Home thoughts from abroad.wordpress.com

Jeremiah 9: 12-16: Two ways (click here for passage)

From beginning to end the Bible shows that there are two ways in life and we must choose which road we will travel. One way is ‘’narrow’’ having relatively few people on it. The other is ‘’broad’’ and thronged with crowds (Matthew 7: 13, 14). But this broad, popular route leads to ‘’destruction’’ while the other leads to ‘’life’’.

This was essentially Jeremiah’s message. Those who rejected God’s way for their own were going to suffer a terrible fate. Yes, God would be patient with them, and give them many opportunities to repent. He wanted to save them. But in the end, if they insisted on their own way, they surely would have it. Then they wouldn’t want it. It would lead to ruin and waste and the bitter experience of death, captivity in a foreign land, and scattering among the nations.

C.S. Lewis said that in the final analysis there are only two kinds of people in the world: those who say to God, ‘Your will be done’, and those to whom God says, ‘Your will be done.’

As Dorothy L. Sayers commented: ‘’The essence of Hell is the truth discovered too late.’’

The destiny of the people of Judah is a pale foreshadowing of the final judgment, which will surely come. Someone pointed out that Adam and Eve first chose to hide from God before they were removed from the Garden of Eden. He went on to say that ultimately, all that God does in judgment is to ratify the choices we have already made.

Prayer: Lord, I acknowledge that your way is best. Help me to choose it today and always.

 Jeremiah 8: 4-7(please click here for Bible Passage): Warning Light.

‘’Each pursues his own course like a horse charging into battle.’’ (6b).

I discovered that next to this passage I had written a note: ‘’How often do we cling to what, deep down we know to be wrong, but want to be right?’’

Many years ago, I was embarked on a particular course of action, when it felt like a huge warning light came on inside. I knew that something was wrong. But the urge to continue with what I was doing was greater than my very real sense of unease. So I did carry on. It did not take long to realise why that ‘light’ had appeared on the ‘dashboard’ of my soul. Although the decision I took did not destroy me, it did cause much heartache and aggravation for a time, and it was damaging.

The pursuit of our own ‘course’ tends to go hand in hand with clinging ‘’to deceit’’ (5b). We are quite happy to believe lies that permit us to carry on with our plans, and just close our eyes to what we do not want to see; and shut our ears to uncomfortable truth. The problem is that, as we have already seen in these readings, when we get what we want we don’t necessarily want it. We certainly don’t want all the bad stuff that comes with having our own way. There is One who loves us; a Father who knows better than we do. We should listen to Him instead of stomping off down the forbidden road. He wants to protect us from ourselves.

‘’They stubbornly hold on to their illusions, refuse to change direction…They just kept at it, blindly and stupidly banging their heads against a brick wall.’’ The Message.

God clearly wanted His people to return to Him. He was longing for their repentance (6). ‘’I listened carefully but heard not so much as a whisper. No one expressed one word of regret. Not a single ‘’I’m sorry’’ did I hear.’’ The Message.

His complaint was: ‘’Cranes know when its time to move south for winter. And robins, warblers, and bluebirds know when it’s time to come back again. But my people? My people know nothing, not the first thing of GOD and his rule.’’ The Message. It was the season for mass ‘’migration’’ (7) back towards God and Home. If ever there was a time to return, this was it. But the people of Judah did not seize the moment of opportunity.

Thankfully, although it is self-destructive to plot our own route through life, such self-will is not beyond forgiveness.

‘’We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.’’ (Isaiah 53:6).

As the prophet Isaiah foresaw, hundreds of years in advance, when the Messiah came, He took the punishment for our reckless pursuit of our own agendas. We may not be protected from the consequences of all our self-centred choices, but we can be forgiven for them through faith in Christ, who died in our place. This is very good news indeed! The time to turn to Jesus is now. This is the ‘season ‘ for movement towards Him. But will we? Will you?

Prayer: Whenever I see your warning light come on, give me the courage to heed it.

Jeremiah 8:1-3

This is a continuation of the message begun in the previous chapter. ‘’At that time’’ (of the fall of Jerusalem) certain things will happen. It’s a terrible scene depicted. Imagine being told that one day your body, along with the bodies of many other people from your community, will lie unburied on the ground; that there will be a landscape littered with corpses.

Verse one shows the comprehensive nature of the judgment to fall. ‘’I’ll see to it that they dig up the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of the princes and priests and prophets, and yes, even the bones of the common people.’’ The Message. The leaders had led the way in ungodly living, and they led their nation to destruction. The bad shepherds took their flock over the cliff edge with them.

The various words used in verse 2, such as ‘’loved and served and…followed and consulted and worshipped’’ point to what the people had lived for; what they had given themselves to. Someone said, ‘’Beware of what you set your heart on for it will surely be yours!’’ There will be a return on the investment of your life, and many people will find that they don’t get the return they desired. If you give your life over to any ‘god’ other than the Lord; if you devote yourself to any purpose other than the one your Maker intended, you will deeply regret it. We will reap what we sow and many ‘farmers’ will not like their harvest. ‘’They’ll dig them up and spread them out like a congregation at worship before sun, moon, and stars, all those sky gods they’ve been so infatuated with all these years, following their ‘lucky stars’ in dog-like devotion. Their bones will be left scattered and exposed, to reenter the soil as fertilizer, like manure.’’ The Message. The truth is that when we get what we want, we don’t necessarily want it. We have many experiences of this during our life time. How much of what we long for disappoints us. To lie unburied was considered a terrible disgrace. Their beloved ‘gods’ failed them when they needed them most They could not save their worshippers.

This short section comes to a terrible end. Even for those who survive this judgment, they will wish they were dead (3). ‘’Everyone left – all from this evil generation unlucky enough to still be alive in whatever godforsaken place I will have driven them to – will wish they were dead.’’ The Message. As I understand the Bible, there will come a day when even those who are dead will wish that they were truly dead (i.e extinct). The people who have lived for other gods will find themselves forsaken by the true God. They have rejected Him, and He will respect their choice. But death would be preferable to being without Him forever. Remember that Christ, upon the cross, experienced the God-forsakenness of Hell, so that we will never have to. We simply have to trust Him and what He has done for us.

(The word ‘’refuse’’ in (2) reminds me that a common word used in the New Testament for Hell, is the same one for the constantly burning rubbish heap just outside Jerusalem.)

Prayer: O God have mercy on me, and on all I love. Save us from self-destructive lifestyle choices that exclude you.