The need to put my foot down

Today I have to start walking on my surgically-repaired foot after 6 weeks of non-weight-bearing.  I am afraid.  It hurts.  I don’t like it.  I feel weak.  Even though the doctor says it is ready for weight, it does not feel secure and I have trouble believing him.  When I put my foot down on the floor and it hurts, it causes me to suddenly believe that getting rid of that discomfort is the most important thing.  It feels urgent.  It feels scary and risky.  I want to stop trying, and get on my now-comfortable and now-preferable knee scooter and just keep zooming around rather than slowly and painfully hobbling along.

Today I am also studying the temptation of Christ in Matthew. When Jesus was tempted, he was put in a place of weakness (hunger) and scary risk (the pinnacle of the temple) and opportunity for ill-gotten reward.  His trust in the Father’s Word as primary and fully dependable was being examined and tried.

Both Jesus and the devil quote scripture during that interaction.  The devil mis-uses scripture during that time of temptation, essentially telling Jesus to manipulate God with Psalm 91:11-12, but Jesus catches on to what Satan is doing.  It is interesting that the scripture that Satan misuses to tempt Jesus does, in fact, come true at the end of the time of temptation when the angels minister to Jesus.

What does this passage tell me about my own inordinate fear of physical risk or weakness?  I think it means that risk and weakness are not as fearsome as I imagine them to be.  They are not to be the controlling factor in my life that they so often are.  Though it is not the case that God will spare me all physical pain and temptation, it IS the case that God will CARE for me like he cared for Jesus, sustaining me and binding me up physically afterwards.  But, as Jesus makes clear, these physical events are not the primary realities of my life.  Worshipping and serving God according to His Word is primary and fully dependable. 

I can try out this truth and prove it, by forcing myself to walk on my foot despite my feelings of weakness and discomfort; by taking the risks that He calls me to in the knowledge that He will care for me.  Psalm 91 is not only for Jesus, but for “whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High”(v.1).  That includes me.  In this Psalm, I am promised rest, salvation, refuge, shielding, deliverance from fear, safety, guarding, and victory.  I will be spared the punishment of the wicked.  Yet, Jesus did have to go through the discomfort of the temptation.  I also will still have troubles (v.15) but God will be with me in them and God ill show me his salvation.  This truth exists both in the already and the not yet.  Already accomplished and not yet fully manifested.  But there is a lot of already that can be tasted here and now, if I am willing to live on every word that come from the mouth of God.  And if I am willing to just put my foot down.

Rambling

Today I'm going to ramble around. I don't want to lay a guilt trip on myself, but I see I had 17 posts in Feb, 14 in March, 9 in April, 5 in May, 0 in June until now. There is a pattern to again take note of. I start enthusiastically and when my enthusiasm fades, so does my effort. Hmmm.

Eph 3:20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!

This was yesterday's sermon. And I need God to do more than I ask or imagine because my asking and imagining fizzles out. It is a comfort to know that God has provided for that. Yet I don't want to use God's 'more' as an excuse to live 'less'. Kurt reminded us that this more-ness of God should enable us to live large, to risk and to expect and to be amazed at God's work. That's what I want to do.

Kvelling on God's reconciling work

Aaron preached on Ephesians 2:11-17, and I looked back to my April entry and saw that I also studied it before I started backtracking. The challenge of this passage is not the conceptual understanding -- I don't find the concept of unity between Jew and Gentile (or interracial reconcilation in general) difficult at all, nor to I find it hard to see that our way of salvation is the same, both through the blood of Jesus. The challenge of this passage for me is more emotional: Paul is laying out God's exciting purpose, and I don't really feel that excited. God made great sacrifice to bring Jew and Gentile together to create one people, and I tend to treat it in a blase manner.

I regret (but tend to accept) the cultural divisions that exist in the church today. I find that I don't really lament or grieve them, nor do I get that super-excited over the vision that God has, except when I'm sitting in church and someone else preaches about it or it is the theme of the worship or singing. Then I 'feel' it -- but day-to-day I tend to forget all about it as my personal daily concerns supercede everything else.

To Paul, though, it is front and center. God's vision for creating a unified purpose IS his personal daily concern!

I am reminded of Dr. Goldenhersch, at HSSC, teaching us the meaning of the word 'kvell', and kvelling on her children and grandchildren. Maybe I should be kvelling on God's vision for his people.

Merriam-Webster definition for kvell
Pronunciation: \ˈkvel\
Function: intransitive verb
Etymology: Yiddish kveln to be delighted, from Middle High German quellen to well, gush, swell
Date: circa 1952
: to be extraordinarily proud : rejoice


This is what Paul does all through Ephesians so far. He kvells constantly on the wonderful will and work of God.

Ephesians 2: 6-10 Sermon notes from Steve's sermon

Last week: (same passage) How bad it was, how good we now have it.

This week: Works -- Is it the right thing to do to really work at anything? Are grace and works really opposite? What is the relationship between them?

There's a time to let go of works and there's a time to embrace works. This passage helps us figure this out.

We are saved by grace, not by works. (v8) This lets us know there's no place to boast. God helps us -- NOT "God helps those who help themselves". All of salvation by faith is a gift. Our salvation is not meritorious. Faith is an instrument that God gives us that allows us access to this salvation he has made available.

What are we supposed to do with faith? First, we need to let go of works. Take inventory again and often -- do we hope to make ourselves presentable to God by our accomplishments, so we can say "in God's eyes I'm okay"? That's like slapping on a coat of paint over rotted walls. If we're hiding behind works, we should let go of them. God is the only one that can restore us.

We need to receive and cherish this gift of salvation -- use it, talk about it, etc. -- not put it up on a shelf somewhere. Look to grace instead of works when it comes to our salvation.

Yet there is a time to embrace works. We are created for good works. Works involve exertion. Works that bring God glory. We are called to 'stay in the game'. Works were prepared in advance for us to do. We can't do good works in our own power, but must do them in union with Christ, which means to be in the word of God to make sure we are continuing to learn about Jesus and be guided by him.

Look at our works as stemming from the grace we've been given, and issuing forth from that grace. There's a real purpose behind grace, and it involves being his handiwork made for good works. Let go of works when you find you're trying to hide behind them, but embrace works when you have received the gift of the gracious giver who is behind them.

Ephesians to the family

Does anyone besides me write out paraphrases of passages directed to themselves to try to figure out what they really mean? Here is one I started -- don't know if I'll ever finish it -- but I envisioned saying what Paul says to the Ephesians to my own family...

Gail Havens, a follower of Jesus who is a wife, mother, crafter, and educator by the will of God,

To the Havens saints, also followers of Jesus.

I (and Paul) wish you grace and peace the Father and the Lord Jesus.

I give praises to God for the way he has blessed all of us spiritually. He actually chose us to be forgiven through the work of Jesus way before we were born. He planned to adopt us into his family because he wanted to -- it would give him pleasure and it would show him off as a God who forgives freely because he loves his son Jesus. All because of Jesus' work on the cross, we have been snatched back from eternal seperation from God and forgiven for all our sins. When God lavishes forgiveness on us, don't think he doesn't know how bad we really are -- he has complete wisdom and understanding of us. As each of us was brought to him and made a profession of faith, we saw his purpose at work in our life, which is part of the Great Purpose -- to bring EVERYTHING and EVERYONE together under the rule of Jesus.

The Apostles followed Jesus, just like God planned beforehand that they would, to give glory to Jesus. Then, later, we also were included as followers of Jesus when we heard and accepted the truth that sending Jesus was God's plan to forgive our sins. At that time, God marked each of us with the Holy Spirit, who will keep on reminding us of God until the time comes that we're actually face to face with him in his kingdom.

Paul (and I) never stop thanking God for his work in each of your lives. I hope and pray that you keep on following Jesus...

The enemies and the great reversal

The sermon this week focused just on the first six verses of chapter 2, and I am only writing today about the first three:

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath. 4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

I was dead in my transgressions before I became a Christian. I was by nature an object of wrath. This is strange to think about in the context of the fact that we baptise infants and claim God's promises for our children at this young age. Is William, at 4 months old, a dead object of wrath (and, at the same time, a precious and loved child of God)? How can that be? The question I really don't want to ask is "If this precious baby died without having become a believer, would he go to heaven?" How can you say he's a dead object of wrath, and also maintain that God would bring him home to heaven? Or, what if I had been hit by a car and died a month before I accepted Christ back in 1969? What would have happened to me?

It makes no sense except for the glorious fact of God's sovereignty over the world, from the smallest child to the largest movements of nations. God protects the eternal life of ALL his children and brings them home to him at the time he has ordained. Even though we believers go through a time of being 'dead' as we become responsible for our actions and have not yet embraced Christ for ourselves, I think that even that time of deadness does not occur outside of the circle of God's providence, and is not our final state according to God's plan and promise. God's will and power supercede the possiblity of one of his own being lost. In other words, those people don't die until God says so. This is perfectly in sync with the FACT that 'the church is not peripheral to the world, but the world is peripheral to the church' (this phrase quoted from the sermon). God IS the final power. God's plan to make a people for himself IS the real reality and purpose within the stream of life, and all events need to be understood in relation to this reality. We need not fear that God will mess it up.

Backtracking

Ephesians 1:19-23

18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, 20which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, 23which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

The sermon Sunday made it definitely worth going back to this passage.

Some nuggests from the sermon:
-Overall theme of Ephesians: Cosmic Reconciliation
-The church is the most significant and beautiful place in the world. Christ has been exalted to the supreme place in the universe, and what's going on in the church is the heart of the action.
-The church is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church.

I often live as if being a Christian is somethng that is a private option for people, sort of a sideline, not to be brought out overtly in my public or work life, or my everyday commerce. In fact I am uncomfortable when people are 'too open' about their faith at work; or I cringe and draw away. Now, there is such a thing as speaking inappropriately -- however, if what Kurt said about this passage is true, then I must remember that there is no place that the truth of Christ is not relevant and even ofprimary importance!. So -- athough every expression of my faith would not be appropriate in every situation, there is an appropriate expression of faith for every situation because Christ is over all and in all, and I am primarily a follower of Christ whether I am at work or at the store or at home. An appropriate expression may be in certain actions or in certain words, and possibly it is verbal more often than I have thought. But mainly I need to absorb the idea that the workplace is not 'over' Christ, nor are modern ideas of social or political correctness 'over' Christ. Therefore, although it makes me uncomfortable, it may actually be appropriate at times to ignore conventions and speak out. Social approbation is nothing compared to the possibility of whetting someone's appetite for Christ, and letting them know that I am someone who is willing to tell them about him. I need to be ready and willing to give an account for myself and my actions at all times, even to random people when the opportunity arises. The more I do that, the more they know that Christians are all over the place, which might be an encouragement to seek God.

Therefore....... Ephesians 2: 11-22

THEREFORE

Whenever a passage begins this way it takes twice as long to study. Because you first have to figure out what the author is following up. What was his first point, that leads to this additional conclusion?

Pauls first point, in verses 1-10, was something like this: God saved me from death totally out of his love and mercy, and now there are 'good works' that He wants me to do.

Okay, now for the therefore:

11Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)— 12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. 13But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.

14For he himself is our peace, who has made the two one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, 15by abolishing in his flesh the law with its commandments and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new man out of the two, thus making peace, 16and in this one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. 17He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. 18For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

19Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household, 20built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. 21In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. 22And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Well, I was all ready for a to-do list. But there wasn't one. The 'therefore' does not apply to good works, but to our identity as people saved by God's grace and mercy. There are implications of that idea for the Christians Paul was writing to in the culture of the time, in which there was apparantly hostility between Jewish and Gentile Christians. There was an idea that they needed to embrace and remember, an idea that followed from the fact that their salvation was by grace alone. Here are three main points Paul makes:

1. Remember that you as Gentiles were seperated from God and now have been brought near.
2. Gentiles and Jews are both reconciled to God in the same way, through Jesus Christ, and God has ordained peace, not hostility, between them.
3. Jews and gentiles together, on the the foundation of the apostles & prophets and the cornerstone Jesus Christ, are becoming a dwelling place for God's Spirit.

It is much easier for me to have a to-do list than a to-embody list. But, just like Pauls prayer in chapter 1, in which none of his prayers were practical day-to-day nitty-gritty requests but a prayer for the believers' relationship with their God, Paul is again concerned with relationships and attitudes and the fulfillment of the plan that God is in the process of bringing about in history -- creating a people for Himself, that will be for the praise of His glory.

Much bigger than a to-do list.

Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done.

Who am I? Ephesians 2: 1-10

Well, I WAS dead...

1As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our sinful nature[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature objects of wrath.

But God made me alive...

4But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast.

And now I am God's workmanship, with work to do!

10For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God is working on me. God is working in me. God made me alive with Christ -- I was dead at that point and couldn't do anything. But God raised me up! Why? To display his own grace and kindness, to the praise of his glory. When all things are brought together under God, I will be there praising him along with the rest of all creation. Hallelujah!

Hope, Riches, and Power

Wow, here are three things that everybody wants -- hope, riches, and power. And Paul says that we have inherited all three! However, we don't necessarily know it or remember it, and thus his prayer:

18I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 19and his incomparably great power for us who believe.

Paul wants us to know the hope God has called us to. He's already talked about this hope -- this sure hope of redemption for all who are included in Christ.

Paul wants us to know the riches of God's inheritance. I guess that inheritance is our part in God's future kingdom, in which all things are brought together in worship and praise of him 'to the praise of His glory'. But there are probably present aspects of this inheritance as well that should be manifesting themselves in our lives.

Paul wants us to know God's power, and he elaborates on this power at great length. The same power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead is the power he wants us to know now.

But what about:

Don't count your chickens before they hatch.

A bird in hand is worth two in the bush

.
Does Paul dare, by his prayer, to contradict these two sayings that I have agreed with many times? Are our hope, inheritance, and power so sure that we can ignore these tentative and cautious ideas that say we must have it IN HAND to be sure of it? I think Paul would say yes in this instance, and in this instance only. Our inheritance from God is sure, so sure that we SHOULD live as though it has 'hatched' and is 'in hand', despite the fact that there is much future fulfillment still to come. That is what Paul means when he prays that the eyes of our hearts may be enlightened so that we might know the hope, etc.

There is nothing else so sure that we should depend on it in this way -- not our jobs, our bank accounts, our family or friends or spouse, our health, our abilities. And so these sayings may still be good for everyday life in this world. However, if we apply them to our hope in God, it makes us live in a lesser type of faith than God wants. It makes us hold back our confidence and boldness with a 'wait and see' attitude toward God.

Paul is not praying that we 'wait and see' -- he is praying that we 'know and act': know who we are and act accordingly.

Eph 1: 15-23 Paul's prayer

v. 17-19a I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe

.

Is this how I pray for people? No. I usually pray for the things they want: their health, a job, a family member's well-being or salvation, for some situation to work out to their advantage, etc. Not that I shouldn't be concerned or pray for these things, but Paul's concerns are of a totally different nature.

His prayer has to do with knowing God better. This involves the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, which I take to mean, at the least, being able to recognize, understand, and apply God's word. Of course they didn't have the New Testament as such when Paul was writing; in fact, God was speaking directly through Paul and others at that time so that we would eventually have this body of revelation that we can safely and surely consider to be God's word. Back then it may have meant discerning between the teaching of any several people claiming to speak for God. Today it also may mean discernment regarding the many preachers, authors, teachers that are around us. But more importantly, I think it means listening to God's word in scripture, by the power of the Spirit. And it also means measuring other teaching and interpretation of the scriptures by the yardstick of the Bible, also by the power of the Spirit.

Then he mentions three other things that he wants us to know: our hope, our riches, and His power.

Those things are for tomorrow's study.

On to Ephesians

I am so happy to have finished Jeremiah -- not that I just wanted to be done with it, but it is a marker for me to actually have stuck with the book all the way through, read it all, thought about parts of it over the course of a few months. My usual pattern is to stick with something for about 2 to 3 weeks, then it goes by the wayside. I am thanking God for helping me get all the way through Jeremiah, and taking it as evidence of the work of the Holy Spirit in me. It so often doesn't feel as if God is at work changing me, so I need to take any concrete success and give God the credit. Credit where credit is due.

We've had preaching on Ephesians at church lately, so I am going to take that book as my next step. I will go section by section, according to the NIV headings, rather than by chapters. They call the first section "Blessings in Christ", and it is verses 1-14.

The first thing I noticed was the extravagent language used for what God has done for us:
-blessed us with EVERY spiritual blessing in christ
-in accordance with the RICHES of God's grace that he LAVISHED on us
-which he has FREELY given us

And his purpose is also extravagent and expressed in superlatives:
-to bring ALL things in heaven and on earth together...
-he works out EVERYTHING in conformity with the purpose of his will

And it is all 'to the praise of his glory'. All thy works shall praise thy name in earth and sky and sea...

The sweeping comprehensiveness of God's purpose rather takes my breath away. But in the tumble of this huge wave of God's purpose for creation that is relentlessly moving toward its destination, we also see that he is aware of each individual person as part of the whole:

Eph 1:13 And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, 14who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession—to the praise of his glory.

So, rather than just feeling like 'one of the crowd' and an inconsequential cog in the wheel, I know that I am a special individual who God purposefully chose to 'include in Christ'. I am marked with the Holy Spirit and, as I said above, I need to recognize that my three months of Bible study are an indication of that, and give thanks to God for it. I've proven over and over that I can't keep going on my own. Lord, help me to keep depending on your Spirit to guide me and engage me in your word.

A Scary Statement

Jeremiah 44:27 For I am watching over them for harm, not for good; the Jews in Egypt will perish by sword and famine until they are all destroyed. 28 Those who escape the sword and return to the land of Judah from Egypt will be very few. Then the whole remnant of Judah who came to live in Egypt will know whose word will stand—mine or theirs.

This is what God says to the Jews who ran away to Egypt expressly against the word of the Lord after they had sworn they would obey the word of the Lord. They then out-and-out said that they were going to continue to worship other gods, because when they had been worshipping other gods they had been prosperous and when they had stopped, all their troubles had begun.

The Lord's response is justified, and terrifying. I cannot imagine what it would be like to know that God is after me for harm, rather than delighting in me and wooing me for good. These people have given up any chance for hope.

Yet we still see mercy, along with vindication, in the next verse. There will be a remnant, although it will be 'very few'. God never gives up totally; he is still teaching those few that He IS the one true God, and that His word WILL stand. I guess that, without a remnant, there's no one to know the whole story and to see the story as the working of his hand and to bow before Him in response. The other nations may look at the situation and say that the God of Israel failed -- but the remnant knows better.

Here we go again: Jeremiah 42-43

The same pattern we saw during Zedekiah's reign (who started to free the slaves, then enslaved them again) and Jehoikim (who burned up the scroll upon which God's word was written) emerges again in these chapters. Now we hear it from the army officers and the people left in Judah (Jeremiah 42):

5 Then they said to Jeremiah, "May the LORD be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the LORD your God sends you to tell us. 6 Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the LORD our God...

And their real response to God's word?(Jeremiah 43)
1 When Jeremiah finished telling the people all the words of the LORD their God—everything the LORD had sent him to tell them- 2 Azariah son of Hoshaiah and Johanan son of Kareah and all the arrogant men said to Jeremiah, "You are lying! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'You must not go to Egypt to settle there.' 3 But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, [a] so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon."
4 So Johanan son of Kareah and all the army officers and all the people disobeyed the LORD's command to stay in the land of Judah.


These people continue to behave in the same pattern as their culture and role models. They seem to know nothing about trusting and obeying God -- but they know plenty about giving lip service to obedience, and then deciding on their own what God is or isn't telling them.

Why would they not behave that way? After all, they have been chasing false gods. And this behavior is fine if your god's are false -- if they are made up by you, then you CAN decide what they are saying. And the god can't do anything about it.

What they don't realize is that, when you're dealing with the Lord -- the one true God -- it is totally different. HE is REAL. He really has a will, and expresses it, and has the power to carry it out. And, when you disobey or ignore it, HE really does follow through with consequences.

False gods are so easy. So easy, and so powerless. So pleasant, and so worthless. So easy to get along with, and so impotent.

Once again, we see that it all comes down to this: Am I going to follow the Lord, the One True God, or not? Woe to the one who does not. But, Lord, I need help.

To quote the words of our Good Friday prelude:
Oh Savior of the world,
Who by thy cross and passion hast redeemed us,
Save us and help us we humbly beseech thee.
Save us and help us, oh Savior of the world.

Lord, have mercy on me. Save me and help me, oh savior of the world.

Jeremiah 40-41

Don't really get any great significance out of these two chapters. Nebuchadnezzar appointed someone to oversee Judah, but someone else kills him and then flees to Egypt for fear of Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah doesn't really play any role. The people left in Judah are joined by other Jews from surrounding country, who presumably hear that they can join in getting a great harvest from all the lands that have been vacated by those brought into exile.

God's will marches on.

Jeremiah 39: It finally happens

In Chapter 38, Jeremiah is thrown into a cistern by people who hate him for what he is saying, then rescued by the King. King Zedekiah again hears all of Jeremiah's prophecies, but he ignores them and swears Jeremiah to secrecy about their conversation. The king then keeps Jeremiah safe but imprisoned in his courtyard, and that is where Jeremiah is when the events he has been prophesying finally come about.

King Z was governed by fear. He was afraid to obey Jeremiah because of the possibility of being handed over to the Jews who had already gone over to the Babylonians. And when Nebuchadnezzar broke through the wall, his reaction was to try to run away. He was not only a coward, but it seems he was concerned only with himself.

I cannot imagine the horror King Z must have felt when Nebuchadnezzar broke through the city wall; when he and his officials were captured; when his children were put to death before him; when he was blinded and shackled; when he learned of the destruction of the palace, the houses, the walls of Jerusalem. All that Jeremiah said came to pass. After all that selfish fear, did King Zedekiah finally feel remorse for disobeying God, I wonder? It was said clearly, King Z heard it clearly, he rejected it, and now he has the misfortune of being left alive to know of his responsibility in the whole thing, and that he could have saved many people and much property if he had obeyed God.

Look at this piece of mercy found in Jeremiah 39:
10 But Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard left behind in the land of Judah some of the poor people, who owned nothing; and at that time he gave them vineyards and fields.

And look at the compassion the Lord shows to Jeremiah:
11 Now Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had given these orders about Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan commander of the imperial guard: 12 "Take him and look after him; don't harm him but do for him whatever he asks." 13 So Nebuzaradan the commander of the guard, Nebushazban a chief officer, Nergal-Sharezer a high official and all the other officers of the king of Babylon 14 sent and had Jeremiah taken out of the courtyard of the guard. They turned him over to Gedaliah son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, to take him back to his home. So he remained among his own people.

How did Nebuchadnezzar know about Jeremiah, I wonder? Was it from Jews who had gone over to the Babylonians, or from spies he had in Jerusalem, or some other source? In any case, I am glad to see the Jeremiah is rewarded in this way for his dificult obedience to the Lord. May I be so faithful to God's word and will as was Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 37 Please pray for me!

1 Zedekiah son of Josiah was made king of Judah by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; he reigned in place of Jehoiachin [a] son of Jehoiakim. 2 Neither he nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the LORD had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.

3 King Zedekiah, however, sent Jehucal son of Shelemiah with the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah to Jeremiah the prophet with this message: "Please pray to the LORD our God for us."


COMMENT:

Typical person, Zedekiah. He doesn't pay any attention to the words the Lord spoke through Jeremiah, but yet he wants Jeremiah to pray for him. Does he even believe in God really, or is he just hedging his bets? This is another stellar example of human nature. We want God's favor, but we don't want to pay attention to God's words. We want the 'good stuff', but we want it all for free, with no obligation or effort on our own part.

TANGENT:

Now, I might think "Well, salvation IS free!

Eph 2:8-10 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast. 10 For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Yes it is a gift, and God made it that way because earning it is impossible since the wages of sin are death. We will never deserve salvation because of our own righteous actions, because we are already stained by sin.

However --- there is nevertheless an obligation involved. Our obligation is not to our sinful self, but to the Lord who has saved us.

Romans 8:12-14 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. 13 For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. 14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

Following God, putting to death the misdeeds of the body, shows -- AFTER the fact, AFTER being saved -- that we ARE saved. This does not entail perfection, but it does entail gradual changes toward obeying God in some areas of our lives.

Why, then, is it that Christians often don't seem like they are better people than anyone else? Some non-Christian people seem more 'good' than some Christians I know. I think this may be because we don't realize the depths of our sinfulness, and we don't start to discover the depths of our sinfulness until we start trying to follow Christ and we are in the process of sanctification. And as we discover the depth of our sinfulness, we discover in parallel the depth of the God's mercy. The phrase "The more I know, the more I realize how much I don't know" comes to mind here. As I start to learn what following Christ means, the contrast between what God created me to be and what I am in my day-to-day actions and attitudes becomes more and more stark. The more I try, the more I fail. I am thrown again into despair and awareness of my extreme need for Christ alone. I again bow at the foot of the cross. Gradually, Jesus makes the fruits of the spirit develop in my life but, apace with that 'progress' is my awareness of the depth of my sinfulness so that I will continue to be dependent on Him rather that stray into thinking that I can now live a godly life on my own, in my own power.

BACK TO ZEDEKIAH:

God isn't fooled. God does not relent. God does insist that we bow down to him and honor him and recognize that he is the one true God. Jeremiah lets Zedekiah know that the Babylonians will be back, and Zedekiah tosses him in the dungeon. Guess he didn't like that answer.

Neither do we, sometimes.

Jeremiah 36: Burning up the scroll

22 It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. 23 Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire.


27 After the king burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 28 "Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim king of Judah burned up.


32 So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them.


COMMENTS:

What parts of my life are like burning up the scroll? When I hear or read God's word and refuse to heed it, it is essentially burning it up -- putting it out of my mind, ignoring it, rejecting it. Are there areas in which I am doing this?

God simply has Jeremiah write another one. He also intensifies and reaffirms the consequences that the Jehoiakim will experience as a result of his willful ingore-ance of God's word. God will not be thwarted.

Serve God

Jeremiah 35

Serve God. It is as simple as that.

Some people do what they are told to do, and others ignore it. But it's clear that we are to serve God, and that God pays attention to whether we are doing so or not.

Jer. 33
14 " 'The days are coming,' declares the LORD, 'when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.

15 " 'In those days and at that time
I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line;
he will do what is just and right in the land.

16 In those days Judah will be saved
and Jerusalem will live in safety.
This is the name by which it [c] will be called:
The LORD Our Righteousness.'

17 For this is what the LORD says: 'David will never fail to have a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, 18 nor will the priests, who are Levites, ever fail to have a man to stand before me continually to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings and to present sacrifices.' "

19 The word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: 20 "This is what 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, 21 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.

Comment:
Here are the wonderful promises that we so cling to today, the promises we see fulfilled in Jesus. He is on the throne of the house of Israel, and he also consistently offers his sacrifice in front of the Lord for our forgiveness. And the illustration of God's covenant with the day and night tells us how rock-solid is God's commitment to this plan.

Jeremiah 34
8 The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD after King Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people in Jerusalem to proclaim freedom for the slaves. 9 Everyone was to free his Hebrew slaves, both male and female; no one was to hold a fellow Jew in bondage. 10 So all the officials and people who entered into this covenant agreed that they would free their male and female slaves and no longer hold them in bondage. They agreed, and set them free. 11 But afterward they changed their minds and took back the slaves they had freed and enslaved them again.

Comment: This little story is dishearteningly like me. Sigh. Thank God for his provision of forgiveness, because people haven't changed. Our only help is in his provision for mercy.