Thursday Thought – June 9, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

“The LORD said to Jeremiah: ‘Take a scroll and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah till now. Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.’ So Jeremiah called Baruch son of Neriah, and while Jeremiah dictated all the words the LORD had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. Jeremiah told Baruch, ‘I am restricted; I cannot go to the LORD’s temple. So you go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the LORD that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah.’” (Jeremiah 36:1-6)

You can’t say that God didn’t warn the people of Judah about what was ahead if they did not turn back to Him. Nothing should have been a surprise to them. Jeremiah wasn’t the first prophet to be sent to warn them, but even Jeremiah’s preaching should have been enough for them to repent.

But the majority of the people of Israel did not repent. Perhaps there were a few that listened to Jeremiah’s words. Perhaps there were small pockets of repentance and revival. Most of the people ignored Jeremiah and the predicted discipline came upon them just as he had said it would. They should have been ready, but they weren’t because they did not listen to God’s Word.

God told Adam and Eve what would happen if they ate of the forbidden tree. They were warned, but didn’t listen!

God told Noah to preach among the people for 120 years before the rains started. They were warned, but didn’t listen!

God has made clear what is ahead. Death will overtake each of us and after death comes judgment. We’ve been warned, but too many don’t listen! A day of reckoning is ahead for the whole world. We’ve been warned, but too many don’t listen!

There will be no excuse for those who face God’s judgment.

His, by Grace, Steve

Wednesday Thought – June 8, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

“Again and again I sent all my servants the prophets to you. They said, ‘Each of you must turn from your wicked ways and reform your actions; do not follow other gods to serve them. Then you will live in the land I have given to you and your fathers.’ But you have not paid attention or listened to me. … Therefore, this is what the LORD God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen!  I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’” (Jeremiah 35:15, 17)

Jeremiah proclaimed that disaster was coming upon the people of Judah. They were to be defeated by Babylon and taken as captives to that land. It was not by chance that Babylon was coming to attack Judah. It would not be by chance that Jerusalem would fall into their hands. God allowed Babylon to attack and God would allow Babylon to defeat Jerusalem. God was removing His hand of protection from His people and allowing them to be defeated.

These were God’s own people, why would He remove His hand of protection from them?

Judah was reaping what it had sown. It had sown disobedience and it was reaping discipline. Warning after warning had come from the Lord to listen to His word and follow the ways He set before them. But the people of Judah ignored God’s word and followed their own way. God had spoken clearly of the blessings that would come from obedience and the pain that would come from disobedience. The people did not believe that pain would come, so they disobeyed. Now, they would reap what they had sown. What God had promised was coming.

It is a principle of God, as Paul declared, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” (Galatians 6:7)

His, by Grace, Steve

Tuesday Thought – June 7, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

“The LORD says: ‘If you can break my covenant with the day and my covenant with the night, so that day and night no longer come at their appointed time, then my covenant with David my servant -- and my covenant with the Levites who are priests ministering before me -- can be broken and David will no longer have a descendant to reign on his throne. I will make the descendants of David my servant and the Levites who minister before me as countless as the stars of the sky and as measureless as the sand on the seashore.’” (Jeremiah 33:20-22)

God made a covenant with the people of Israel. It was His agreement with them. He would bless them and work through them to accomplish His will for mankind. They would be His people, special to Him and precious. It was a covenant with David and his descendants and with the priestly tribe of Levi, along with the rest of the Jews, to make them as numerous as the stars and as measureless as sand. It was a covenant God entered into with Abraham on the basis of Abraham’s faith.

The question is: would God keep His end of the covenant? Could God become unfaithful to what He had promised? What if the Jews were unfaithful to their part of the covenant, would that cause God to back out on His part, too?

God, through Jeremiah, provided the answer to that question. God declared that His part of the covenant was as sure as day and night. When the Jews learned to shut the sun off during the day so that it becomes night and to make the sun shine during the night so that it becomes day, then God would break His covenant! The point is – that’s impossible! The Jews -- or any individual or group -- could never turn night to day or day to night. As impossible as that is – that’s how impossible it is for God to break His word!

The Jews could count on what God promised! So can you! God ALWAYS keeps His word!

His, by Grace, Steve

Monday Thought – June 6, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

“This is what the LORD says, he who made the earth, the LORD who formed it and established it -- the LORD is his name: ‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.’” (Jeremiah 33:2-3)

“Call to me and I will answer.”

What a marvelous promise that is from the Lord. He created everything that exists. He made it like it is and He keeps it operating. He is the Lord, the ruler of all that is. Yet, He has time for you and me. When we call to Him, He hears and He answers. He’s never too busy for us. He’s never involved in such important work that He cannot be disturbed or interrupted to hear our plea. He’s there for us, whenever we call to Him.

He promises to answer and to answer with things we cannot figure out for ourselves. His will is beyond discerning on our own, but when we call to Him, He will reveal it to us. His plan of salvation is a mystery, beyond human comprehension, but when we call to Him, He makes it known to us. We don’t seek after God until we find Him. God finds us. He pursues us, He convicts us, He touches our heart, and then when we call to Him, He opens Himself up to us to reveal Himself.

Call to Him and He will answer. That is God’s promise!

His, by Grace, Steve

Friday Thought – June 3, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

“Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.” (Jeremiah 32:17)

Leprosy was the most dread disease of Bible days. It was the cancer or the AIDS of that day. When a person contracted leprosy, life was over for them. They were made outcasts and lost all hope of ever reentering life. They were doomed to a slow and painful and very lonely death. But God is more powerful than leprosy. He proved it when Jesus touched the lepers and they were healed. Not even cancer or AIDS are too powerful for Him to overcome.

The forces of nature are beyond our control. We’ve tried to make it rain when and where we need it, but have basically been failures at it. We’ve studied tornadoes, but can do nothing to diminish their power. We know all about earthquakes, but we cannot control them. But God is more powerful than the forces of nature. He proved it when Jesus walked on water and calmed the storms. No force of nature is too powerful for Him to overcome.

And then there is death. There is no power that causes greater terror than death. There is nothing we can do to keep the relentless march toward death from happening. There is little we can do to slow its progress. Stop smoking, watch your diet, and get some exercise and life may be a few years longer, but death inevitably comes calling. But God is more powerful than death, too. He proved it when Jesus called out Lazarus’s name and he walked out alive from his grave. He proved it when Jesus Himself left the tomb empty! Not even death is too powerful for Him to overcome.

Nothing is too hard for Him. Not even the greatest miracle is too hard for Him -- the miracle of transforming your life by His grace!!!

His, by Grace, Steve

Thursday Thought – June 2, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

The majority of Jeremiah’s prophecy was gloom and doom for the people of Judah. The land was to be invaded and conquered by Nebuchadnezer. The people were to be carried into captivity. But it wasn’t all negative, there was a hopeful word in his prophecy, too. One day the people would return. They would come back to the Lord and He would then bring them back to their land. But it promised to be a long time before the people would be restored to the land.

It wasn’t too hard to see that troubled times were ahead. The nation had been in a downward spiral for many years. There were probably many who weren’t prophets who were giving similar messages of gloom.

Then God gave a strange instruction to Jeremiah. Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me: Hanamel son of Shallum your uncle is going to come to you and say, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth, because as nearest relative it is your right and duty to buy it.’ Just as the LORD had said, my cousin Hanamel came to me in the courtyard of the guard and said, ‘Buy my field at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Since it is your right to redeem it and possess it, buy it for yourself.’ I knew that this was the word of the LORD; so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out for him seventeen shekels of silver.” (Jeremiah 32:6-9)

If destruction was coming, why would anyone buy a field? This was not the time to be making investments, but to be getting rid of them for whatever you could get out of them. But Jeremiah obeyed God’s instruction and bought the field.

God’s instruction was a statement that He was indeed bringing His people back to the land. Jeremiah’s obedience was an act of faith. Even when it didn’t look like it was a smart move, Jeremiah did what God told him to do and trusted God with the future.

It’s hard enough to say that we trust God with the future. Like Jeremiah, do we have enough faith to ACT on what we believe?

His, by Grace, Steve

Wednesday Thought – June 1, 2016

Good Morning Friends,

“‘The time is coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,’ declares the LORD. ‘This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, “Know the LORD,” because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,’ declares the LORD. ‘For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.’” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Jeremiah prophesied of a day that was in the future from where he stood. He predicted a marvelous day. It would be a day of a new covenant. The old covenant was an external, imposed law. The new covenant would be a relationship from within, implanted in the hearts of those who entered the new covenant. It would be a day of close relationship with God. It would be a day of “knowing the Lord” and not needing priests and intermediaries to make Him known. It would be a day of forgiveness and grace, a day in which sin would be dealt with.

It would be a marvelous day. We live in that day! It is not future to us. Jeremiah saw it from hundreds of years before it happened. He saw it only in prospect, only from a distance. We see it up close. We live it. We enjoy it. It is God’s gift to us.

A day of close relationship with Him.

A day of God implanting Himself within us.

A day of “knowing Him.”

A day of forgiveness.

A day of grace.

The day of Christ. The day in which we are blessed to live!

His, by Grace, Steve