Judgement and Protection

PART ONE: Jeremiah 11
Two definite parts to this chapter: God states clearly what his complaint is against Judah (the breaking of the Mosaic covenant). God gave them the land as promised, but they strayed from Him. They followed other gods, especially Baal, and the Lord intends to leave them to those gods. Natural consequences will take effect. He will let them cry out to Baal when destruction is upon them and see Baal's powerlessness. It is Judah's worship of Baal, this direct violation of the covenant, that has caused God to decree disaster for them.

Then Jeremiah tells about how God revealed to him a plot on his life. God says he will completely destroy the plotters, along with their families, and without leaving even a remnant. Let these passages serve as a warning to me, who has received goodness and blessing when I have not deserved it, who worries that I will be 'found out', but at the same time behaves as if God won't notice my sins: God knows, and God cares, and God will not be mocked.

PART TWO: Step Study thoughts
The Step Study is not exactly a Bible study. It is a commitment to a group of women to go through the 'steps' together to gain greater understanding of oneself and the experiences that have formed one's image of God, so that that image can be corrected, God can be better known, and change can take place in behaviors in which our motivations tend to be hidden from us. Each step is based on biblical principles.

I think I will do this. I will be forced to look at my sins full on, and hopefully turn some behaviors and relationships over to the Lord in a deeper way than I have. I will have the opportunity to spend time with sisters in Christ and get to know them on a deep level, which I have been lacking since the kids were young and I spent a lot of time with other women.

The first lesson topic is denial. I guess that's the first step. The scriptures Judy gave me are:
2 Peter 2:19 They promise them freedom while they themselves are slaves of depravity -- for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.
Psalm 146: 7-8 He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The Lord sets prisoners free, the Lord gives sight to the blind, the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down, the Lord loves the righteous.
Psalm 107: 13-14 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble and He saved them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and the deepest gloom and broke away their chains.
1 John 1:5-7 This is the message we have heard from him and decxlare to you: God is liht; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Ephesians 4:25 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body.
Jeremiah 30:17 'But I will restore you to health and heal your wounds,' declares the Lord, 'because you are called an outcast, Zion for whom no one cares.'