berth.
I’ll bring doom on the glutton god-Bel in Babylon.
    I’ll make him vomit up all he gulped down.
No more visitors stream into this place,
    admiring and gawking at the wonders of Babylon.
    The wonders of Babylon are no more.
Run for your lives, my dear people!
    Run, and don’t look back!
Get out of this place while you can,
    this place torched by God’s raging anger.
Don’t lose hope. Don’t ever give up
    when the rumors pour in hot and heavy.
One year it’s this, the next year it’s that—
    rumors of violence, rumors of war.
Trust me, the time is coming
    when I’ll put the no-gods of Babylon in their place.
I’ll show up the whole country as a sickening fraud,
    with dead bodies strewn all over the place.
Heaven and earth, angels and people,
    will throw a victory party over Babylon
When the avenging armies from the north
    descend on her.” God’s Decree!

Remember God in Your Long and Distant Exile

^49-50 “Babylon must fall—
    compensation for the war dead in Israel.
Babylonians will be killed
    because of all that Babylonian killing.
But you exiles who have escaped a Babylonian death,
    get out! And fast!
Remember God in your long and distant exile.
    Keep Jerusalem alive in your memory.”

⁵¹ How we’ve been humiliated, taunted and abused,
    kicked around for so long that we hardly know who we are!
And we hardly know what to think—
    our old Sanctuary, God’s house, desecrated by strangers.

^52-53 “I know, but trust me: The time is coming”
    —God’s Decree—
“When I will bring doom on her no-god idols,
    and all over this land her wounded will groan.
Even if Babylon climbed a ladder to the moon
    and pulled up the ladder so that no one could get to her,
That wouldn’t stop me.
    I’d make sure my avengers would reach her.”
        God’s Decree.

^54-56 “But now listen! Do you hear it? A cry out of Babylon!
    An unearthly wail out of Chaldea!
God is taking his wrecking bar to Babylon.
    We’ll be hearing the last of her noise—
Death throes like the crashing of waves,
    death rattles like the roar of cataracts.
The avenging destroyer is about to enter Babylon:
    Her soldiers are taken, her weapons are trashed.
Indeed, God is a God who evens things out.
    All end up with their just deserts.

⁵⁷ “I’ll get them drunk, the whole lot of them—
    princes, sages, governors, soldiers.
Dead drunk, they’ll sleep—and sleep and sleep . . . 
    and never wake up.” The King’s Decree.
His name? God-of-the-Angel-Armies!

⁵⁸ God-of-the-Angel-Armies speaks:

“The city walls of Babylon—those massive walls!—
    will be flattened.
And those city gates—huge gates!—
    will be set on fire.
The harder you work at this empty life,
    the less you are.
Nothing comes of ambition like this
    but ashes.”

* * *

⁵⁹ Jeremiah the prophet gave a job to Seraiah son of Neriah, son of Mahseiah, when Seraiah went with Zedekiah king of Judah to Babylon. It was in the fourth year of Zedekiah’s reign. Seraiah was in charge of travel arrangements.

^60-62 Jeremiah had written down in a little booklet all the bad things that would come down on Babylon. He told Seraiah, “When you get to Babylon, read this out in public. Read, ‘You, O God, said that you would destroy this place so that nothing could live here, neither human nor animal—a wasteland to top all wastelands, an eternal nothing.’

^63-64 “When you’ve finished reading the page, tie a stone to it, throw it into the River Euphrates, and watch it sink. Then say, ‘That’s how Babylon will sink to the bottom and stay there after the disaster I’m going to bring upon her.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God assured His people that He hadn’t abandoned them, and He ordered them a second time to get out of Babylon when the opportunity arises. When Cyrus opened the door for them to go home, about fifty thousand Jews returned to Judah to restore Jerusalem and the temple. God was always in control.  God is still in control.  God has never relinquished his control and sovereignty.

Trust God not the circumstances!  Some of God’s people thought it would be safer to stay with their captors!  But if His people remained in Babylon, they would suffer the fate of the city. If they obeyed the Lord and returned home, they would experience a new beginning under the blessing of the Lord.

Do what God says!  Dear Friends, it’s a matter of walking by faith and not by sight, trusting God’s Word instead of our own human evaluation. The exiles saw the high walls and huge gates of the city and concluded that such fortifications would repel any enemy, but they were wrong. Those walls and gates would become only fuel for the flames when the invaders arrived on the scene.

Lord,

May we trust wholly in you and lean on your understanding with obedience—even when hope seems unreachable.  You are our hope, our Rescue, our life eternal.  I love you with all my heart, mind, and soul.  Lead me and I will follow.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“Get out, no way!” is a popular vernacular when expressing unbelief at what is currently happening in front of you or what is being said to you.  Words that follow are usually words of shocking surprise and can be good or bad.  Either way, what is happening is hard to believe—at first. 

Most of the time, when God comes and intervenes His actions come with a warning.  He knows us so well and knows we need forewarning.  Whether we heed the warning or not, what God says He will do, He will do.  This is what we have learned from the prophet Jeremiah over the last fifty chapters:  If God says it, believe it!  If He says, Get out then GET OUT!

Jeremiah 50, The Message

Get Out of Babylon as Fast as You Can

^1-3 The Message of God through the prophet Jeremiah on Babylon, land of the Chaldeans:

“Get the word out to the nations! Preach it!
    Go public with this, broadcast it far and wide:
Babylon taken, god-Bel hanging his head in shame,
    god-Marduk exposed as a fraud.
All her god-idols shuffling in shame,
    all her play-gods exposed as cheap frauds.
For a nation will come out of the north to attack her,
    reduce her cities to rubble.
Empty of life—no animals, no people—
    not a sound, not a movement, not a breath.

^4-5 “In those days, at that time”—God’s Decree—
    “the people of Israel will come,
And the people of Judah with them.
    Walking and weeping, they’ll seek me, their God.
They’ll ask directions to Zion
    and set their faces toward Zion.
They’ll come and hold tight to God,
    bound in a covenant eternal they’ll never forget.

^6-7 “My people were lost sheep.
    Their shepherds led them astray.
They abandoned them in the mountains
    where they wandered aimless through the hills.
They lost track of home,
    couldn’t remember where they came from.
Everyone who met them took advantage of them.
    Their enemies had no qualms:
‘Fair game,’ they said. ‘They walked out on God.
    They abandoned the True Pasture, the hope of their parents.’

^8-10 “But now, get out of Babylon as fast as you can.
    Be rid of that Babylonian country.
On your way. Good sheepdogs lead, but don’t you be led.
    Lead the way home!
Do you see what I’m doing?
    I’m rallying a host of nations against Babylon.
They’ll come out of the north,
    attack and take her.
Oh, they know how to fight, these armies.
    They never come home empty-handed.
Babylon is ripe for picking!
    All her plunderers will fill their bellies!” God’s Decree.

^11-16 “You Babylonians had a good time while it lasted, didn’t you?
    You lived it up, exploiting and using my people,
Frisky calves romping in lush pastures,
    wild stallions out having a good time!
Well, your mother would hardly be proud of you.
    The woman who bore you wouldn’t be pleased.
Look at what’s come of you! A nothing nation!
    Rubble and garbage and weeds!
Emptied of life by my holy anger,
    a desert of death and emptiness.
Travelers who pass by Babylon will gasp, appalled,
    shaking their heads at such a comedown.
Gang up on Babylon! Pin her down!
    Throw everything you have against her.
Hold nothing back. Knock her flat.
    She’s sinned—oh, how she’s sinned, against me!
Shout battle cries from every direction.
    All the fight has gone out of her.
Her defenses have been flattened,
    her walls smashed.
‘Operation God’s Vengeance.’
    Pile on the vengeance!
Do to her as she has done.
    Give her a good dose of her own medicine!
Destroy her farms and farmers,
    ravage her fields, empty her barns.
And you captives, while the destruction rages,
    get out while the getting’s good,
    get out fast and run for home.

* * *

¹⁷ “Israel is a scattered flock,
    hunted down by lions.
The king of Assyria started the carnage.
    The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar,
Has completed the job,
    gnawing the bones clean.”

^18-20 And now this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    the God of Israel, has to say:
“Just watch! I’m bringing doom on the king of Babylon and his land,
    the same doom I brought on the king of Assyria.
But Israel I’ll bring home to good pastures.
    He’ll graze on the hills of Carmel and Bashan,
On the slopes of Ephraim and Gilead.
    He will eat to his heart’s content.
In those days and at that time”—God’s Decree—
    “they’ll look high and low for a sign of Israel’s guilt—nothing;
Search nook and cranny for a trace of Judah’s sin—nothing.
    These people that I’ve saved will start out with a clean slate.

* * *

²¹ “Attack Merathaim, land of rebels!
    Go after Pekod, country of doom!
Hunt them down. Make a clean sweep.” God’s Decree.
    “These are my orders. Do what I tell you.

^22-24 “The thunderclap of battle
    shakes the foundations!
The Hammer has been hammered,
    smashed and splintered,
Babylon pummeled
    beyond recognition.
I set out a trap and you were caught in it.
    O Babylon, you never knew what hit you,
Caught and held in the steel grip of that trap!
    That’s what you get for taking on God.

^25-28 “I, God, opened my arsenal.
    I brought out my weapons of wrath.
The Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    has a job to do in Babylon.
Come at her from all sides!
    Break into her granaries!
Shovel her into piles and burn her up.
    Leave nothing! Leave no one!
Kill all her young turks.
    Send them to their doom!
Doom to them! Yes, Doomsday!
    The clock has finally run out on them.
And here’s a surprise:
    Runaways and escapees from Babylon
Show up in Zion reporting the news of God’s vengeance,
    taking vengeance for my own Temple.

^29-30 “Call in the troops against Babylon,
    anyone who can shoot straight!
Tighten the noose!
    Leave no loopholes!
Give her back as good as she gave,
    a dose of her own medicine!
Her brazen insolence is an outrage
    against God, The Holy of Israel.
And now she pays: her young strewn dead in the streets,
    her soldiers dead, silent forever.” God’s Decree.

^31-32 “Do you get it, Mister Pride? I’m your enemy!”
    Decree of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Time’s run out on you:
    That’s right: It’s Doomsday.
Mister Pride will fall flat on his face.
    No one will offer him a hand.
I’ll set his towns on fire.
    The fire will spread wild through the country.”

* * *

^33-34 And here’s more from God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

“The people of Israel are beaten down,
    the people of Judah along with them.
Their oppressors have them in a grip of steel.
    They won’t let go.
But the Rescuer is strong:
    God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
Yes, I will take their side,
    I’ll come to their rescue.
I’ll soothe their land,
    but rough up the people of Babylon.

^35-40 “It’s all-out war in Babylon”—God’s Decree—
    “total war against people, leaders, and the wise!
War to the death on her boasting pretenders, fools one and all!
    War to the death on her soldiers, cowards to a man!
War to the death on her hired killers, gutless wonders!
    War to the death on her banks—looted!
War to the death on her water supply—drained dry!
    A land of make-believe gods gone crazy—hobgoblins!
The place will be haunted with jackals and scorpions,
    night-owls and vampire bats.
No one will ever live there again.
    The land will reek with the stench of death.
It will join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors,
    the cities I did away with.” God’s Decree.
“No one will live there again.
    No one will again draw breath in that land, ever.

* * *

^41-43 “And now, watch this! People pouring
    out of the north, hordes of people,
A mob of kings stirred up
    from far-off places.
Flourishing deadly weapons,
    barbarians they are, cruel and pitiless.
Roaring and relentless, like ocean breakers,
    they come riding fierce stallions,
In battle formation, ready to fight
    you, Daughter Babylon!
Babylon’s king hears them coming.
    He goes white as a ghost, limp as a dishrag.
Terror-stricken, he doubles up in pain, helpless to fight,
    like a woman giving birth to a baby.

⁴⁴ “And now watch this: Like a lion coming up
    from the thick jungle of the Jordan,
Looking for prey in the mountain pastures,
    I’ll take over and pounce.
I’ll take my pick of the flock—and who’s to stop me?
    All the so-called shepherds are helpless before me.”

^45-46 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Babylon, the blueprint of what he’s prepared for dealing with Chaldea:

Believe it or not, the young,
    the vulnerable—mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off.
Believe it or not, the flock
    in shock, helpless to help, watches it happen.
When the shout goes up, “Babylon’s down!”
    the very earth will shudder at the sound.
    The news will be heard all over the world.

WHAT WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Consider this information from Warren Wiersbe, Bible Scholar and Commentator:

“In Scripture, the city of Babylon is contrasted with the city of Jerusalem—the proud city of humanity versus the Holy City of God. In Hebrew, the name “babel” means “gate of God,” but babel is so close to the word balal (“confusion”) that it’s associated with the famous tower of Babel and the confusion of human languages (Gen. 11:1–9).”

Jeremiah’s prophecies extend to the “last days” just before Jesus comes back again. 

“Babel/Babylon is a symbol of rebellion against God, the earthly city of human splendor opposing the heavenly city that glorifies God. All of this culminates in the Babylon of Revelation 17:1—19:10, “Babylon the Great” that symbolizes the anti-God system that controls the world in the end times and then is destroyed by the Lord.”

So, this is more than conquering Babylon and returning the captives to their home in Jerusalem.  It is representative of God versus Evil.  We know from reading the end of the Book, that God wins!  We win by accepting Jesus Christ as our forever Savior and Lord!  “Get out!”  Yes, believe it and we are saved for eternity from all that evil will try to do to win a war that is already won by God because of His Son, Jesus Christ.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords, right now and will be forevermore.

Leave the captivity of self, of thinking you know it all, to really knowing the One and Only who loves you more than you could ever love yourself.  This knowing begins with believing, asking for forgiveness, then following where His Holy Spirit leads.  Get out of the darkness and come into the Light of Truth, love, mercy and grace that lasts forever—beyond our lifetimes on earth!  This is God who wants a relationship with us!

Lord,

There is so much to learn each day, that it is hard to put down Your Book that teaches volumes of wisdom, ways to salvation, while being in Your Holy Presence.  Thank you, thank you, thank you for saving our souls and making us whole.  Continue to transform me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

EPILOGUE

God’s chosen servant will always succeed. The Lord’s judgment on Babylon would be like the winnowing of the grain: “Great Babylon” would be blown away like chaff along with its idols.

What will it take to break us?  What does it mean to be “broken”?

What does God have to allow to happen in and around us to get our attention?   

It seems when all is going well, we praise ourselves by letting others know what we have done.  We begin to trust in our own thoughts and understanding of every situation and circumstance.  We only invite people into our circle who will approve and affirm whatever we say and do.  We push away those who don’t believe in us.  So, I’m wondering; when we rely fully on ourselves, aren’t we worshiping ourselves?

We are broken.

Jeremiah 49, The Message

You’re a Broken-Down Has-Been

49 ^1-6 God’s Message on the Ammonites:

“Doesn’t Israel have any children,
    no one to step into her inheritance?
So why is the god Milcom taking over Gad’s land,
    his followers moving into its towns?
But not for long! The time’s coming”
    —God’s Decree—
“When I’ll fill the ears of Rabbah, Ammon’s big city,
    with battle cries.
She’ll end up a pile of rubble,
    all her towns burned to the ground.
Then Israel will kick out the invaders.
    I, God, say so, and it will be so.
Wail Heshbon, Ai is in ruins.
    Villages of Rabbah, wring your hands!
Dress in mourning, weep buckets of tears.
    Go into hysterics, run around in circles!
Your god Milcom will be hauled off to exile,
    and all his priests and managers right with him.
Why do you brag of your once-famous strength?
    You’re a broken-down has-been, a castoff
Who fondles his trophies and dreams of glory days
    and vainly thinks, ‘No one can lay a hand on me.’
Well, think again. I’ll face you with terror from all sides.”
    Word of the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“You’ll be stampeded headlong,
    with no one to round up the runaways.
Still, the time will come
    when I will make things right with Ammon.” God’s Decree.

Strutting Across the Stage of History

^7-11 The Message of God-of-the-Angel-Armies on Edom:

“Is there nobody wise left in famous Teman?
    no one with a sense of reality?
Has their wisdom gone wormy and rotten?
    Run for your lives! Get out while you can!
Find a good place to hide,
    you who live in Dedan!
I’m bringing doom to Esau.
    It’s time to settle accounts.
When harvesters work your fields,
    don’t they leave gleanings?
When burglars break into your house,
    don’t they take only what they want?
But I’ll strip Esau clean.
    I’ll search out every nook and cranny.
I’ll destroy everything connected with him,
    children and relatives and neighbors.
There’ll be no one left who will be able to say,
    ‘I’ll take care of your orphans.
    Your widows can depend on me.’”

^12-13 Indeed. God says, “I tell you, if there are people who have to drink the cup of God’s wrath even though they don’t deserve it, why would you think you’d get off? You won’t get off. You’ll drink it. Oh yes, you’ll drink every drop. And as for Bozrah, your capital, I swear by all that I am”—God’s Decree—“that that city will end up a pile of charred ruins, a stinking garbage dump, an obscenity—and all her daughter-cities with her.”

¹⁴ I’ve just heard the latest from God.
    He’s sent an envoy to the nations:
“Muster your troops and attack Edom.
    Present arms! Go to war!”

^15-16 “Ah, Edom, I’m dropping you to last place among nations,
    the bottom of the heap, kicked around.
You think you’re so great—
    strutting across the stage of history,
Living high in the impregnable rocks,
    acting like king of the mountain.
You think you’re above it all, don’t you,
    like an eagle in its aerie?
Well, you’re headed for a fall.
    I’ll bring you crashing to the ground.” God’s Decree.

^17-18 “Edom will end up trash. Stinking, despicable trash. A wonder of the world in reverse. She’ll join Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighbors in the sewers of history.” God says so.

“No one will live there,
    no mortal soul move in there.

¹⁹ “Watch this: Like a lion coming up
    from the thick jungle of the Jordan
Looking for prey in the mountain pastures,
    I will come upon Edom and pounce.
I’ll take my pick of the flock—and who’s to stop me?
    The shepherds of Edom are helpless before me.”

^20-22 So, listen to this plan that God has worked out against Edom, the blueprint of what he’s prepared for those who live in Teman:

“Believe it or not, the young, the vulnerable—
    mere lambs and kids—will be dragged off.
Believe it or not, the flock
    in shock, helpless to help, will watch it happen.
The very earth will shudder because of their cries,
    cries of anguish heard at the distant Red Sea.
Look! An eagle soars, swoops down,
    spreads its wings over Bozrah.
Brave warriors will double up in pain, helpless to fight,
    like a woman giving birth to a baby.”

The Blood Will Drain from the Face of Damascus

^23-27 The Message on Damascus:

“Hamath and Arpad will be in shock
    when they hear the bad news.
Their hearts will melt in fear
    as they pace back and forth in worry.
The blood will drain from the face of Damascus
    as she turns to flee.
Hysterical, she’ll fall to pieces,
    disabled, like a woman in childbirth.
And now how lonely—bereft, abandoned!
    The once famous city, the once happy city.
Her bright young men dead in the streets,
    her brave warriors silent as death.
On that day”—Decree of God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
    “I’ll start a fire at the wall of Damascus
    that will burn down all of Ben-hadad’s forts.”

Find a Safe Place to Hide

^28-33 The Message on Kedar and the sheikdoms of Hazor who were attacked by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. This is God’s Message:

“On your feet! Attack Kedar!
    Plunder the Bedouin nomads from the east.
    Grab their blankets and pots and pans.
Steal their camels.
    Traumatize them, shouting, ‘Terror! Death! Doom!
Danger everywhere!’
    Oh, run for your lives,
You nomads from Hazor.” God’s Decree.
    “Find a safe place to hide.
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
    has plans to wipe you out,
    to go after you with a vengeance:
‘After them,’ he says. ‘Go after these relaxed nomads
    who live free and easy in the desert,
Who live in the open with no doors to lock,
    who live off by themselves.’
Their camels are there for the taking,
    their herds and flocks, easy picking.
I’ll scatter them to the four winds,
    these defenseless nomads on the fringes of the desert.
I’ll bring terror from every direction.
    They won’t know what hit them.” God’s Decree.
“Jackals will take over the camps of Hazor,
    camps abandoned to wind and sand.
No one will live there,
    no mortal soul move in there.”

The Winds Will Blow Away Elam

^34-39 God’s Message to the prophet Jeremiah on Elam at the outset of the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah. This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says:

“Watch this! I’ll break Elam’s bow,
    her weapon of choice, across my knee.
Then I’ll let four winds loose on Elam,
    winds from the four corners of earth.
I’ll blow them away in all directions,
    landing homeless Elamites in every country on earth.
They’ll live in constant fear and terror
    among enemies who want to kill them.
I’ll bring doom on them,
    my anger-fueled doom.
I’ll set murderous hounds on their heels
    until there’s nothing left of them.
And then I’ll set up my throne in Elam,
    having thrown out the king and his henchmen.
But the time will come when I make
    everything right for Elam again.” God’s Decree.

WHAT DO LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

What a monumental example of what it is like to turn your back on God, leaving God behind to trust only in self with self-made idols as their own ways and means to live life.  A person completely in love with self alone, adores his/her own accomplishments, and lords it over everyone who does not agree by murdering them is broken.  They have a broken relationship with God. 

God causes a clean sweep of the prideful arrogant with a promise…”the time will come when I make everything right again”.

I would rather be a broken-down-has-been than an arrogant fool.  To be broken, laying down self before God is actually the best place to be.  Broken is where God’s best work begins.

King of kings and Lord of lords,

That time came to make things right with you, dear Jesus! Thank you for saving my soul, picking up the pieces of my brokenness and making me whole by your salvation!  Continue to transform me to be more like you and less like me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  James 4:6

God levels the playing field by allowing those full of pride to suffer the consequences of their own behavior.  Pride-filled people who have succeeded in life begin to think they are in control of life.  They begin to put others down who get in their way—until someone more powerful comes along and knocks them off their self-made throne of arrogance.  We see it happen in all walks of life.  We see in happen to leaders of towns, cities, and nations.  Leaders of small countries play “king of the hill” often while trying to make a name for themselves.  These kinds of leaders are self-serving as opposed to serving the people of their country who pay their salary. 

We see it happen in the church among congregations of believers.  As humans, we place our pastor on a pedestal of honor because he has been chosen by God to speak for God.  We begin to think he can do no wrong.  If we are not careful, we as the listeners to God’s message begin to think the messenger is God.  When we do this, the conditions and environment are formed in such a way that the pastor begins to think he is God, too.  This temptation is tremendously great among pastors still today.  It is evident from God’s Word that God hates “legendary pride” and deviant arrogance.  There are over 30 passages that tell us how much God hates pride-filled people. 

The more filled with pride we are, the less filled we are with Christ.

“Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” Proverbs 16-18

Yes, pride in the hall of fame is the precursor to the great fall of shame.  Jeremiah relates the details of Moab’s fall from riches to rubble.

Jeremiah 48, The Message

Get Out While You Can!

^1-10 The Message on Moab from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel:

“Doom to Nebo! Leveled to the ground!
    Kiriathaim demeaned and defeated,
The mighty fortress reduced to a molehill,
    Moab’s glory—dust and ashes.
Conspirators plot Heshbon’s doom:
    ‘Come, let’s wipe Moab off the map.’
The city of Madmen will be struck mute,
    as killing follows killing.
Listen! A cry out of Horonaim:
    ‘Disaster—doom and more doom!’
Moab will be shattered.
    Her cries will be heard clear down in Zoar.
Up the ascent of Luhith
    climbers weep,
And down the descent from Horonaim,
    cries of loss and devastation.
Oh, run for your lives! Get out while you can!
    Survive by your wits in the wild!
You trusted in thick walls and big money, yes?
    But it won’t help you now.
Your big god Chemosh will be hauled off,
    his priests and managers with him.
A wrecker will wreck every city.
    Not a city will survive.
The valley fields will be ruined,
    the plateau pastures destroyed, just as I told you.
Cover the land of Moab with salt.
    Make sure nothing ever grows here again.
Her towns will all be ghost towns.
    Nobody will ever live here again.
Sloppy work in God’s name is cursed,
    and cursed all halfhearted use of the sword.

^11-17 “Moab has always taken it easy—
    lazy as a dog in the sun,
Never had to work for a living,
    never faced any trouble,
Never had to grow up,
    never once worked up a sweat.
But those days are a thing of the past.
    I’ll put him to work at hard labor.
That will wake him up to the world of hard knocks.
    That will smash his illusions.
Moab will be as ashamed of god Chemosh
    as Israel was ashamed of her Bethel calf-gods,
    the calf-gods she thought were so great.
For how long do you think you’ll be saying, ‘We’re tough.
    We can beat anyone anywhere’?
The destruction of Moab has already begun.
    Her choice young soldiers are lying dead right now.”
The King’s Decree—
    his full name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.
“Yes. Moab’s doom is on countdown,
    disaster targeted and launched.
Weep for Moab, friends and neighbors,
    all who know how famous he’s been.
Lament, ‘His mighty scepter snapped in two like a toothpick,
    that magnificent royal staff!’

^18-20 “Come down from your high horse, pampered beauty of Dibon.
    Sit in dog dung.
The destroyer of Moab will come against you.
    He’ll wreck your safe, secure houses.
Stand on the roadside,
    pampered women of Aroer.
Interview the refugees who are running away.
    Ask them, ‘What’s happened? And why?’
Moab will be an embarrassing memory, nothing left of the place.
    Wail and weep your eyes out!
Tell the bad news along the Arnon river.
    Tell the world that Moab is no more.

^21-24 “My judgment will come to the plateau cities: on Holon, Jahzah, and Mephaath; on Dibon, Nebo, and Beth-diblathaim; on Kiriathaim, Beth-gamul, and Beth-meon; on Kerioth, Bozrah, and all the cities of Moab, far and near.

²⁵ “Moab’s link to power is severed.
    Moab’s arm is broken.” God’s Decree.

The Sheer Nothingness of Moab

^26-27 “Turn Moab into a drunken lush, drunk on the wine of my wrath, a dung-faced drunk, filling the country with vomit—Moab a falling-down drunk, a joke in bad taste. Wasn’t it you, Moab, who made crude jokes over Israel? And when they were caught in bad company, didn’t you cluck and gossip and snicker?

²⁸ “Leave town! Leave! Look for a home in the cliffs,
    you who grew up in Moab.
Try living like a dove
    who nests high in the river gorge.

^29-33 “We’ve all heard of Moab’s pride,
    that legendary pride,
The strutting, bullying, puffed-up pride,
    the insufferable arrogance.
I know”—God’s Decree—“his rooster-crowing pride,
    the inflated claims, the sheer nothingness of Moab.
But I will weep for Moab,
    yes, I will mourn for the people of Moab.
    I will even mourn for the people of Kir-heres.
I’ll weep for the grapevines of Sibmah
    and join Jazer in her weeping—
Grapevines that once reached the Dead Sea
    with tendrils as far as Jazer.
Your summer fruit and your bursting grapes
    will be looted by brutal plunderers,
Lush Moab stripped
    of song and laughter.
And yes, I’ll shut down the winepresses,
    stop all the shouts and hurrahs of harvest.

³⁴ “Heshbon and Elealeh will cry out, and the people in Jahaz will hear the cries. They will hear them all the way from Zoar to Horonaim and Eglath-shelishiyah. Even the waters of Nimrim will be dried up.

³⁵ “I will put a stop in Moab”—God’s Decree—“to all hiking to the high places to offer burnt sacrifices to the gods.

³⁶ “My heart moans for Moab, for the men of Kir-heres, like soft flute sounds carried by the wind. They’ve lost it all. They’ve got nothing.

³⁷ “Everywhere you look are signs of mourning:
    heads shaved, beards cut,
Hands scratched and bleeding,
    clothes ripped and torn.

³⁸ “In every house in Moab there’ll be loud lamentation, on every street in Moab, loud lamentation. As with a pottery jug that no one wants, I’ll smash Moab to bits.” God’s Decree.

³⁹ “Moab ruined!
    Moab shamed and ashamed to be seen!
Moab a cruel joke!
    The stark horror of Moab!”

* * *

“Terror and pit and trap
    are what you have facing you, Moab.” God’s Decree.
“A man running in terror
    will fall into a trap.
A man climbing out of a pit
    will be caught in a trap.
This is my agenda for Moab
    on doomsday.” God’s Decree.

^45-47 “On the outskirts of Heshbon,
    refugees will pull up short, worn out.
Fire will flame high from Heshbon,
    a firestorm raging from the capital of Sihon’s kingdom.
It will burn off Moab’s eyebrows,
    will scorch the skull of the braggarts.
That’s all for you, Moab!
    You worshipers of Chemosh will be finished off!
Your sons will be trucked off to prison camps;
    your daughters will be herded into exile.
But yet there’s a day that’s coming
    when I’ll put things right in Moab.

    “For now, that’s the judgment on Moab.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Moab is portrayed as a self-satisfied nation, feeling very secure, like wine aging in a jar and becoming tastier. Because the nation had been comfortable and self-sufficient, they were unprepared for what happened. The Babylonians emptied the wine from jar to jar and then broke the jars!  What the Moabites thought they had was all gone.  The arm is a symbol of strength, but Moab’s arm was broken. She had no strength.

God’s compassion.  Remarkably, Jeremiah wept over the fall of Moab and wailed like a flutist at a funeral. Certainly, his grief shows us evidence of the compassion God has for people who are destroyed because of their sins against Him. God says “Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?” (Ezek. 18:23), and He does all He can to call them to repentance before judgment falls.

No escape from sins of pride!  “Flee from the army, and you’ll fall into a pit. Climb out of the pit, and you’ll be caught in a trap”. Escape from the trap, and you’ll be engulfed by a fire. Escape from the fire, and you’ll be captured and taken away to Babylon. Sinners need to face the fact that they have no place to hide when God begins to judge (Rev. 20:11–15).

For lost sinners today, their only hope is faith in Jesus Christ, who died for the sins of the world. They need to flee for refuge to Christ (Heb. 6:18)—the only hope for their souls.

Jesus, Our Hope—Our One and Only Hope!  Believe and be saved from self!

Run from pride at all costs!  Run to Jesus.  Be like Jesus!  (See Philippians 2)

Receive complements from people with praise to God for working through us!

Lord,

Thank you for saving us from ourselves.  Thank you for pulling us back from pride with your example of humble living.  Continue to transform me until I am more like you and less like me.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

One of the most heartfelt prayers is found in Psalms 51.  I pray it often myself.  The words of truth get right to the heart of the matter.  It was sung/written by David after he finally admitted and repented his adulterous sin with Bathsheba to God.  He cries out in prayer…

Create in me a pure heart, O God,
    and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
    or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
    and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.

During his lifetime, King David did what had pleased the Lord, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite whose wife he took from him.  King David then sent Uriah to battle to the frontlines to certain death so he could bring Bathsheba into his court as his wife.  David tried to cover up his sin then he merely ignored his sin. God made David king of Judah because this once shepherd boy was known as “one after God’s own heart” who wanted nothing but to please the God he loved.  But sin cannot and does not go unnoticed and oh, how it breaks the heart of God. 

God sends Nathan, His prophet, an influential person to whom David will listen, to confront David of what he has done to himself and those around him.  David’s prayer of confession to God shows true repentance for leaving God, while showing a heart that truly wants to come back into God’s Presence

If only God’s people would repent and follow God’s plan is what Jeremiah must be thinking as yet another battle is brewing that will be used to discipline his people who have turned their backs on him to go their own way with their own fool-hardy plans. 

Jeremiah 47, The Message

It’s Doomsday for Philistines

^1-5 God’s Message to the prophet Jeremiah regarding the Philistines just before Pharaoh attacked Gaza. This is what God says:

“Look out! Water will rise in the north country,
    swelling like a river in flood.
The torrent will flood the land,
    washing away city and citizen.
Men and women will scream in terror,
    wails from every door and window,
As the thunder from the hooves of the horses will be heard,
    the clatter of chariots, the banging of wheels.
Fathers, paralyzed by fear,
    won’t even grab up their babies
Because it will be doomsday for Philistines, one and all,
    no hope of help for Tyre and Sidon.
God will finish off the Philistines,
    what’s left of those from the island of Crete.
Gaza will be shaved bald as an egg,
    Ashkelon struck dumb as a post.
You’re on your last legs.
    How long will you keep flailing?

⁶ “Oh, Sword of God,
    how long will you keep this up?
Return to your scabbard.
    Haven’t you had enough? Can’t you call it quits?

⁷ “But how can it quit
    when I, God, command the action?
I’ve ordered it to cut down
    Ashkelon and the seacoast.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Going against the will of God only leads to more trouble.  Assuming we know better than God (“No, let’s go to Egypt where it is safe!) is not a great idea—ever.

Notice that David’s prayer of repentance expressed three major requests:

Cleanse me, restore me, and use me.  “Cast me not away from Your Presence” means that David does not living on his own any longer.  He longs to worship with a pure heart, hear and talk with God once more and follow God’s best plan for his life once more.

God restored David with lessons to learn with wisdom for impending life circumstances.  David was back in God’s Presence.  Being in God’s Presence is worship.  Worship of God is where our sustained joy and steadfast spirit comes from!    

PAUSE TO THINK AND PRAY…

Is there something God is calling to mind, unconfessed, that you have ignored for far too long?  Confess it now.

Is your heart longing to be back into communion with your Creator?  God made a Way to come back.  Jesus invites all of us to come back into His Presence with uncompromising forgiveness.

Has the eternal joy you once had after accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord faded with worry and fear seeping into your being?  Ask God to cleanse, restore and renew your spirit for following Him in service once more.  He can and He will!

Dear Friends, I know God!  This is truth! Take it from me, who has prayed this repentant prayer often…God forgives, heals the brokenness, restores the joy of knowing and following Him, while renewing a right and holy spirit within us when we pray in Jesus Name. All this occurs, courtesy of His Holy Spirit who lives in those who believe.

Lord,

Cleanse all that offends you that is lurking in me ready to wreak havoc on my life.  Create in me a pure heart.  Renew a right spirit in me by the power of your Holy Spirit working in me to guide, lead, confront, comfort, encourage and challenge me.  Restore the joy I once had at rebirth when I first asked for forgiveness and gave my life to you.  Thank you for your healing, cleansing, and transforming love, mercy and grace.

In Jesus Name, Amen

When we turn inward, to our own thinking, current abilities, with stuff accumulated over the years; we have a tendency, a temptation really, to turn from God and lean only to our own understanding, to our own devices thinking we can fix whatever comes along.  But we are wrong in this thinking. 

Jeremiah 46, The Message

You Vainly Collect Medicines

God’s Messages through the prophet Jeremiah regarding the godless nations.

^2-5 The Message to Egypt and the army of Pharaoh Neco king of Egypt at the time it was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon while camped at Carchemish on the Euphrates River in the fourth year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah:

“‘Present arms!
    March to the front!
Harness the horses!
    Up in the saddles!
Battle formation! Helmets on,
    spears sharpened, armor in place!’
But what’s this I see?
    They’re scared out of their wits!
They break ranks and run for cover.
    Their soldiers panic.
They run this way and that,
    stampeding blindly.
It’s total chaos, total confusion, danger everywhere!”
    God’s Decree.

⁶ “The swiftest runners won’t get away,
    the strongest soldiers won’t escape.
In the north country, along the River Euphrates,
    they’ll stagger, stumble, and fall.

^7-9 “Who is this like the Nile in flood?
    like its streams torrential?
Why, it’s Egypt like the Nile in flood,
    like its streams torrential,
Saying, ‘I’ll take over the world.
    I’ll wipe out cities and peoples.’
Run, horses!
    Roll, chariots!
Advance, soldiers
    from Cush and Put with your shields,
Soldiers from Lud,
    experts with bow and arrow.

¹⁰ “But it’s not your day. It’s the Master’s, me, God-of-the-Angel-Armies—
    the day when I have it out with my enemies,
The day when Sword puts an end to my enemies,
    when Sword exacts vengeance.
I, the Master, God-of-the-Angel-Armies,
    will pile them on an altar—a huge sacrifice!—
In the great north country,
    along the mighty Euphrates.

^11-12 “Oh, virgin Daughter Egypt,
    climb into the mountains of Gilead, get healing balm.
You will vainly collect medicines,
    for nothing will be able to cure what ails you.
The whole world will hear your anguished cries.
    Your wails fill the earth,
As soldier falls against soldier
    and they all go down in a heap.”

Egypt’s Army Slithers Like a Snake

¹³ The Message that God gave to the prophet Jeremiah when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon was on his way to attack Egypt:

¹⁴ “Tell Egypt, alert Migdol,
    post warnings in Noph and Tahpanhes:
‘Wake up! Be prepared!
    War’s coming!’

^15-19 “Why will your bull-god Apis run off?
    Because God will drive him off.
Your ragtag army will fall to pieces.
    The word is passing through the ranks,
‘Let’s get out of here while we still can.
    Let’s head for home and save our skins.’
When they get home they’ll nickname Pharaoh
    ‘Big-Talk-Bad-Luck.’
As sure as I am the living God”
    —the King’s Decree, God-of-the-Angel-Armies is his name—
“A conqueror is coming: like Tabor, singular among mountains;
    like Carmel, jutting up from the sea!
So pack your bags for exile,
    you coddled daughters of Egypt,
For Memphis will soon be nothing,
    a vacant lot grown over with weeds.

^20-21 “Too bad, Egypt, a beautiful sleek heifer
    attacked by a horsefly from the north!
All her hired soldiers are stationed to defend her—
    like well-fed calves they are.
But when their lives are on the line, they’ll run off,
    cowards every one.
When the going gets tough,
    they’ll take the easy way out.

^22-24 “Egypt will slither and hiss like a snake
    as the enemy army comes in force.
They will rush in, swinging axes
    like lumberjacks cutting down trees.
They’ll level the country”—God’s Decree—“nothing
    and no one standing for as far as you can see.
The invaders will be a swarm of locusts,
    innumerable, past counting.
Daughter Egypt will be ravished,
    raped by vandals from the north.”

^25-26 God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, “Watch out when I visit doom on the god Amon of Thebes, Egypt and its gods and kings, Pharaoh and those who trust in him. I’ll turn them over to those who are out to kill them, to Nebuchadnezzar and his military. Egypt will be set back a thousand years. Eventually people will live there again.” God’s Decree.

* * *

^27-28 “But you, dear Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear.
    Israel, there’s no need to worry.
Look up! I’ll save you from that far country,
    I’ll get your children out of the land of exile.
Things are going to be normal again for Jacob,
    safe and secure, smooth sailing.
Yes, dear Jacob my servant, you have nothing to fear.
    Depend on it, I’m on your side.
I’ll finish off all the godless nations
    among which I’ve scattered you,
But I won’t finish you off.
    I have more work left to do on you.
I’ll punish you, but fairly.
    No, I’m not finished with you yet.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

No matter what new oil, balm, salve, food, drink comes along we cannot fix the problem of getting older.  No matter what the world invents as a resource to an easy life, troubles will still present themselves in ways we cannot “fix it”.  We are only human.  God is not.  With God all things are possible, all situations doable, all circumstances fixable with a way through them.  Remember the Red Sea march through the sea on dry land with the waters pulled back?  Yes, like that!  God uses the difficult things of life to train us.  The training lasts a lifetime.  We will never “arrive” until we see Him face to face. 

No, I’m not finished with you yet” are words of comfort and a challenge with a plan to save His people from the warring countries who have enslaved them because of their own sin of disobedience.  They turned their backs on God, worshipped every idol that came along, broke every commandment, fell for all the world around them had to offer, but yet God still loved and cared for His people.  Why?  Because He is God.  He had a plan to “fix it”, our sin problem, once and for all.  He wasn’t finished with His people who had became a small remnant of who they once were.  God used the generational line of the remnant to eventually bring real, forever Salvation to the world in the form of His Son, Jesus.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  John 3:16

BELIEVE IN “THE FIXER”

So, we learn that there is nothing God won’t forgive in our lives.  All we must do is come to Him and ask and He will freely forgive AND forget our sin.  We also learn that difficult circumstance teach us and prepare us for His greater plan.  No, he is not finished with us yet…so we need to stop trying to “fix it.”  Give all of us to all of Him. 

ASK THE FIXER FOR HELP

Ask God for wisdom and He will give it in ways that will astound us!

“Cry out for wisdom, and beg [shout out loud] for understanding. Search [Seek] for it like silver, and hunt [search] for it like hidden treasure. Then you will understand – respect [fear; awe;] for the Lord, and you will find that you know God [the knowledge of God].  Proverbs 2:3-5 (Expanded Bible, with meaning of the words)

“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” James 1:5

THEN TRUST THE FIX AND THE FIXER

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.”        Proverbs 3:5-6

There is a war going on for our souls.  We are caught between heaven and hell with a choice to make.  Jesus has won the war but the evil one still draws us into skirmishes, trying to steal our allegiance from the One who saved us. This is our daily question:  Do we follow God or not?  Do we really believe what God says is really real?

Lord,

You are certainly not finished with me yet!  I see you at work every day in my life.  You are all I need and I need you every hour of every day.  I’m yours. I believe.  Don’t ever stop working on me until I become all you created me to be.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

We will have many storms that sweep through our lives that wreak havoc on our resolve to follow Jesus.  I grew up in Oklahoma, land of tornadoes and ever-changing weather patterns.  This is what I have observed.  Before a storm hits, there is a unique, eerie quietness.  Not a leaf is moving in the trees.  Even the animals are still as if they know to hunker down and get ready to hold on.  Sometimes, it’s sunny but the light is a different color.  These conditions warn us of an impending storm brewing.  Do we keep going about our life tasks without giving thought to the warning, taking cover, while holding on to what will not move in the storm?  Or do we keep an eye on the storm and getting ready for the winds to blow that could take away all there is around us? 

The “calm before the storm,” as it is called, is a warning sign to all of us to get ready.  We have no control over God’s creation that causes winds to blow in ways that clear away everything in its path like sweeping dust from the floor of our homes.  But we can prepare to take cover until the storm passes over. After the storm blows over, as it always does, we survey the damage, clean up the mess, and begin again to live life. 

Sometimes, the struggles of stormy conditions in our lives are the result of our own actions.

Jeremiah is the middle of the storm of war and captivity caused by the extreme, arrogant disobedience of God’s people.  For better or worse, Jeremiah still listens to God and proclaims His message.  I admire the tenacity of Jeremiah’s steady, relentless faith.  He might be tired in the work of God, but he is not tired of the work he has been called to do.  Yes, there is a difference.

Jeremiah 45, The Message

God’s Piling On the Pain

This is what Jeremiah told Baruch one day in the fourth year of Jehoiakim’s reign as he was taking dictation from the prophet:

^2-3 “These are the words of God, the God of Israel, to you, Baruch. You say, ‘These are bad times for me! It’s one thing after another. God is piling on the pain. I’m worn out and there’s no end in sight.’

^4-5 “But God says, ‘Look around. What I’ve built I’m about to wreck, and what I’ve planted I’m about to rip up. And I’m doing it everywhere—all over the whole earth! So forget about making any big plans for yourself. Things are going to get worse before they get better. But don’t worry. I’ll keep you alive through the whole business.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Trust God before, during and after the storms of life.

Be still, let go of human effort, and know God for who He really is.  Grab hold of God who is unmovable, unshakable and unchanging in his power, love, mercy and grace because of His faithfulness to those who love Him back.

Can we give a SHOUT OUT to Baruch!  Baruch chose to identify with Jeremiah and do the will of God. We thank God for all that Jeremiah did, but we should also thank God for the assistance Baruch gave Jeremiah so the prophet could do his work. Moses had his seventy elders; David had his mighty men; Jesus had His disciples; Paul had his helpers, such as Timothy, Titus, and Silas; and Jeremiah had his faithful secretary.

We are all ministers of the gospel!  Not everybody is called to be a prophet or apostle, but all of us can do the will of God by helping others do their work. He helped a prophet write the Word of God. We can appreciate the labors of faithful secretaries and assistants who have helped the ministry of the church in myriad ways. Baruch was willing to stay in the background and serve God by serving Jeremiah.

We all get tired in the work but not of the work of God.  Get some rest.  Sometimes the most spiritual thing you can do is take a nap!  Then rise up and encourage someone else in the work.  Encouragement can be just as contagious as discouragement.  Even the most devoted servants occasionally get discouraged. Baruch came to a point in his life where he was so depressed that he wanted to quit. Perhaps the persecution of Jeremiah was the cause of this anguish. Maybe Baruch was considering leaving Jeremiah and asking his brother for an easier job in the palace.

When we’re serving the Lord and His people, we never want to seek great things for ourselves. The only important matter is that God’s work is accomplished and God’s name is glorified. John the Baptist put it succinctly: “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30).

Blessed be the Name of the Lord! 

Lord,

Thank you for this lesson that brings us back to the reality of You when going through a storm that is rattling our thoughts.  Thank you for Jeremiah and Baruch who worked together well and encouraged each other as you encouraged them.  Hallowed and holy are you, Lord.  May your Kingdom come, your will be done in every detail of our lives today.  Give us this day a day to rejoice and be glad for you.  And forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.  Lead us not into temptations of discouragement, but deliver us from evil and evil’s schemes to bring us down.  For you have all power, to you be all glory!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

In every good novel there is a problem to be solved.  In every drama portrayed on stage or in film there is a plot that begins with a problem to be solved before the story ends.  The plot rises to a climax as the problem grows enough to affect the populous, all those in the vicinity of and affected by the problem.  Rebellion sets in.  There is usually a hero who must rise up and finally confront the villain in order to change the course of the behavior of the populous by solving the original problem. 

Jeremiah is the “hero” sent from God to confront the problem in our continuing saga.  The problem is sin.  Sin is anything that is not God.  Sin gives birth to more rebellious behaviors that lead to maiming and killing people in all kinds of ways.  These horrendous behaviors by humans who have turned their backs on God are covered up by lies and deception because of arrogance and pride—or so they think. 

Sin was the original problem with Adam and Eve who, distracted by the fallen angel in the form of a serpent, did exactly what God told them not to do.  We all know how that went.  Sin broke God’s heart.  Sin broke the relationship God had with mankind.

Fortunately, God loved us beyond our human ability to love.  While we were yet sinners, God sent His Son to save us from our sin.  Jesus is the One and Only way back to God.  Jesus is the Way, Truth and Live forevermore.  Jesus is God in flesh who came to save us.  Jesus is the alpha and omega—the beginning and end to God’s story of salvation.

“You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous person, though for a good person someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Romans 5:6-8

We hang all our hopes on this thought as we read Jeremiah—and we are grateful!

Jeremiah 44, The Message

The Same Fate Will Fall upon All

^1-6 The Message that Jeremiah received for all the Judeans who lived in the land of Egypt, who had their homes in Migdol, Tahpanhes, Noph, and the land of Pathros: “This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You saw with your own eyes the terrible doom that I brought down on Jerusalem and the Judean cities. Look at what’s left: ghost towns of rubble and smoking ruins, and all because they took up with evil ways, making me angry by going off to offer sacrifices and worship the latest in gods—no-gods that neither they nor you nor your ancestors knew the first thing about. Morning after morning and long into the night I kept after you, sending you all those prophets, my servants, begging you, “Please, please—don’t do this, don’t fool around in this loathsome gutter of gods that I hate with a passion.” But do you think anyone paid the least bit of attention or repented of evil or quit offering sacrifices to the no-gods? Not one. So I let loose with my anger, a firestorm of wrath in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and left them in ruins and wasted. And they’re still in ruins and wasted.’

^7-8 “This is the Message of God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘So why are you ruining your lives by amputating yourselves—man, woman, child, and baby—from the life of Judah, leaving yourselves isolated, unconnected? And why do you deliberately make me angry by what you do, offering sacrifices to these no-gods in the land of Egypt where you’ve come to live? You’ll only destroy yourselves and make yourselves an example used in curses and an object of ridicule among all the nations of the earth.

^9-11 “‘Have you so soon forgotten the evil lives of your ancestors, the evil lives of the kings of Judah and their wives, to say nothing of your own evil lives, you and your wives, the evil you flaunted in the land of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? And to this day, there’s not a trace of remorse, not a sign of reverence, nobody caring about living by what I tell them or following my instructions that I’ve set out so plainly before you and your parents! So this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies decrees:

^11-14 “‘Watch out! I’ve decided to bring doom on you and get rid of everyone connected with Judah. I’m going to take what’s left of Judah, those who have decided to go to Egypt and live there, and finish them off. In Egypt they will either be killed or starve to death. The same fate will fall upon both the obscure and the important. Regardless of their status, they will either be killed or starve. You’ll end up cursed, reviled, ridiculed, and mocked. I’ll give those who are in Egypt the same medicine I gave those in Jerusalem: massacre, starvation, and disease. None of those who managed to get out of Judah alive and get away to Egypt are going to make it back to the Judah for which they’re so homesick. None will make it back, except maybe a few fugitives.’”

Making Goddess Cakes

^15-18 The men who knew that their wives had been burning sacrifices to the no-gods, joined by a large crowd of women, along with virtually everyone living in Pathros of Egypt, answered Jeremiah: “We’re having nothing to do with what you tell us is God’s Message. We’re going to go right on offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, keeping up the traditions set by our ancestors, our kings and government leaders in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem in the good old days. We had a good life then—lots of food, rising standard of living, and no bad luck. But the moment we quit sacrificing to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her, everything fell apart. We’ve had nothing but massacres and starvation ever since.”

¹⁹ And then the women chimed in: “Yes! Absolutely! We’re going to keep at it, offering sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out offerings to her. Aren’t our husbands behind us? They like it that we make goddess cakes and pour out our offerings to her.”

* * *

^20-23 Then Jeremiah spoke up, confronting the men and the women, all the people who had answered so insolently. He said, “The sacrifices that you and your parents, your kings, your government officials, and the common people of the land offered up in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem—don’t you think God noticed? He noticed, all right. And he got fed up. Finally, he couldn’t take your evil behavior and your disgusting acts any longer. Your land became a wasteland, a death valley, a horror story, a ghost town. And it continues to be just that. This doom has come upon you because you kept offering all those sacrifices, and you sinned against God! You refused to listen to him, wouldn’t live the way he directed, ignored the covenant conditions.”

^24-25 Jeremiah kept going, but now zeroed in on the women: “Listen, all you who are from Judah and living in Egypt—please, listen to God’s Word. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says: ‘You women! You said it and then you did it. You said, “We’re going to keep the vows we made to sacrifice to the Queen of Heaven and pour out offerings to her, and nobody’s going to stop us!”’

^25-27 “Well, go ahead. Keep your vows. Do it up big. But also listen to what God has to say about it, all you who are from Judah but live in Egypt: ‘I swear by my great name, backed by everything I am—this is God speaking!—that never again shall my name be used in vows, such as “As sure as the Master, God, lives!” by anyone in the whole country of Egypt. I’ve targeted each one of you for doom. The good is gone for good.

^27-28 “‘All the Judeans in Egypt will die off by massacre or starvation until they’re wiped out. The few who get out of Egypt alive and back to Judah will be very few, hardly worth counting. Then that ragtag bunch that left Judah to live in Egypt will know who had the last word.

^29-30 “‘And this will be the evidence: I will bring punishment right here, and by this you’ll know that the decrees of doom against you are the real thing. Watch for this sign of doom: I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt over to his enemies, those who are out to kill him, exactly as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah to his enemy Nebuchadnezzar, who was after him.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God’s people then could have had all of God’s blessings of His promises if only they trusted and obeyed the One who loved them most.

All are affected by sin.  The sinner who says I will do what I want does not realize sin affects all those in living near the sinner.

There is only One Way to get rid of the sin that enslaves us and binds to all that is evil—Jesus.

Believe what God says.  Repent, asking for forgiveness in Jesus Name.  Then be saved forever to live in eternity with Him.  The act of repenting is easy.  Following Jesus will be the challenge for evil will knock relentless on the door of a heart fully committed to the One evil hates.  Know God.  Know His Son, Jesus.  But also know the adversary who does not like to lose souls he wants to drag into his lair of fiery death just to get back at God for throwing him out of heaven.

Yes, sin is the problem.  How will we solve it in our lives? 

Our response is a matter of life or death. 

Lord,

Jeremiah had to confront sin expressed in blatant horrendous, tragic behaviors of rebellion by your people.   It seems today sin is curiously crafted and covered in silk, portrayed in beauty so it is harder to tell the difference between what is good and what is sin.  May Truth be seen always.  May our hearts turn to you.  May our minds be changed by you.  May our behaviors reflect your glory.  Give us wisdom, Lord.

In Jesus Name, Amen, I believe.

The little girl left her mother from her seat on the plane to run down the aisle to and from the back, wreaking havoc with all the other passengers.  The mom was at her wits end.  She also had an infant in her lap to care for so riding herd on the obnoxious little girl was difficult.  The flight attendants used all their hospitality skills with warnings to the little girl and to her mom to no avail.  The girl looked them right in the eyes and kept misbehaving, almost daring them to do something about it.  “I can do what I want and I will!”

The passengers were beginning to revolt against her and take care of her with their own devices.  The senior flight attendant quickly took the little girl’s hand and led her back to her seat with words of direction and warning in ways she would understand and comply, “You will sit here, buckled in your seat by your mom.  You will remain here until we land the plane.  This way we will all get to where we are going safely.”

The response of the little girl was a huge smile.  Her mortified mom turned to her and said, “Why are you smiling?”  The little girl’s stubborn reply reminds me of many who refuse discipline, warnings, and refuse to obey.  She said, “I may be tied to a seat, but in my mind, I’m still running around!”

We can create laws for protection.  We can warn people of danger and even death for disobedience of the laws. It us up to everyone to adhere to the laws.  We cannot change minds or attitudes about the laws.

We can tell the Truth of who God is and what He wants to provide for all who believe and obey.  But it is up to everyone to decide to turn from self, change their minds and behaviors in obedience to God.  We get a choice.

Jeremiah experiences extreme disobedience of “self-important men” who lead God’s people to death and destruction.  When a few disobey, all are affected.  How it must have broken Jeremiah’s heart to be told to his face that he is a Liar!

Jeremiah 43, The Message

Death! Exile! Slaughter!

^1-3 When Jeremiah finished telling all the people the whole Message that their God had sent him to give them—all these words—Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah, backed by all the self-important men, said to Jeremiah, “Liar! Our God never sent you with this message telling us not to go to Egypt and live there. Baruch son of Neriah is behind this. He has turned you against us. He’s playing into the hands of the Babylonians so we’ll either end up being killed or taken off to exile in Babylon.”

⁴ Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers, and the people along with them, wouldn’t listen to God’s Message that they stay in the land of Judah and live there.

^5-7 Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers gathered up everyone who was left from Judah, who had come back after being scattered all over the place—the men, women, and children, the king’s daughters, all the people that Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard had left in the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and last but not least, Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch son of Neriah. They entered the land of Egypt in total disobedience of God’s Message and arrived at the city of Tahpanhes.

^8-9 While in Tahpanhes, God’s Word came to Jeremiah: “Pick up some large stones and cover them with mortar in the vicinity of the pavement that leads up to the building set aside for Pharaoh’s use in Tahpanhes. Make sure some of the men of Judah are watching.

^10-13 “Then address them: ‘This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: Be on the lookout! I’m sending for and bringing Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon—my servant, mind you!—and he’ll set up his throne on these very stones that I’ve had buried here and he’ll spread out his canopy over them. He’ll come and absolutely smash Egypt, sending each to his assigned fate: death, exile, slaughter. He’ll burn down the temples of Egypt’s gods. He’ll either burn up the gods or haul them off as booty. Like a shepherd who picks lice from his robes, he’ll pick Egypt clean. And then he’ll walk away without a hand being laid on him. He’ll shatter the sacred obelisks at Egypt’s House of the Sun and make a huge bonfire of the temples of Egypt’s gods.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

This is Jeremiah’s final action sermon. While the Jews were watching, he gathered some large stones and set them in the clay (or mortar) before Pharaoh’s house in Tahpanhes. As he did to the temple in Jerusalem, so Nebuchadnezzar would do to the gods and temples in Egypt. Set fire to it all. How did disobeying God go for His people?  Not well.

Attitude determines our altitude.  How much farther and higher we will go with God when our hearts are fixed on Jesus, His Son.  Jesus talked many times about the attitude of our hearts and the truth that lies withing.  He reminded us that God sees each one’s heart as He did when Jesus walked the earth.  The condition of our hearts, known to God, reflects and determines our behaviors.  Who are we in Jesus?  Here is some help:

• “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”          Proverbs 4:23
• “As a face is reflected in water, so the heart reflects the real person.”  Proverbs 27:19
• “But I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives. I give all people their due rewards, according to what their actions deserve.”  Jeremiah 17:10

The Secret.  Jesus lives in us who believe with hearts ready to obey.  “For God wanted them to know that the riches and glory of Christ are for you Gentiles, too. And this is the secret: Christ lives in you. This gives you assurance of sharing his glory.” Colossians 1:27 NLT  (Gentiles means everyone in the world.)

The Transformation.  Paul describes how to change our minds.  “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.” Romans 12;1-2, MSG

Live in Peace.  “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful.”  Colossians 3:15, NLT

Lord,

We see how pride and arrogance leads people in disobedience to You.  Help me to guard my heart that belongs to you.  I’m yours.  Everything I am, all that I’m not but becoming is yours. My life is in your hands.  My heart belongs to you.  Transform my mind to think and behave more and more like you. 

In Jesus Name, Amen