Jeremiah 20
Jeremiah spends a whole day in stocks because of his prophecying of doom -- and he comes out of it doing more of the same, continuing to announce the destruction that the Lord is going to bring on Judah using the nation of Babylon,even to the point of changing the name of the priest to 'terror on every side' as an illustration. Then he complains to the Lord that the Lord has trapped him in this role which causes him to be ridiculed and mocked, and you see how difficult it is for Jeremiah, what a weight and stress it is to be doing this task, how much he wants to escape and yet how much he is urged on by his own inner compulsion and calling to continue to do the work of the Lord.
8 Whenever I speak, I cry out
proclaiming violence and destruction.
So the word of the LORD has brought me
insult and reproach all day long.
9 But if I say, "I will not mention him
or speak any more in his name,"
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
And
18 Why did I ever come out of the womb
to see trouble and sorrow
and to end my days in shame?
It is not always pleasant -- or perhaps it is not even usually pleasant -- to do the work of the Lord. Jeremiah is speaking the words that God has given him, and it is thankless, miserable, agonizing, isolating. Yet he persists. He persists because he must; God has put it in him to do it.
I think there is a similarity between this experience of Jeremiah and in how Vic felt during this whole bad scene of the past couple years at church, when he has been the lone voice being pressured to change his mind about what he thought was true and right. And in the aftermath (it may even be wrong to use the word aftermath yet), Vic is profoundly effected and discouraged. And I am aware that I have begun operating shallowly with regard to the whole thing. I want to feel like it's over, so I want to act like it's over, to expect that Vic now just needs to get up and walk, so to speak. In my impatience that things aren't 'back to normal' at church, I have been less of a support to Vic and more reserved and surface-y with him than I should be. God, thank you for showing me this.
'Back to normal' is not the goal. 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done' is.
Funny how I was criticizing the content of our prayers at prayer meeting yesterday. I can liken my desire for so-called normalcy with Vic at church to our prayers at prayer meeting about the economic downturn. We want what we want. We want our own comfort, and that is more at the forefront of our mind than the real issues of sin involved with our nation. We find it uncomfortable to look deeper -- at the real issues -- and we just want things to be back to the way we like it.
Lord, help me to re-engage with what is truly going on here. What are you doing? What are you continuing to do? Is Vic's assurance of salvation, which we are meeting to pray about, the only issue that we should be praying about or are there other issues that are really the ones that should be of concern?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Breaking a pot at Jopheth Jeremiah 19
This chapter has really gotten me thinking.
God has been castigating the children of Israel for idolotry throughout this book of Jeremiah, but here he focuses in on the practice of infant sacrifice that was connected with this idolotry. Topheth -- 'the fireplace' -- was a place where children were cast into the fire. And as a result of this practice, which has stemmed directly out of their idolotry, Jeremiah is instructed to break a clay pot into irreparable pieces, and proclaim to Israel that God will do the same to her because of her evil practices.
I think of our prayers for our country last night at prayer group and recently at church, and they mainly have to do with the alleviation of the economic downturn. In other words, we pray out of our fears for our own selves, and ask God to help us and provide for us. (And we are so used to having much more than 'daily bread', that we are essentially asking God to keep on letting us live in the lap of luxury and we feel as if we are only asking for what is our due.)
I'm not saying it's wrong to pray for ourselves and present our cares to God, but the economic downturn and it's effect on us seems small when I look at the book of Jeremiah and God's concerns. He does not want us to worship other Gods. He does not want us to kill babies. Those are his concerns. And these offenses are such that, in righteous anger, he is justified in destroying the people and their way of life, sending them into extreme suffering in exile, turning his face from them, allowing them to feel the horror of their seperation from God until they turn again to him and reject the false worship and evil practices that go along with it. Not until then will God save a remnant of them.
Should we not be praying that we and our countrymen would return to the Lord, and that any adverse circumstances we find ourselves in would move us in that direction? Should we not be mourning the slaughter of babies in our country and our world, and the false Gods that are worshipped all around us? Should we not be more concerned with these things than with our economic woes? And as, at times, we pray for the Lord's quick return, should we not be cowering at the thought of the just wrath of God at our country's idolotry and practices of infanticide? Our suffering as a nation is nothing compared with the punishment we deserve as a nation.
God has been castigating the children of Israel for idolotry throughout this book of Jeremiah, but here he focuses in on the practice of infant sacrifice that was connected with this idolotry. Topheth -- 'the fireplace' -- was a place where children were cast into the fire. And as a result of this practice, which has stemmed directly out of their idolotry, Jeremiah is instructed to break a clay pot into irreparable pieces, and proclaim to Israel that God will do the same to her because of her evil practices.
I think of our prayers for our country last night at prayer group and recently at church, and they mainly have to do with the alleviation of the economic downturn. In other words, we pray out of our fears for our own selves, and ask God to help us and provide for us. (And we are so used to having much more than 'daily bread', that we are essentially asking God to keep on letting us live in the lap of luxury and we feel as if we are only asking for what is our due.)
I'm not saying it's wrong to pray for ourselves and present our cares to God, but the economic downturn and it's effect on us seems small when I look at the book of Jeremiah and God's concerns. He does not want us to worship other Gods. He does not want us to kill babies. Those are his concerns. And these offenses are such that, in righteous anger, he is justified in destroying the people and their way of life, sending them into extreme suffering in exile, turning his face from them, allowing them to feel the horror of their seperation from God until they turn again to him and reject the false worship and evil practices that go along with it. Not until then will God save a remnant of them.
Should we not be praying that we and our countrymen would return to the Lord, and that any adverse circumstances we find ourselves in would move us in that direction? Should we not be mourning the slaughter of babies in our country and our world, and the false Gods that are worshipped all around us? Should we not be more concerned with these things than with our economic woes? And as, at times, we pray for the Lord's quick return, should we not be cowering at the thought of the just wrath of God at our country's idolotry and practices of infanticide? Our suffering as a nation is nothing compared with the punishment we deserve as a nation.
Monday, February 23, 2009
more on Jeremiah 17:5-10
Yesterday I noticed how God judges us -- from the inside out. I didn't think to relate this to the question about areas I have control over for the Step Study tonight. I didn't write down that I usually have control over my actions -- not always, but usually; and especially with people outside the family -- but that I do not have control of my thought life. I think mean things, sick things, angry things, hateful things, critical things, disinterested things -- all the while acting kindly toward a person. I also try to reject these thoughts, as they are not good and I know it. In fact, my kind actions are at least partially an effort to suppress and reject this sin. However, I rarely confess this sin, either to God or to the person. I am trying to deal with sin in my own way by burying it or ignoring it, rather than deal with it in God's way by admitting and confessing it, asking for forgiveness, and looking for the Spirit to give me a new thought life.
The other reason I am coming back to this passage is because of verses 5-8.
5 This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
I look at verse 5 and realize that it describes me. I've always had trouble understanding the phrases 'in the flesh' and 'in the spirit', because we would not even be here if not for the spirit breathing life into us, so there is always a mix of spirit and flesh, and to act only in the flesh isn't even possible. Yet, this verse made me think in a new way: depending on flesh for my strength may mean depending on OTHER men (i.e. the opinion of my family, the feedback/positive strokes I get occupied with, the way I want people to think of me). I live with the opinion of my parents, my husband, my kids, my employer, my coworkers, and my friends as the scale by which I measure my life. I get a fair bit of positive feedback from them, and yet it never feels like enough to satisfy. And this is a parched place, a place that dries you out with trying and never receiving enough attention, a place that deludes you and places a barrier between you and God. You "don't see prosperity when it comes" -- could I take this to mean that I don't appreciate anything of what these relationships are in reality, because I am so preoccupied with getting my strength and affirmation from them and being disappointed? And that this attitude of mine places a smokescreen between me and God, so that I also cut myself off from the blessings of 'the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him'? I miss out on all that is described in verse 8 -- no fear, wholeness, no worries, fruitfulness.
It seems very logical for the thoughts in verse 9 to come next:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
The other reason I am coming back to this passage is because of verses 5-8.
5 This is what the LORD says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man,
who depends on flesh for his strength
and whose heart turns away from the LORD.
6 He will be like a bush in the wastelands;
he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert,
in a salt land where no one lives.
7 "But blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
whose confidence is in him.
8 He will be like a tree planted by the water
that sends out its roots by the stream.
It does not fear when heat comes;
its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought
and never fails to bear fruit."
I look at verse 5 and realize that it describes me. I've always had trouble understanding the phrases 'in the flesh' and 'in the spirit', because we would not even be here if not for the spirit breathing life into us, so there is always a mix of spirit and flesh, and to act only in the flesh isn't even possible. Yet, this verse made me think in a new way: depending on flesh for my strength may mean depending on OTHER men (i.e. the opinion of my family, the feedback/positive strokes I get occupied with, the way I want people to think of me). I live with the opinion of my parents, my husband, my kids, my employer, my coworkers, and my friends as the scale by which I measure my life. I get a fair bit of positive feedback from them, and yet it never feels like enough to satisfy. And this is a parched place, a place that dries you out with trying and never receiving enough attention, a place that deludes you and places a barrier between you and God. You "don't see prosperity when it comes" -- could I take this to mean that I don't appreciate anything of what these relationships are in reality, because I am so preoccupied with getting my strength and affirmation from them and being disappointed? And that this attitude of mine places a smokescreen between me and God, so that I also cut myself off from the blessings of 'the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him'? I miss out on all that is described in verse 8 -- no fear, wholeness, no worries, fruitfulness.
It seems very logical for the thoughts in verse 9 to come next:
9 The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Jeremiah 17: 5-10
This is what the Lord says:
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
This is interesting to me: The Lord searches our HEART and examines our MIND (not our actions) to reward a man according to his CONDUCT/DEEDS... We can see men's deeds and judge them in a way; we see actions that seem good or evil, righteous or unrighteous, helpful or unhelpful to us. But when God judges our deeds and conduct, he judges it from the inside out and sees it all: the motivations, the hopes, the manipulations, etc. It is a falsehood to think that our heart and mind are not part of our conduct.
How does God judge me when I struggle to act kindly despite anger in my heart? I sometimes feel proud of controlling my actions and want to act as if that is 'good enough'. It is probably better for me to act kindly than to blast someone with my raw emotion. Yet, what God really wants is for me to also deal with my evil heart, and bring my sinful feelings to Him, and perhaps there are ways also to learn to bring them into the relationship involved in a healthy way.
I have a lot to learn.
"Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from the Lord.
He will be like a bush in the wastelands; he will not see prosperity when it comes.
He will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him.
He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green.
It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind, to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve."
This is interesting to me: The Lord searches our HEART and examines our MIND (not our actions) to reward a man according to his CONDUCT/DEEDS... We can see men's deeds and judge them in a way; we see actions that seem good or evil, righteous or unrighteous, helpful or unhelpful to us. But when God judges our deeds and conduct, he judges it from the inside out and sees it all: the motivations, the hopes, the manipulations, etc. It is a falsehood to think that our heart and mind are not part of our conduct.
How does God judge me when I struggle to act kindly despite anger in my heart? I sometimes feel proud of controlling my actions and want to act as if that is 'good enough'. It is probably better for me to act kindly than to blast someone with my raw emotion. Yet, what God really wants is for me to also deal with my evil heart, and bring my sinful feelings to Him, and perhaps there are ways also to learn to bring them into the relationship involved in a healthy way.
I have a lot to learn.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Useless and shameful people
Jeremiah 12 & 13
Honesty here -- I am beginning to feel repelled by all the constant hammering away at the people, both God's chosen people and the other nations. The vivid images in chapter 13, of a soiled useless belt and a woman with her skirts pulled up over her head for all to see her shame make me feel a little sick. God is saying, and asking Jeremiah to say, some very ugly things here. If someone said these things today, I'd probably accuse them of using gratuitious sexual images.
So, God, why do you do this? Why do you speak in this most hurtful and demeaning of language? If I go back to your character -- that you are a faithful God, that you keep your promises, that you love your people, that you will not be mocked but will defend your glory, that you are a jealous God who expects the worship of your people -- it seems that you must have really been at the end of your rope here in trying to get your people to pay any attention at all to you. So you became very graphic.
I guess part of my aggravation is about the fact that these images of unfaithfulness are always female. I don't really know how these images would have hit the minds of the people of that ancient culture, but I know that they are making me feel a little sick and repulsed as a woman. Sexuality is confusing enough as it is, and so easily perverted, that I am really annoyed by the image of Judah as a prostitute or a mare neighing in heat. Was that culture more earthy and able to get meaning from these images without just weirding people out? Was prostitution very common then and done because of inappropriate sexual desire on the part of the women rather than financial need? I doubt it. Yes, I know you are extending the image of Israel as your bride. But why always use a female example, rather than an example of a randy man chasing skirts? If you were speaking to us today, would you use this same image or would you perhaps use an internet porn example? This is another example of how your ways are not my ways, and I often do not understand your ways.
I wonder if the existence of visual media, which is part of our culture but was not such a part of theirs, is effecting my reaction to this passage?
You answer Jeremiah when he asks why the wicked nations continue to prosper, saying that later they will also get their own come-uppance. You also hold out this ray of hope:
Jeremiah 12:15-17 "But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. And if they swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the Lord lives' -- even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal -- then they will be estabished among my people. But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it," declares the Lord.
I'm sure glad you throw this thought in there every so often -- that you will establish or re-establish people in relationship with you if they turn to you. I need to hear this over and over as I struggle.
Honesty here -- I am beginning to feel repelled by all the constant hammering away at the people, both God's chosen people and the other nations. The vivid images in chapter 13, of a soiled useless belt and a woman with her skirts pulled up over her head for all to see her shame make me feel a little sick. God is saying, and asking Jeremiah to say, some very ugly things here. If someone said these things today, I'd probably accuse them of using gratuitious sexual images.
So, God, why do you do this? Why do you speak in this most hurtful and demeaning of language? If I go back to your character -- that you are a faithful God, that you keep your promises, that you love your people, that you will not be mocked but will defend your glory, that you are a jealous God who expects the worship of your people -- it seems that you must have really been at the end of your rope here in trying to get your people to pay any attention at all to you. So you became very graphic.
I guess part of my aggravation is about the fact that these images of unfaithfulness are always female. I don't really know how these images would have hit the minds of the people of that ancient culture, but I know that they are making me feel a little sick and repulsed as a woman. Sexuality is confusing enough as it is, and so easily perverted, that I am really annoyed by the image of Judah as a prostitute or a mare neighing in heat. Was that culture more earthy and able to get meaning from these images without just weirding people out? Was prostitution very common then and done because of inappropriate sexual desire on the part of the women rather than financial need? I doubt it. Yes, I know you are extending the image of Israel as your bride. But why always use a female example, rather than an example of a randy man chasing skirts? If you were speaking to us today, would you use this same image or would you perhaps use an internet porn example? This is another example of how your ways are not my ways, and I often do not understand your ways.
I wonder if the existence of visual media, which is part of our culture but was not such a part of theirs, is effecting my reaction to this passage?
You answer Jeremiah when he asks why the wicked nations continue to prosper, saying that later they will also get their own come-uppance. You also hold out this ray of hope:
Jeremiah 12:15-17 "But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. And if they swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the Lord lives' -- even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal -- then they will be estabished among my people. But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it," declares the Lord.
I'm sure glad you throw this thought in there every so often -- that you will establish or re-establish people in relationship with you if they turn to you. I need to hear this over and over as I struggle.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
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.'
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.'
Monday, February 16, 2009
Three part entry
PART ONE
Jeremiah 10 -- A description of idols and thier powerlessness, contrasted with God's reality and power.
Verse 10: But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
And later, Jeremiah prays:
Verse 23 -- I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice -- not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.
Comment: Jeremiah desires God's justice but fears God's anger. My tendency is to fear God's justice as well, because I know that if simple justice were to reign, I would be justly put to death for my sin. It seems like God's justice would reduce me to nothing as well. But I need to remember that God's faithfulness to the enduring covenant is part of the justice -- so that Jeremiah trusts that God will not abandon his promises but will deal with injustice and wrongdoing in the context of that enduring covenant in which Israel is still God's people, despite the needed consequences and refining that they must go through in order to return to God.
PART TWO
I am thinking about attending the women's step study, but wonder if I have to have an identified 'recovery issue' in order to do so or if I can just go because I really want to be study the word with other women, be honest with you, God, and pursue my relationship with you more faithfully. But I also wonder if I do have an 'issue', and if that issue might be my craving for attention, respect, and admiration.
PART THREE
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
Somepoints from today's sermon:
-Being merciful is easier said than done.
-Mercy is not just clemency. It is also kindness and compassion.
-"obtain mercy" is active voice -- better expressed 'they shall be mercied by God'.
--In the future we will receive a return on the mercy we have given. God is abounding in mercy.
-Take the words of Christ seriously: forego retaliation, turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute us, go the extra mile, etc.
-God wants us to experience an expanded mercy -- by making the unexpected merciful response simply to reflect God's abounding mercy
--Keirkegard: Mercy has converted more souls than zeal or eloquence or learning or all those combined.
It is good to reflect on God's mercy alongside reading Jeremiah with all God's expressions of hurt and anger and descriptions of the coming doom, sorrow, and desolation for Israel. God is both just and merciful. And we are urged toward both justice (righteousness) and mercy in the beatitudes.
Jeremiah 10 -- A description of idols and thier powerlessness, contrasted with God's reality and power.
Verse 10: But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God, the eternal King. When he is angry, the earth trembles; the nations cannot endure his wrath.
And later, Jeremiah prays:
Verse 23 -- I know, O Lord, that a man's life is not his own it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only with justice -- not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing.
Comment: Jeremiah desires God's justice but fears God's anger. My tendency is to fear God's justice as well, because I know that if simple justice were to reign, I would be justly put to death for my sin. It seems like God's justice would reduce me to nothing as well. But I need to remember that God's faithfulness to the enduring covenant is part of the justice -- so that Jeremiah trusts that God will not abandon his promises but will deal with injustice and wrongdoing in the context of that enduring covenant in which Israel is still God's people, despite the needed consequences and refining that they must go through in order to return to God.
PART TWO
I am thinking about attending the women's step study, but wonder if I have to have an identified 'recovery issue' in order to do so or if I can just go because I really want to be study the word with other women, be honest with you, God, and pursue my relationship with you more faithfully. But I also wonder if I do have an 'issue', and if that issue might be my craving for attention, respect, and admiration.
PART THREE
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy."
Somepoints from today's sermon:
-Being merciful is easier said than done.
-Mercy is not just clemency. It is also kindness and compassion.
-"obtain mercy" is active voice -- better expressed 'they shall be mercied by God'.
--In the future we will receive a return on the mercy we have given. God is abounding in mercy.
-Take the words of Christ seriously: forego retaliation, turn the other cheek, pray for those who persecute us, go the extra mile, etc.
-God wants us to experience an expanded mercy -- by making the unexpected merciful response simply to reflect God's abounding mercy
--Keirkegard: Mercy has converted more souls than zeal or eloquence or learning or all those combined.
It is good to reflect on God's mercy alongside reading Jeremiah with all God's expressions of hurt and anger and descriptions of the coming doom, sorrow, and desolation for Israel. God is both just and merciful. And we are urged toward both justice (righteousness) and mercy in the beatitudes.
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