Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus)

How many times are we tempted with moving to what looks to be the best place to live?  How many times have you been tempted with a job that offers far more benefits but had some hidden pitfalls?  We are human.  We follow what looks good and sounds good only to realize that if it is not in God’s will, life will be harder—maybe impossible.  The temptation has a name.  It is called “The grass always looks greener on the other side” syndrome.  I’m sure you have heard this phrase said and have watch people “go to the other side” over the years to realize that the grass wasn’t as green as they thought.  Maybe it was you, it certainly was me from time to time!  Guess what!  It’s an animalistic drive!  Even livestock will tear down a fence meant for their protection to eat the grass on the other side that they think might be sweeter, better, and more of it! 

Friends, the grass is only greener—over the septic tank.  Bad stuff only makes it look like it is for the greener good.

Jeremiah has been by the remnant’s small army captains to pray for God’s will, saying we will obey whatever God says—please pray to your God for us.  Notice “your God” is used in the request signaling the relationship that is less than what it should be.  Jeremiah asks God for what HE wants for them and God responds.  But God sees and knows the hearts of all so he responds with a warning:  “Don’t go to Egypt!”  It will not be better for you there.  The grass is not greener, in other words, in Egypt!

Jeremiah 42, The Message

What You Fear Will Catch Up with You

^1-3 All the army officers, led by Johanan son of Kareah and Jezaniah son of Hoshaiah, accompanied by all the people, small and great, came to Jeremiah the prophet and said, “We have a request. Please listen. Pray to your God for us, what’s left of us. You can see for yourself how few we are! Pray that your God will tell us the way we should go and what we should do.”

⁴ Jeremiah the prophet said, “I hear your request. And I will pray to your God as you have asked. Whatever God says, I’ll pass on to you. I’ll tell you everything, holding nothing back.”

^5-6 They said to Jeremiah, “Let God be our witness, a true and faithful witness against us, if we don’t do everything that your God directs you to tell us. Whether we like it or not, we’ll do it. We’ll obey whatever our God tells us. Yes, count on us. We’ll do it.”

^7-8 Ten days later God’s Message came to Jeremiah. He called together Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him, including all the people, regardless of how much clout they had.

^9-12 He then spoke: “This is the Message from God, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your prayer. He says, ‘If you are ready to stick it out in this land, I will build you up and not drag you down, I will plant you and not pull you up like a weed. I feel deep compassion on account of the doom I have visited on you. You don’t have to fear the king of Babylon. Your fears are for nothing. I’m on your side, ready to save and deliver you from anything he might do. I’ll pour mercy on you. What’s more, he will show you mercy! He’ll let you come back to your very own land.’

^13-17 “But do not say, ‘We’re not staying around this place,’ refusing to obey the command of your God and saying instead, ‘No! We’re off to Egypt, where things are peaceful—no wars, no attacking armies, plenty of food. We’re going to live there.’ If what’s left of Judah is headed down that road, then listen to God’s Message. This is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: ‘If you have determined to go to Egypt and make that your home, then the very wars you fear will catch up with you in Egypt and the starvation you dread will track you down in Egypt. You’ll die there! Every last one of you who is determined to go to Egypt and make it your home will either be killed, starve, or get sick and die. No survivors, not one! No one will escape the doom that I’ll bring upon you.’

¹⁸ “This is the Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘In the same way that I swept the citizens of Jerusalem away with my anger and wrath, I’ll do the same thing all over again in Egypt. You’ll end up being cursed, reviled, ridiculed, and mocked. And you’ll never see your homeland again.’

^19-20 “God has plainly told you, you leftovers from Judah, ‘Don’t go to Egypt.’ Could anything be plainer? I warn you this day that you are living out a fantasy. You’re making a fatal mistake.

“Didn’t you just now send me to your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to our God. Tell us everything that God says and we’ll do it all’?

^21-22 “Well, now I’ve told you, told you everything he said, and you haven’t obeyed a word of it, not a single word of what your God sent me to tell you. So now let me tell you what will happen next: You’ll be killed, you’ll starve to death, you’ll get sick and die in the wonderful country where you’ve determined to go and live.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

When Jeremiah consents to their request to pray on their behalf, he responds with, “I hear your request. And I will pray to your God as you have asked.”  Was Jeremiah making a point in using the words they used, “your God” when praying and relating what God says?  I’m not sure, but it is a good teaching point for us. 

Because of Jesus Christ, ALL who believe can walk right up to God in prayer, asking for His will for all of life.  There is no middle man on earth.  Jesus’ work on the cross to pay for our sins tore the curtain barrier apart that stood between God and man.  Every human has access to God through Jesus, His Son, when we pray in Jesus Name!  It is no longer, “your God or my God”, He is Our God, Our Father in Heaven who hears our words and knows our hearts!  What a blessed thought!  Can I get an amen?!

PAUSE TO PRAY AND REFLECT…

Do I really believe what God says is really real?

Do I pray expecting an answer from God or do I pray just to feel better about the situation? 

Do I pray knowing God is already at work for me, not against me?

Do I pray knowing God has my best interests in His heart?

THE FEAR FACTOR—AKA, not doing the will of God

Johanan was once brave enough to want to kill Ishmael, but now he didn’t have the courage to stand for what he knew was right. He was afraid to trust the Lord and stay in the land of Judah, perhaps because he feared what the Babylonians might do when they found out that Gedaliah was dead and Ishmael had filled a pit with dead bodies.

Deception was in the hearts of the leaders, including Johanan. They had their minds already made up to go to Egypt, and they were hoping Jeremiah would agree with them. Sometimes God’s people take this false approach in discerning the will of God. Instead of honestly seeking God’s will, they go from counselor to counselor, asking for advice and hoping they’ll find somebody who will agree with their hidden agenda.  Yikes!

God kept the people waiting for ten days, possibly to give them time to search their hearts and confess their sins. During those ten days, they could see that the Lord was caring for them and that they had nothing to fear. That should have convinced them that the plan to flee to Egypt was a foolish one.

God spoke through Jeremiah, ending the conversation where it began, to expose the real intention of the army leaders.  They really didn’t want Jeremiah’s prayers or God’s plans; they wanted the Lord to approve what they had already decided to do. But this was a fatal decision on their part; for if they carried out their plans, they would die in Egypt.

God knows what is best for us.  ALWAYS.  And God is always at work while we pray.

Lord,

What lessons you have taught us today!  Jesus, you taught us to bring everything to you in prayer, to seek and we will find you, to pray and you will answer.  I pray that I will really hear you and understand what you are telling me to be and do.  Help me to listen, give your power and courage to obey.  Thank you!

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

Randy and I are watching a movie series that involves real thinking.  We are constantly asking each other, “who is he, is he a good guy or a bad guy?”  As the plot thickens, we learn he is a good-bad guy!  He is the enemy but is not a killer.  He is kind to the captives of the enemy. Then another person enters the scene who is supposed to be a good guy but he turns bad when he wants his way and wants to fight back.  This is never good because the good-bad guy’s pride and anger will always get the best of him when he fights back.  The good-bad guy also takes everyone down with him who follows in his ways.

This is the same thinking in our continuing story that began from yesterday’s reading.  Today is part two of the continuing saga where one of the bad-good guys of Judah decides he will gather men to kill the good-bad guy!  Confused?  Pay attention, you’ll get it…

Jeremiah 41, The Message

Murder

41 ^1-3 But in the seventh month, Ishmael son of Nethaniah, son of Elishama, came. He had royal blood in his veins and had been one of the king’s high-ranking officers. He paid a visit to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah with ten of his men. As they were eating together, Ishmael and his ten men jumped to their feet and knocked Gedaliah down and killed him, killed the man the king of Babylon had appointed governor of the land. Ishmael also killed all the Judeans who were with Gedaliah in Mizpah, as well as the Chaldean soldiers who were stationed there.

^4-5 On the second day after the murder of Gedaliah—no one yet knew of it—men arrived from Shechem, Shiloh, and Samaria, eighty of them, with their beards shaved, their clothing ripped, and gashes on their bodies. They were pilgrims carrying grain offerings and incense on their way to worship at the Temple in Jerusalem.

⁶ Ishmael son of Nethaniah went out from Mizpah to welcome them, weeping ostentatiously. When he greeted them he invited them in: “Come and meet Gedaliah son of Ahikam.”

^7-8 But as soon as they were inside the city, Ishmael son of Nethaniah and his henchmen slaughtered the pilgrims and dumped the bodies in a cistern. Ten of the men talked their way out of the massacre. They bargained with Ishmael, “Don’t kill us. We have a hidden store of wheat, barley, olive oil, and honey out in the fields.” So he held back and didn’t kill them with their fellow pilgrims.

⁹ Ishmael’s reason for dumping the bodies into a cistern was to cover up the earlier murder of Gedaliah. The cistern had been built by King Asa as a defense against Baasha king of Israel. This was the cistern that Ishmael son of Nethaniah filled with the slaughtered men.

¹⁰ Ishmael then took everyone else in Mizpah, including the king’s daughters entrusted to the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam by Nebuzaradan the captain of the bodyguard, as prisoners. Rounding up the prisoners, Ishmael son of Nethaniah proceeded to take them over into the country of Ammon.

^11-12 Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers with him heard about the atrocities committed by Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They set off at once after Ishmael son of Nethaniah. They found him at the large pool at Gibeon.

^13-15 When all the prisoners from Mizpah who had been taken by Ishmael saw Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers with him, they couldn’t believe their eyes. They were so happy! They all rallied around Johanan son of Kareah and headed back home. But Ishmael son of Nethaniah got away, escaping from Johanan with eight men into the land of Ammon.

¹⁶ Then Johanan son of Kareah and the army officers with him gathered together what was left of the people whom Ishmael son of Nethaniah had taken prisoner from Mizpah after the murder of Gedaliah son of Ahikam—men, women, children, eunuchs—and brought them back from Gibeon.

^17-18 They set out at once for Egypt to get away from the Chaldeans, stopping on the way at Geruth-kimham near Bethlehem. They were afraid of what the Chaldeans might do in retaliation of Ishmael son of Nethaniah’s murder of Gedaliah son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon had appointed as governor of the country.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Murder

People like Ismael are not the right people to follow thoughtlessly. Here are a few reasons why:

• Plotting to kill leads to executing the kill.
• There will always be more killing in efforts to cover up the first kill.
• Killing becomes a lifestyle. 
• After the kill you must then go into hiding, living in fear continuously.   

The Plot

In the Near East, when people eat together, they’re pledging their friendship and loyalty to one another. Ishmael, however, used the meal as a trap to catch Gedaliah and his men so he could kill them. 

The Greed

To his terrible breach of hospitality, Ismael added hypocrisy, weeping before the eighty Jewish pilgrims who had come to worship, and then killing seventy of them. His greed was revealed when he spared the other ten in order to find out where their supply of food was hidden. He was a cunning and ruthless man who would stop at nothing to get his own way.

The Good-Good Guy

Johanan showed courage in rescuing the Jews, but when he was finally in charge, he revealed his own lack of faith by wanting to take the remnant to Egypt! He didn’t remember the counsel of Gedaliah or the messages of Jeremiah, both of whom warned the Jews to stay in the land and not go to Egypt. Even a good man can go astray simply by turning away from God’s Word.

Still confused?  Part three will be told tomorrow where the good-good guys return to Jeremiah for God’s message of true rescue and direction.  Stay tuned!

So, how do we really respond to what we have learned today?

Gossip kills.  Another form of murder is gossip.  Gossip kills the ministry effectiveness of God’s church.  Gossip kills relationships.  Our form of murder today is gossip among those who say they love God and love others but use their position to “murder” the reputations of others.  Gossip also destroys trust. Gossip sends people into hiding.

Respond, instead, with building each other up with love, mercy and grace as offered to us daily by our Lord.  Avoid presuming we know what others are thinking.  Avoid assuming we know how people will behave.  Turn to God for guidance in avoiding gossip at all costs.  Why?  Gossip is a murder committed by the tongue.  We all see it, we’ve all done it.  Repent and be saved from it.

Jesus, in teaching his followers quoted the commandment “you shall not murder” and then clarified the thought behind it by adding; “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment. But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell.”  Matthew 5:21-22, NLT

Gossip gives birth to murdering a person’s being.  Do not murder with gossip.

Lord,

You have used Jeremiah to tell your story of how to live a life that pleases you.  We need you every hour of every day to abide in your love and live your Truth.  Help us to think and behave more life you and less like our natural selves when left to our own devices.  Help us to love others like you love us.

In Jesus Name, Amen

The Babylonian captain of the guard preached a sermon that sounded a great deal like what Jeremiah had been saying for forty years! The Jews must have been embarrassed to hear a pagan Babylonian tell them they were sinners, but he was right in what he said. As God’s people, we must bow in shame when the world publicly announces the sins of the saints.  This still happens today!  We are embarrassed and humbled by believers who turn their backs of God and exploit God’s people.

In our ministry and teaching years, God used nonbelievers as well as believers to come to our aid when we needed help or advice.  God, who is God alone, can make a way through our troubles and pain when there appears to be no way available that we can see.  I have experienced God’s miraculous ways so many times that I have learned to gratefully accept and expect His sovereign ways as part of life’s journey.  He is God, we are not.  God knows what lies ahead.  God surrounds us with His Presence but He also goes ahead of us preparing the way for the next challenge.  This is a miracle in and of itself.  We indeed love and serve a mighty, omnipotent, and omnipresent God!

Be a Jeremiah!  Tell the Truth and God will use even a pagan to protect and provide.

Jeremiah 40, The Message

Go and Live Wherever You Wish

40 God’s Message to Jeremiah after Nebuzaradan captain of the bodyguard set him free at Ramah. When Nebuzaradan came upon him, he was in chains, along with all the other captives from Jerusalem and Judah who were being herded off to exile in Babylon.

^2-3 The captain of the bodyguard singled out Jeremiah and said to him, “Your God pronounced doom on this place. God came and did what he had warned he’d do because you all sinned against God and wouldn’t do what he told you. So now you’re all suffering the consequences.

^4-5 “But today, Jeremiah, I’m setting you free, taking the chains off your hands. If you’d like to come to Babylon with me, come along. I’ll take good care of you. But if you don’t want to come to Babylon with me, that’s just fine, too. Look, the whole land stretches out before you. Do what you like. Go and live wherever you wish. If you want to stay home, go back to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan. The king of Babylon made him governor of the cities of Judah. Stay with him and your people. Or go wherever you’d like. It’s up to you.”

The captain of the bodyguard gave him food for the journey and a parting gift, and sent him off.

⁶ Jeremiah went to Gedaliah son of Ahikam at Mizpah and made his home with him and the people who were left behind in the land.

Take Care of the Land

^7-8 When the army leaders and their men, who had been hiding out in the fields, heard that the king of Babylon had appointed Gedaliah son of Ahikam as governor of the land, putting him in charge of the men, women, and children of the poorest of the poor who hadn’t been taken off to exile in Babylon, they came to Gedaliah at Mizpah: Ishmael son of Nethaniah, Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, Seraiah son of Tanhumeth, the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jaazaniah son of the Maacathite, accompanied by their men.

⁹ Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, promised them and their men, “You have nothing to fear from the Chaldean officials. Stay here on the land. Be subject to the king of Babylon. You’ll get along just fine.

¹⁰ “My job is to stay here in Mizpah and be your advocate before the Chaldeans when they show up. Your job is to take care of the land: Make wine, harvest the summer fruits, press olive oil. Store it all in pottery jugs and settle into the towns that you have taken over.”

^11-12 The Judeans who had escaped to Moab, Ammon, Edom, and other countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a few survivors in Judah and made Gedaliah son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, governor over them. They all started coming back to Judah from all the places where they’d been scattered. They came to Judah and to Gedaliah at Mizpah and went to work gathering in a huge supply of wine and summer fruits.

* * *

^13-14 One day Johanan son of Kareah and all the officers of the army who had been hiding out in the backcountry came to Gedaliah at Mizpah and told him, “You know, don’t you, that Baaliss king of Ammon has sent Ishmael son of Nethaniah to kill you?” But Gedaliah son of Ahikam didn’t believe them.

¹⁵ Then Johanan son of Kareah took Gedaliah aside privately in Mizpah: “Let me go and kill Ishmael son of Nethaniah. No one needs to know about it. Why should we let him kill you and plunge the land into anarchy? Why let everyone you’ve taken care of be scattered and what’s left of Judah destroyed?”

¹⁶ But Gedaliah son of Ahikam told Johanan son of Kareah, “Don’t do it. I forbid it. You’re spreading a false rumor about Ishmael.”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

He chose to remain.  Jeremiah made difficult choices at the beginning and the end of his ministry. Serving as a priest would have been much easier, but he obeyed God’s call to be a prophet. And living in Babylon would have been much more comfortable, but he chose to remain in the land of his ancestors. Jeremiah was a true shepherd.  Being a man with a shepherd’s heart, Jeremiah chose to dwell among the “poorest of the poor” left behind to take care of the land.

The remnant needed Jeremiah’s encouragement from the Lord.  The remnant in Judah had to follow the same instructions that Jeremiah gave to the exiles in Babylon: Live normal lives, turn to the Lord with all your hearts, and wait for the Lord to deliver you (See Jeremiah 29:4–14). God had promised hope and a future for the nation because the nation had important work to do.  Jeremiah would remind them. 

Isn’t that what people called of God today do?  We are to remind people of the hope and future provided by the promises of God to always be with us.

Johanan started out as a courageous leader, but later he led the people astray. We don’t know how he and his associates heard about Ishmael’s plot to assassinate Gedaliah, but their information was certainly accurate. Had Gedaliah listened to them, the governor’s life would have been spared.  Mm…more on the murder tomorrow…

God made a way for the remnant to survive and later thrive under the rule of the Babylonians.  Instead of accepting what God says, rebels in the ranks cause more problems.  Don’t be a rebel.

Know God.  To know God is to be still, let go, wait and know God is always at work on behalf of those who believe, trust, and obey Him.  Live redeemed, not as a rebel, in the Kingdom of God.

Lord,

I don’t want to be a rebel in your Kingdom—just the opposite.  I want to hear your voice above all other voices in this world with a heart’s desire to follow you.  I am yours.  I love you because you loved me first.  I’m listening.  Speak to my heart and teach me your ways and I will walk in them.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Life is dicey and unpredictable at times in our lives. There is no one who can escape interruptions to the routines of life.  As I read this next passage of Jeremiah’s messages about impending war, destruction and captivity, I think of the Ukrainian people who are living life the best they can among their families and friends until the bully of Russia decided to he wanted what they had worked hard to attain—freedom to live life.  I had the privilege to meet people in this area of the world.  I enjoyed a mission trip to Moldova where I met many God honoring people who loved God, believed in Jesus’ redemption with desires to teach others to love Him, too. 

People from the Ukraine and some from Romania met together in Moldova for training where we were in attendance, helping to lead the training.  I learned quickly that to worship God came at a cost in their countries.  A watchful, governmental eye was always on them.  So, extreme trust in God was of highest priority.  I often pray for the friends I met who love God, asking Him to protect them and provide for their needs in the middle of a war they did not invite. 

In this situation, God’s people, led by Zedekiah the unholy king of Judah, are being allowed to be taken captive because they refused to trust God.  Most, who once were God’s chosen have not only turned their backs on God, they have lived such sinful, perverted lives that are killing each other and their children in unholy sacrifices to Baal and other gods!.  The Babylonian army is being used to cleanse the land and make it holy.  A remnant, those caught in the crossfire, so to speak, who still trust in God, are protected and spared.  That’s what God does.  “You’ll walk out of there safe and sound because you trusted me.” God’s Decree to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 39, The Message

Bad News, Not Good News

39 ^1-2 In the ninth year and tenth month of Zedekiah king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came with his entire army and laid siege to Jerusalem. In the eleventh year and fourth month, on the ninth day of Zedekiah’s reign, they broke through into the city.

³ All the officers of the king of Babylon came and set themselves up as a ruling council from the Middle Gate: Nergal-sharezer of Simmagar, Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, along with all the other officials of the king of Babylon.

^4-7 When Zedekiah king of Judah and his remaining soldiers saw this, they ran for their lives. They slipped out at night on a path in the king’s garden through the gate between two walls and headed for the wilderness, toward the Jordan Valley. The Babylonian army chased them and caught Zedekiah in the wilderness of Jericho. They seized him and took him to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon at Riblah in the country of Hamath. Nebuchadnezzar decided his fate. The king of Babylon killed all the sons of Zedekiah in Riblah right before his eyes and then killed all the nobles of Judah. After Zedekiah had seen the slaughter, Nebuchadnezzar blinded him, chained him up, and then took him off to Babylon.

^8-10 Meanwhile, the Babylonians burned down the royal palace, the Temple, and all the homes of the people. They leveled the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuzaradan, commander of the king’s bodyguard, rounded up everyone left in the city, along with those who had surrendered to him, and herded them off to exile in Babylon. He didn’t bother taking the few poor people who had nothing. He left them in the land of Judah to eke out a living as best they could in the vineyards and fields.

* * *

^11-12 Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon gave Nebuzaradan captain of the king’s bodyguard special orders regarding Jeremiah: “Look out for him. Make sure nothing bad happens to him. Give him anything he wants.”

^13-14 So Nebuzaradan, chief of the king’s bodyguard, along with Nebushazban the Rabsaris, Nergal-sharezer the Rabmag, and all the chief officers of the king of Babylon, sent for Jeremiah, taking him from the courtyard of the royal guards and putting him under the care of Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to be taken home. And so he was able to live with the people.

* * *

^15-18 Earlier, while Jeremiah was still in custody in the courtyard of the royal guards, God’s Message came to him: “Go and speak with Ebed-melek the Ethiopian. Tell him, ‘God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, Listen carefully: I will do exactly what I said I would do to this city—bad news, not good news. When it happens, you will be there to see it. But I’ll deliver you on that doomsday. You won’t be handed over to those men whom you have good reason to fear. Yes, I’ll most certainly save you. You won’t be killed. You’ll walk out of there safe and sound because you trusted me.’” God’s Decree.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

“If only you had trusted Me.”  None of these things would have happened if only one of the kings had sincerely repented, trusted the Lord, and surrendered to the Babylonians.

Since the Lord had promised that Jeremiah would survive all the opposition and persecution against him, God moved upon Nebuchadnezzar to release the prophet and treat him kindly.  Sparing Jeremiah was a miracle, considering what Nebuchadnezzar did to Zedekiah!  Because you trusted me says God—

“I will deliver you; I will save you, You will walk out of there safe and sound.”

I’m not a great scholar, but it seems to me that to trust God is the Way, the one and only Way to live life, right?!  A great hymn of worship from my childhood is playing in my mind right now,

“Trust and obey, for there’s no other way

To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Lord,

I surrender to you with all my love, trust, and faith.  Nothing is too hard for you!  Why trust anyone else?  You made the heavens and earth. You know what happens next.  You know exactly what I need and provide the ways and means before I know I have a need.  You have redeemed me.  Your love for me and those who believe is beyond our wildest thinking in depth and width.  Your kindness and gentleness are part of your merciful character.  Your grace is certainly sufficient for me.  All I need is you.  I love you, Lord with all my heart, mind and soul.

In Jesus Name, Amen

Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at His feet
Or we’ll walk by His side in the way
What He says we will do, where He sends we will go
Never fear, only trust and obey

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey

When truth is hard to swallow and even harder to obey, human, ungodly thought leads to snuffing out the messenger who annoys the status quo with truth.

Angry because Jeremiah’s words were hurting the war effort, four of Zedekiah’s officials banded together to urge the king to kill the prophet. They accused Jeremiah of not seeking the welfare of the people, yet the welfare of the people was the thing to which he had dedicated his life!

FUN FACTS:

“Don’t shoot the messenger” is still a well-known phrase today.  We all know what it means but here is a bit of history that describes what Jeremiah is experiencing as the Messenger of God is thrown into the mirey clay of a defunct cistern for revealing God’s Truth!  An analogy of the phrase can come from the breaching of an unwritten code of conduct in war, in which a commanding officer was expected to receive and send back emissaries or diplomatic envoys sent by the enemy unharmed. During the early Warring States period of China, the concept of chivalry and virtue prevented the executions of messengers sent by opposing sides.

An ancient literary citing of “shooting the messenger” is in Plutarch’s Lives: “The first messenger, that gave notice of Lucullus’ coming was so far from pleasing Tigranes that, he had his head cut off for his pains; and no man dared to bring further information. Without any intelligence at all, Tigranes sat while war was already blazing around him, giving ear only to those who flattered him”.

GOD gives His people exactly what is going to happen along with what to do in a clear message spoken through His prophet Jeremiah.  His people do not want to hear it, obey it or live it.  The Babylonians are almost at the gate, war is stewing all around them, and they only want to hear good news.

Dear Friends, are we like that today, only wanting to hear good news from our pastors who reveal what God has told them to say? 

What is the Truth?  Can we handle the Truth?

Jeremiah 38, The Message

From the Dungeon to the Palace

38 Shaphatiah son of Mattan, Gedaliah son of Pashur, Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Pashur son of Malkijah heard what Jeremiah was telling the people, namely:

² “This is God’s Message: ‘Whoever stays in this town will die—will be killed or starve to death or get sick and die. But those who go over to the Babylonians will save their necks and live.’

³ “And, God’s sure Word: ‘This city is destined to fall to the army of the king of Babylon. He’s going to take it over.’”

⁴ These officials told the king, “Please, kill this man. He’s got to go! He’s ruining the resolve of the soldiers who are still left in the city, as well as the people themselves, by spreading these words. This man isn’t looking after the good of this people. He’s trying to ruin us!”

⁵ King Zedekiah caved in: “If you say so. Go ahead, handle it your way. You’re too much for me.”

⁶ So they took Jeremiah and threw him into the cistern of Malkijah the king’s son that was in the courtyard of the palace guard. They lowered him down with ropes. There wasn’t any water in the cistern, only mud. Jeremiah sank into the mud.

^7-9 Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, a court official assigned to the royal palace, heard that they had thrown Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was holding court in the Benjamin Gate, Ebed-melek went immediately from the palace to the king and said, “My master, O king—these men are committing a great crime in what they’re doing, throwing Jeremiah the prophet into the cistern and leaving him there to starve. He’s as good as dead. There isn’t a scrap of bread left in the city.”

¹⁰ So the king ordered Ebed-melek the Ethiopian, “Get three men and pull Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

^11-12 Ebed-melek got three men and went to the palace wardrobe and got some scraps of old clothing, which they tied together and lowered down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. Ebed-melek the Ethiopian called down to Jeremiah, “Put these scraps of old clothing under your armpits and around the ropes.”

Jeremiah did what he said.

¹³ And so they pulled Jeremiah up out of the cistern by the ropes. But he was still confined in the courtyard of the palace guard.

¹⁴ Later, King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and had him brought to the third entrance of the Temple of God. The king said to Jeremiah, “I’m going to ask you something. Don’t hold anything back from me.”

¹⁵ Jeremiah said, “If I told you the whole truth, you’d kill me. And no matter what I said, you wouldn’t pay any attention anyway.”

¹⁶ Zedekiah swore to Jeremiah right there, but in secret, “As sure as God lives, who gives us life, I won’t kill you, nor will I turn you over to the men who are trying to kill you.”

^17-18 So Jeremiah told Zedekiah, “This is the Message from God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: ‘If you will turn yourself over to the generals of the king of Babylon, you will live, this city won’t be burned down, and your family will live. But if you don’t turn yourself over to the generals of the king of Babylon, this city will go into the hands of the Chaldeans and they’ll burn it down. And don’t for a minute think there’s any escape for you.’”

¹⁹ King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “But I’m afraid of the Judeans who have already deserted to the Chaldeans. If they get hold of me, they’ll rough me up good.”

^20-22 Jeremiah assured him, “They won’t get hold of you. Listen, please. Listen to God’s voice. I’m telling you this for your own good so that you’ll live. But if you refuse to turn yourself over, this is what God has shown me will happen: Picture this in your mind—all the women still left in the palace of the king of Judah, led out to the officers of the king of Babylon, and as they’re led out they are saying:

“‘They lied to you and did you in,
    those so-called friends of yours;
And now you’re stuck, about knee-deep in mud,
    and your “friends,” where are they now?’

²³ “They’ll take all your wives and children and give them to the Chaldeans. And you, don’t think you’ll get out of this—the king of Babylon will seize you and then burn this city to the ground.”

^24-26 Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Don’t let anyone know of this conversation, if you know what’s good for you. If the government officials get wind that I’ve been talking with you, they may come and say, ‘Tell us what went on between you and the king, what you said and what he said. Hold nothing back and we won’t kill you.’ If this happens, tell them, ‘I presented my case to the king so that he wouldn’t send me back to the dungeon of Jonathan to die there.’”

²⁷ And sure enough, all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him. He responded as the king had instructed. So they quit asking. No one had overheard the conversation.

²⁸ Jeremiah lived in the courtyard of the palace guards until the day that Jerusalem was captured.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jeremiah assured the king that if he obeyed the Word of the Lord, God would protect him and the city. But if he disobeyed, even the women in the palace would taunt him before the Babylonians. We can appreciate the king’s concern for his wives and children, but the best way to protect them was to obey God’s will.

What a great example of truth-telling we have in Jeremiah. Tell the truth at all costs.  Be, say and do what God says and He will provide for our needs and help us through the struggles of remaining in Truth.  Many in our world do not want to hear the Truth or live the Truth. 

Real Truth is the Person of Jesus Christ who was killed as the Messenger Son of God but rose from the grave, defeating death as our Savior. Jesus is The Way, The Truth, who leads us to Life everlasting. 

This is the Truth:  Believe God, repent in Jesus Name, be forgiven to live a life with God that never ends.  Can you handle the Truth?  If so, live to tell the Truth!  Listen to His Messengers of Truth and obey.

Lord,

Continue to give us courage, wisdom, with your words of Truth to tell, show and live it in ways that others will see and be drawn to Truth.  We are tired of people telling us only what we want to hear because they are afraid to tell the whole truth.  We are tired of fake people who arrogantly avoid Truth.  We don’t want to be like that so help us, transform our thinking, and fill us with your Truth.  I believe you, even when it hurts, for you are for our good.

In Jesus Name, Amen

There was a time in ministry to a church that my husband, the pastor, got very ill.  I took him to the doctor who sent him right to the hospital for what was expected—a bad gall bladder that was going to have to be removed.  While waiting for my husband’s surgery,  I called the chairman of the board of the church to tell him what was going on so he could pray with us and have others pray with us.  The chairman’s first response was, “So, he can’t preach Sunday?”  “Do you know who can preach for him?”  This response did not encourage me in my time of need.  As a full time person in ministry myself, I did find someone to preach for them while I waited and watched over my husband in his time of need.

Sadly, I can take to heart the predicament of Jeremiah and understand how he must have felt when King Zedekiah brought him out of the dungeon where he was unfairly placed to ask, “So, is there a Message from God?”  instead of “how are you and how are you doing?” 

If you are in ministry now or in the past, I know you will understand.  At times we do feel taken advantage of for who we are; but consider their perspective for a moment and be encouraged by the real truth of who you are in Jesus.  Work hard, praying in Jesus Name, to avoid dwelling on the first responses from the people you serve.  Think about it, while Babylonians are doing exactly what God told His people would happen, the people recognize Jeremiah as one who talks and listens to God.

Are we known as one who talks and listens to God?  If we are, then praise God!

Jeremiah 37, The Message

In an Underground Dungeon

^1-2 King Zedekiah son of Josiah, a puppet king set on the throne by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon in the land of Judah, was now king in place of Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim. But neither he nor his officials nor the people themselves paid a bit of attention to the Message God gave by Jeremiah the prophet.

³ However, King Zedekiah sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah, and Zephaniah the priest, son of Maaseiah, to Jeremiah the prophet, saying, “Pray for us—pray hard!—to the Master, our God.”

^4-5 Jeremiah was still moving about freely among the people in those days. This was before he had been put in jail. Pharaoh’s army was marching up from Egypt. The Chaldeans fighting against Jerusalem heard that the Egyptians were coming and pulled back.

^6-10 Then Jeremiah the prophet received this Message from God: “I, the God of Israel, want you to give this Message to the king of Judah, who has just sent you to me to find out what he should do. Tell him, ‘Get this: Pharaoh’s army, which is on its way to help you, isn’t going to stick it out. No sooner will they get here than they’ll leave and go home to Egypt. And then the Babylonians will come back and resume their attack, capture this city and burn it to the ground. I, God, am telling you: Don’t kid yourselves, reassuring one another, “The Babylonians will leave in a few days.” I tell you, they aren’t leaving. Why, even if you defeated the entire attacking Chaldean army and all that was left were a few wounded soldiers in their tents, the wounded would still do the job and burn this city to the ground.’”

* * *

^11-13 When the Chaldean army pulled back from Jerusalem, Jeremiah left Jerusalem to go over to the territory of Benjamin to take care of some personal business. When he got to the Benjamin Gate, the officer on guard there, Irijah son of Shelemiah, son of Hananiah, grabbed Jeremiah the prophet, accusing him, “You’re deserting to the Chaldeans!”

^14-16 “That’s a lie,” protested Jeremiah. “I wouldn’t think of deserting to the Chaldeans.”

But Irijah wouldn’t listen to him. He arrested him and took him to the police. The police were furious with Jeremiah. They beat him up and threw him into jail in the house of Jonathan the secretary of state. (They were using the house for a prison cell.) So Jeremiah entered an underground cell in a cistern turned into a dungeon. He stayed there a long time.

¹⁷ Later King Zedekiah had Jeremiah brought to him. The king questioned him privately, “Is there a Message from God?”

“There certainly is,” said Jeremiah. “You’re going to be turned over to the king of Babylon.”

^18-20 Jeremiah continued speaking to King Zedekiah: “Can you tell me why you threw me into prison? What crime did I commit against you or your officials or this people? And tell me, whatever has become of your prophets who preached all those sermons saying that the king of Babylon would never attack you or this land? Listen to me, please, my master—my king! Please don’t send me back to that dungeon in the house of Jonathan the secretary. I’ll die there!”

²¹ So King Zedekiah ordered that Jeremiah be assigned to the courtyard of the palace guards. He was given a loaf of bread from Bakers’ Alley every day until all the bread in the city was gone. And that’s where Jeremiah remained—in the courtyard of the palace guards.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Jeremiah was known and trusted as one who prays to God and God listens.  What a high calling with great responsibility!  He was known AND trusted for real, honest truth telling.  Jeremiah’s messages from God were paramount to anything else Jeremiah did.  Jeremiah teaches us in ministry today that God is the one and only we please.  God is the one we go to first and continuously.  God is the one who ultimately cares, provides, and protects us while making a way for us as we serve Him. 

To abide in God and God in us while preaching and teaching the Good News of the salvation Jesus has provided for us it our top priority.  Nothing else matters!  I am humbled more by what God has given us to be, say and do than what people carelessly say and do to us.  If we can think this way and really internalize this truth then we are maturing in His service.

Prophets down through the ages knew the cost of telling the truth and not being received well from truth telling.  John, the Baptist, the prophet who “prepared the way” for our Lord and Savior, knew and understood this well.  They were beaten, jailed, mocked, and used for others’ gain for power. 

I laugh at the memory of my own personal experiences now and remember how plenty of friends outside the church along with our immediate family came to our aid.  God takes care of his servants.  He always has and always will.   

Jesus was betrayed, stripped, humiliated, beaten and then hung on a cross for telling the Truth as well as dying for our sins, taking the punishment we should have had.  So, any God messages in us?  Absolutely, until the day Jesus bring us home, we tell His story of salvation for His glory and our gain of life forevermore with Him!  Can I get an amen?  Yes!

Lord,

You encourage us today!  You are so good at lifting our thoughts.  Your Word is truly a light for my path and a source of seeing Truth rise above the darkness of the world.  I’m yours.  I will always be yours.  Thank you for choosing me to serve in Your Kingdom.  Thank you for opportunities to tell others about you, for that is the ultimate calling and commission from you.  Continue to transform me to be all you created me to be then do.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“Take a lesson from the fig tree. From the moment you notice its buds form, the merest hint of green, you know summer’s just around the corner. So it is with you: When you see all these things, you’ll know he’s at the door. Don’t take this lightly. I’m not just saying this for some future generation, but for all of you. This age continues until all these things take place. Sky and earth will wear out; my words won’t wear out.” –Jesus  (Matthew 24:32-25, MSG)

No one can destroy the Word of God.  No one in Jeremiah’s day could do it and no one now.

“For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”  Hebrews 4:12

“The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.”     Isaiah 40:8

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  John 1:1

“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14

“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”  2 Peter 3:16-17

“I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.”  Psalm 119:10-11

God asked Jeremiah to write everything He said on a scroll so His people could read, hear it read, listen and turn back to Him with love for Him.  The Word was ignored, hated, burned, and scorned but God’s Word of Truth prevailed. 

We are reading it today. 

To God be the glory, great His is faithfulness! 

Great is His love for us! 

Jeremiah 36, The Message

Reading God’s Message

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, Jeremiah received this Message from God:

² “Get a scroll and write down everything I’ve told you regarding Israel and Judah and all the other nations from the time I first started speaking to you in Josiah’s reign right up to the present day.

³ “Maybe the community of Judah will finally get it, finally understand the catastrophe that I’m planning for them, turn back from their bad lives, and let me forgive their perversity and sin.”

⁴ So Jeremiah called in Baruch son of Neriah. Jeremiah dictated and Baruch wrote down on a scroll everything that God had said to him.

^5-6 Then Jeremiah told Baruch, “I’m blacklisted. I can’t go into God’s Temple, so you’ll have to go in my place. Go into the Temple and read everything you’ve written at my dictation. Wait for a day of fasting when everyone is there to hear you. And make sure that all the people who come from the Judean villages hear you.

⁷ “Maybe, just maybe, they’ll start praying and God will hear their prayers. Maybe they’ll turn back from their bad lives. This is no light matter. God has certainly let them know how angry he is!”

⁸ Baruch son of Neriah did everything Jeremiah the prophet told him to do. In the Temple of God he read the Message of God from the scroll.

⁹ It came about in December of the fifth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah that all the people of Jerusalem, along with all the people from the Judean villages, were there in Jerusalem to observe a fast to God.

¹⁰ Baruch took the scroll to the Temple and read out publicly the words of Jeremiah. He read from the meeting room of Gemariah son of Shaphan the secretary of state, which was in the upper court right next to the New Gate of God’s Temple. Everyone could hear him.

^11-12 The moment Micaiah the son of Gemariah heard what was being read from the scroll—God’s Message!—he went straight to the palace and to the chambers of the secretary of state where all the government officials were holding a meeting: Elishama the secretary, Delaiah son of Shemaiah, Elnathan son of Achbor, Gemariah son of Shaphan, Zedekiah son of Hananiah, and all the other government officials.

¹³ Micaiah reported everything he had heard Baruch read from the scroll as the officials listened.

¹⁴ Immediately they dispatched Jehudi son of Nethaniah, son of Semaiah, son of Cushi, to Baruch, ordering him, “Take the scroll that you have read to the people and bring it here.” So Baruch went and retrieved the scroll.

¹⁵ The officials told him, “Sit down. Read it to us, please.” Baruch read it.

¹⁶ When they had heard it all, they were upset. They talked it over. “We’ve got to tell the king all this.”

¹⁷ They asked Baruch, “Tell us, how did you come to write all this? Was it at Jeremiah’s dictation?”

¹⁸ Baruch said, “That’s right. Every word right from his own mouth. And I wrote it down, word for word, with pen and ink.”

¹⁹ The government officials told Baruch, “You need to get out of here. Go into hiding, you and Jeremiah. Don’t let anyone know where you are!”

^20-21 The officials went to the court of the palace to report to the king, having put the scroll for safekeeping in the office of Elishama the secretary of state. The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll. He brought it from the office of Elishama the secretary. Jehudi then read it to the king and the officials who were in the king’s service.

^22-23 It was December. The king was sitting in his winter quarters in front of a charcoal fire. After Jehudi would read three or four columns, the king would cut them off the scroll with his pocketknife and throw them in the fire. He continued in this way until the entire scroll had been burned up in the fire.

^24-26 Neither the king nor any of his officials showed the slightest twinge of conscience as they listened to the messages read. Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah tried to convince the king not to burn the scroll, but he brushed them off. He just plowed ahead and ordered Prince Jerahameel, Seraiah son of Azriel, and Shelemiah son of Abdeel to arrest Jeremiah the prophet and his secretary Baruch. But God had hidden them away.

* * *

^27-28 After the king had burned the scroll that Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, Jeremiah received this Message from God: “Get another blank scroll and do it all over again. Write out everything that was in that first scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.

²⁹ “And send this personal message to Jehoiakim king of Judah: ‘God says, You had the gall to burn this scroll and then the nerve to say, “What kind of nonsense is this written here—that the king of Babylon will come and destroy this land and kill everything in it?”

^30-31 “‘Well, do you want to know what God says about Jehoiakim king of Judah? This: No descendant of his will ever rule from David’s throne. His corpse will be thrown in the street and left unburied, exposed to the hot sun and the freezing night. I will punish him and his children and the officials in his government for their blatant sin. I’ll let loose on them and everyone in Jerusalem the doomsday disaster of which I warned them but they spit at.’”

³² So Jeremiah went and got another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, his secretary. At Jeremiah’s dictation he again wrote down everything that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. There were also generous additions, but of the same kind of thing.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

God’s Word is inspired by God.  Inspiration is not some kind of heavenly dictation, as though God completely bypassed the writer, for the authors of the various books of the Bible have their own distinctive styles and vocabularies. Without making him a robot, God guided Jeremiah in his choice of words; Jeremiah spoke these words to his secretary, Baruch, and Baruch wrote them down in the scroll.

God used human instruments to proclaim His Word to the people. “How can they hear about Him unless someone tells them?” says Paul in his letter, Romans 10:14. Since Jeremiah wasn’t allowed to go to the temple, he sent Baruch in his place which was also inspired by God.  God makes a way for His Word to be heard!

There will be haters of the Word.  The king used God’s Word as fuel for his fire! In spite of the protests of three of his officials, the king continued cutting and burning the scroll until it was completely destroyed.  Over the centuries, God’s enemies have tried to destroy the Word of God but have always failed. They forget what Jesus said about the Word: “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away” (Matthew 24:35). “All flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls away, but the word of the LORD endures forever” (1 Peter 1:24–25).

“What this passage highlights is that God preserves His Word. Any king who thinks he can silence God with a knife and a fire has a very high opinion of himself and a very low opinion of God. The Lord simply told Jeremiah to write another scroll, to which he added more material, including a special judgment on King Jehoiakim. The same God who gives the Word has the power to protect and preserve the Word. The king had tried to destroy the Word, but the Word destroyed him!”  –Warren Wiersbe, Commentator

Do we really believe what God says in His Word really real?  Our thinking and resulting behaviors will answer the question.

Believe God for His Word is Truth, whether we choose to believe Him or not.  Truth stands the test of time.  Truth walked the earth to show us Truth.  Truth wins every time.

Lord,

I pray for scoffers, haters, and would be destroyers along with unbelievers of Your Word that they might be saved by your grace before it is too late.  Your Word is you and You are the Word that gives light and life forever.  No one can take You away from us.  Thank you for loving us the way you do.  Continue to teach me Your Ways and I will walk in them.

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life” is a phrase I don’t really understand as a noble statement or principle for living.  Every day is a new day with great opportunity to be a difference and make a difference for God’s Kingdom.  But we must seek God first.  Where God guides, He provides.  We pray, God works in and through us.  So, what God decides, we follow.  If we quickly obey God and follow through on what God says, then we will surely be different from the world.  As believers, we look up to great examples of those who follow through in faith because their example of simple and joyful obedience encourages us that we are on the right track to pleasing God.

God sends Jeremiah to the Recabite community and tells him to invite them to the Temple to tell their story of faith.  Their testimony is simple and beautiful.  God holds them up as the examples of obedience along with their discipline of follow through to Israel.  God sent examples to get the attention of His people.  But all God got from His people were deaf ears, indifferent hearts, worldly minds and empty souls. 

What has God done to get my attention?  We must pause to pray and reflect.

Jeremiah 35, The Message

Meeting in God’s Temple

The Message that Jeremiah received from God ten years earlier, during the time of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Israel:

² “Go visit the Recabite community. Invite them to meet with you in one of the rooms in God’s Temple. And serve them wine.”

^3-4 So I went and got Jaazaniah son of Jeremiah, son of Habazziniah, along with all his brothers and sons—the whole community of the Recabites as it turned out—and brought them to God’s Temple and to the meeting room of Hanan son of Igdaliah, a man of God. It was next to the meeting room of the Temple officials and just over the apartment of Maaseiah son of Shallum, who was in charge of Temple affairs.

⁵ Then I set out chalices and pitchers of wine for the Recabites and said, “A toast! Drink up!”

^6-7 But they wouldn’t do it. “We don’t drink wine,” they said. “Our ancestor Jonadab son of Recab commanded us, ‘You are not to drink wine, you or your children, ever. Neither shall you build houses or settle down, planting fields and gardens and vineyards. Don’t own property. Live in tents as nomads so that you will live well and prosper in a wandering life.’

^8-10 “And we’ve done it, done everything Jonadab son of Recab commanded. We and our wives, our sons and daughters, drink no wine at all. We don’t build houses. We don’t have vineyards or fields or gardens. We live in tents as nomads. We’ve listened to our ancestor Jonadab and we’ve done everything he commanded us.

¹¹ “But when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon invaded our land, we said, ‘Let’s go to Jerusalem and get out of the path of the Chaldean and Aramean armies, find ourselves a safe place.’ That’s why we’re living in Jerusalem right now.”

Why Won’t You Learn Your Lesson?

^12-15 Then Jeremiah received this Message from God: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, wants you to go tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem that I say, ‘Why won’t you learn your lesson and do what I tell you?’ God’s Decree. ‘The commands of Jonadab son of Recab to his sons have been carried out to the letter. He told them not to drink wine, and they haven’t touched a drop to this very day. They honored and obeyed their ancestor’s command. But look at you! I have gone to a lot of trouble to get your attention, and you’ve ignored me. I sent prophet after prophet to you, all of them my servants, to tell you from early morning to late at night to change your life, make a clean break with your evil past and do what is right, to not take up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry of a god that comes down the pike, but settle down and be faithful in this country I gave your ancestors.

^15-16 “‘And what do I get from you? Deaf ears. The descendants of Jonadab son of Recab carried out to the letter what their ancestor commanded them, but this people ignores me.’

¹⁷ “So here’s what is going to happen. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will bring calamity down on the heads of the people of Judah and Jerusalem—the very calamity I warned you was coming—because you turned a deaf ear when I spoke, turned your backs when I called.’”

^18-19 Then, turning to the Recabite community, Jeremiah said, “And this is what God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says to you: ‘Because you have done what Jonadab your ancestor told you, obeyed his commands and followed through on his instructions, receive this Message from God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel: There will always be a descendant of Jonadab son of Recab at my service! Always!’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Who are we known as?  Who do we follow?  Our behaviors will answer these questions.

We learn from Jeremiah to trust God and obey what He says.  Jesus, the Perfect Example, promised His power will work through us when we do.  God’s Holy Spirit lives in us to help us discern and decide what is right.  We have no good reason not to obey the One who knows what is best for us.  There is joy and peace when we trust and obey.

Look for examples in others and be the example of faith for others.  “And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near”, Paul reminds all believers.  Jesus, the greatest example of all, IS coming back, you know. 

Are we known as examples of obedience to Him?

Lord,

On this first day of a new year, it is human to make promises to do better.  But Lord, I want to be better and I can only do that by your power working in me with your teaching permeating every part of me.  Your Word, your Holy Spirit, Your saving grace, Your merciful kindness all because of your unconditional love work together to make me all you created me to be.  I’m yours, warts and all.  Do what you must to remove all that is not you from me so I will be a difference in this world in obedience to you.  I trust in you, dear Jesus, the greatest example of all!

In Jesus Name, Amen

“Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
    as much as in obeying the Lord?
To obey is better than sacrifice,
    and to heed is better than the fat of rams.”  (1 Samuel 15:22)

These are the words from God through Samuel to King Saul, another king called of God to lead his people.  But King Saul turned from God to his own devices as he became more powerful.  God’s original mission became King Saul’s misinterpreted mess of manipulation.  (Read the whole story in 1 Samuel!)

King Saul led his people his way, away from God, and became so arrogant that it became a mental and spiritual illness!  Killing to hold his power in place became his single goal.  God deals with rebellion in the same way rebellious people behave, pulling them from leadership that maims and destroys others.  In the next verse of 1 Samuel 15:23, Samuel, speaking for God, announces God’s displeasure and indictment to King Saul;

^“ For rebellion is like the sin of divination,
    and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.
Because you have rejected the word of the Lord,
    he has rejected you as king.” 

Jeremiah, God’s prophet, tells King Zedekiah in a similar way what will happen because of his disobedience, refusing to follow God, arrogance in his leadership, not to mention (but we will) his unkept promises to God’s people concerning the bondage of slavery!  Yes, we learn that to obey God is way better than unkept promises and haughty, meaningless sacrifices.

Jeremiah 34, The Message

Freedom to the Slaves

34 God’s Message to Jeremiah at the time King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon mounted an all-out attack on Jerusalem and all the towns around it with his armies and allies and everyone he could muster:

^2-3 “I, God, the God of Israel, direct you to go and tell Zedekiah king of Judah: ‘This is God’s Message. Listen to me. I am going to hand this city over to the king of Babylon, and he is going to burn it to the ground. And don’t think you’ll get away. You’ll be captured and be his prisoner. You will have a personal confrontation with the king of Babylon and be taken off with him, captive, to Babylon.

^4-5 “‘But listen, O Zedekiah king of Judah, to the rest of the Message of God. You won’t be killed. You’ll die a peaceful death. They will honor you with funeral rites as they honored your ancestors, the kings who preceded you. They will properly mourn your death, weeping, “Master, master!” This is a solemn promise. God’s Decree.’”

^6-7 The prophet Jeremiah gave this Message to Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem, gave it to him word for word. It was at the very time that the king of Babylon was mounting his all-out attack on Jerusalem and whatever cities in Judah that were still standing—only Lachish and Azekah, as it turned out (they were the only fortified cities left in Judah).

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^8-10 God delivered a Message to Jeremiah after King Zedekiah made a covenant with the people of Jerusalem to decree freedom to the slaves who were Hebrews, both men and women. The covenant stipulated that no one in Judah would own a fellow Jew as a slave. All the leaders and people who had signed the covenant set free the slaves, men and women alike.

¹¹ But a little while later, they reneged on the covenant, broke their promise and forced their former slaves to become slaves again.

^12-14 Then Jeremiah received this Message from God: “God, the God of Israel, says, ‘I made a covenant with your ancestors when I delivered them out of their slavery in Egypt. At the time I made it clear: “At the end of seven years, each of you must free any fellow Hebrew who has had to sell himself to you. After he has served six years, set him free.” But your ancestors totally ignored me.

^15-16 “‘And now, you—what have you done? First you turned back to the right way and did the right thing, decreeing freedom for your brothers and sisters—and you made it official in a solemn covenant in my Temple. And then you turned right around and broke your word, making a mockery of both me and the covenant, and made them all slaves again, these men and women you’d just set free. You forced them back into slavery.

^17-20 “‘So here is what I, God, have to say: You have not obeyed me and set your brothers and sisters free. Here is what I’m going to do: I’m going to set you free—God’s Decree—free to get killed in war or by disease or by starvation. I’ll make you a spectacle of horror. People all over the world will take one look at you and shudder. Everyone who violated my covenant, who didn’t do what was solemnly promised in the covenant ceremony when they split the young bull into two halves and walked between them, all those people that day who walked between the two halves of the bull—leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, palace officials, priests, and all the rest of the people—I’m handing the lot of them over to their enemies who are out to kill them. Their dead bodies will be carrion food for vultures and stray dogs.

^21-22 “‘As for Zedekiah king of Judah and his palace staff, I’ll also hand them over to their enemies, who are out to kill them. The army of the king of Babylon has pulled back for a time, but not for long, for I’m going to issue orders that will bring them back to this city. They’ll attack and take it and burn it to the ground. The surrounding cities of Judah will fare no better. I’ll turn them into ghost towns, unlivable and unlived in.’” God’s Decree.

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

We must pause to pray and reflect on what God wants most from us—obedience.  Obedience is worship.  Obedience from a heart that wants to please God most of all is gratitude.  Obedience that expects nothing in return is pure, unconditional love—like God loves us.  Obedience that asks God what He wants first, before thinking or doing anything else, is living that abundant life that Jesus showed us how to live while He walked the earth!

Jesus didn’t say or do anything without first checking with His Father.  “I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me has commanded me what to say and how to say it.”  (John 12:49) Jesus further explained, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by himself. He does only what he sees the Father doing. Whatever the Father does, the Son also does.’’(John 5:19)  Jesus got alone by Himself to pray to the Father before doing anything of significance. 

Who are we to think we can live life without laying our lives before the Father first, with readiness to obey his next steps of direction?  Who are we to think we can do life on our own?

God gave weak King Zedekiah another opportunity to repent and save the city and the temple from ruin, but he refused to listen. Jeremiah warned him that the royal family and the court officials would not escape judgment and that he would be taken captive to Babylon, where he would die in peace. One act of faith and courage with obedience would have saved the city from ruin and the people from slaughter, but Zedekiah was afraid and did not obey God. 

Promises Unkept.  At one point during the siege, Zedekiah and the people made a covenant with the Lord in the temple to free all the Jewish slaves. A calf was slain and then cut in half, and the priests, officers, and people walked between the halves as a sign that they would obey the terms of the covenant. In so doing, they were agreeing to free their Jewish slaves or be willing to suffer what the calf had suffered.  But they did not.  God would deal with them accordingly.  They would become slaves to their captors!

Don’t bargain with God.  Instead of believing God’s Word and submitting to Babylon, the Jews tried to bargain with the Lord and bribe him into helping their cause. God’s people often make promises to the Lord when they’re in tough times, only to renege their promises when things get better. Many in pastoral ministry hear suffering saints on hospital beds promise to be the best Christian in the church if only God will give healing, and when He grants the request, most will forget.

Lord,

The lesson today is clear.  To obey you is better than a sacrifice to you.  Lord, help us all to see the folly of bargaining with you, self-promoting sacrifices, and holding hostages in the faith by our mishandling of life missions.  I want what you want from me and through me today.  What is your agenda for me today?

In Jesus Name, For Your Glory, Amen

My heart has heard you say, “Come and talk with me.”
    And my heart responds, “Lord, I am coming.”  Psalm 27:8

Life moves along steadily, with no bumps in the road, until it doesn’t.  The economy takes a sudden downturn and our steady work is threatened which brings stress to an already overextended budget.  Routine test results signal other tests and worry seems in about what will happen next.  Family relationships suddenly are not what you thought which brings on challenges that are hard to bear. Political leaders in all sectors of society do not get along and the peace we once knew has turned to chaotic uncertainties.  We live on the edge with no margin to spare and think we can do life without God.

We cannot.  We cannot figure out life on our own.  We must call the One and Only who holds the Truth and who is Life.  God made a Way for us to call and come to Him through Jesus, His Son.  Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  John 14:6 

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” –Jesus  John 16:33

God makes it clear to Jeremiah in his day that He is in control.  Jesus makes it clear for us that God is still in control.  Call to God no matter what is going on and He will answer.  He does for me, I know He will do it for you, too.

Jeremiah 33, The Message

Things You Could Never Figure Out on Your Own

33 While Jeremiah was still locked up in jail, a second Message from God was given to him:

^2-3 “This is God’s Message, the God who made earth, made it livable and lasting, known everywhere as God: ‘Call to me and I will answer you. I’ll tell you marvelous and wondrous things that you could never figure out on your own.’

^4-5 “This is what God, the God of Israel, has to say about what’s going on in this city, about the homes of both people and kings that have been demolished, about all the ravages of war and the killing by the Chaldeans, and about the streets littered with the dead bodies of those killed because of my raging anger—about all that’s happened because the evil actions in this city have turned my stomach in disgust.

^6-9 “But now take another look. I’m going to give this city a thorough renovation, working a true healing inside and out. I’m going to show them life whole, life brimming with blessings. I’ll restore everything that was lost to Judah and Jerusalem. I’ll build everything back as good as new. I’ll scrub them clean from the dirt they’ve done against me. I’ll forgive everything they’ve done wrong, forgive all their rebellions. And Jerusalem will be a center of joy and praise and glory for all the countries on earth. They’ll get reports on all the good I’m doing for her. They’ll be in awe of the blessings I am pouring on her.

^10-11 “Yes, God’s Message: ‘You’re going to look at this place, these empty and desolate towns of Judah and streets of Jerusalem, and say, “A wasteland. Unlivable. Not even a dog could live here.” But the time is coming when you’re going to hear laughter and celebration, marriage festivities, people exclaiming, “Thank God-of-the-Angel-Armies. He’s so good! His love never quits,” as they bring thank offerings into God’s Temple. I’ll restore everything that was lost in this land. I’ll make everything as good as new.’ I, God, say so.

^12-13 “God-of-the-Angel-Armies says: ‘This coming desolation, unfit for even a stray dog, is once again going to become a pasture for shepherds who care for their flocks. You’ll see flocks everywhere—in the mountains around the towns of the Shephelah and Negev, all over the territory of Benjamin, around Jerusalem and the towns of Judah—flocks under the care of shepherds who keep track of each sheep.’ God says so.

A Fresh and True Shoot from the David-Tree

^14-18 “‘Watch for this: The time is coming’—God’s Decree—‘when I will keep the promise I made to the families of Israel and Judah. When that time comes, I will make a fresh and true shoot sprout from the David-Tree. He will run this country honestly and fairly. He will set things right. That’s when Judah will be secure and Jerusalem live in safety. The motto for the city will be, “God Has Set Things Right for Us.” God has made it clear that there will always be a descendant of David ruling the people of Israel and that there will always be Levitical priests on hand to offer burnt offerings, present grain offerings, and carry on the sacrificial worship in my honor.’”

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^19-22 God’s Message to Jeremiah: “God says, ‘If my covenant with day and my covenant with night ever fell apart so that day and night became haphazard and you never knew which was coming and when, then and only then would my covenant with my servant David fall apart and his descendants no longer rule. The same goes for the Levitical priests who serve me. Just as you can’t number the stars in the sky nor measure the sand on the seashore, neither will you be able to account for the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who serve me.’”

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^23-24 God’s Message to Jeremiah: “Have you heard the saying that’s making the rounds: ‘The two families God chose, Israel and Judah, he disowned’? And have you noticed that my people are treated with contempt, with rumors afoot that there’s nothing to them anymore?

^25-26 “Well, here’s God’s response: ‘If my covenant with day and night wasn’t in working order, if sky and earth weren’t functioning the way I set them going, then, but only then, you might think I had disowned the descendants of Jacob and of my servant David, and that I wouldn’t set up any of David’s descendants over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But as it is, I will give them back everything they’ve lost. The last word is, I will have mercy on them.’”

WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?

Teach me, Lord.  Because Jeremiah asked the Lord to teach him, God showed him “great and mighty things, which you do not know” (v. 3) that related to the future of His people. The prophet knew that the city was destined for judgment, but the Lord gave him further words of assurance and encouragement—promises that relate to the end times.

“Teach me to do your will, for you are my God. May your gracious Spirit lead me forward on a firm footing.” Psalm 143:10

To God be the Glory.  The defiled nation of Israel would be healed and cleansed and the disgraceful city would bring joy and renown to the Lord as a testimony of our marvelous, merciful God.  “I will give back all that was lost.”

Jesus.  From the remnant, the root of David, the King of kings and Lord of lords with come to reconcile all to God.  Jeremiah is given a glimpse of Jesus, the greatest blessing of all who would be their promised King reigning in righteousness. Jeremiah revealed that His name is “God Has Set Things Right for Us”, but here God revealed that Jerusalem will bear the same name! That certainly didn’t happen when the exiles returned to rebuild their temple and their city. Therefore, this promise is for the latter days. Then when people call Jerusalem “the Holy City,” the name will be appropriate.

Lord,

You were sent to set things right between God and man—and you did!  Thank you, God. Thank you, dear Jesus. Thank you, Holy Spirit for helping me daily with things I cannot figure out on my own.  You call me every morning to come and talk with you about everything—and I do.  My heart belongs to you who saved me from sin and self.  You are all I need.

In Jesus Name, Amen