Jeremiah 48

I can't believe the golden nugget buried in v.36...it breaks my heart to read it.  God says, "my heart wails for Moab like flutes; my heart also wails like flutes for the men of Kir-heres."  What?  He is utterly disappointed and ticked off at them, and yet His heart wails for them.  Wow.  It reminds me of a story I heard years ago and I have been giving the credit to Abraham Joshua Heschel, although I am not sure if it is him or not, but the story goes that as Moses and the people crossed the Red Sea and successfully made it across and the Egyptians were crushed as God let the water go, Moses looked to God with a smile on his face just to see tears running down God's face...why Moses wondered, and God said, "those people, were my people too."  God is love.  He loves people, but He also protects people.  And so even though Moab was a pagan nation with horrible practices, God loved them and wailed for them.  He wanted even them to know His heart of love.  He is like that with everyone and aren't we glad because at one time, we were enemies of His, but He loved even us so much that He came after us.  I am so thankful that my heart and eyes were opened to His chasing me.  Let's love people so that they may know of this same love that chases after them.

Do you aspire to great things? Begin with little ones. - Augustine

Jeremiah 47

How much does the Lord love His people, the Israelites?  He would use the enemy to discipline them, and yet He would make sport of the enemy once their job had been completed.  It is sort of a crazy story, but the heartbeat of the Lord was for His people...always.  And it hasn't changed today because He is the same  yesterday, today, and forevermore...which simply means, He loves us so much that He will discipline us the way that He thinks best, but that He would pull us closer to His chest because of how much He loves us.  Isn't that comforting really?  In this chapter, He is going to let the Philistines have it because they have not played well with His people.  He loves and protects us and He desires that we run to Him and not run toward the evil schemes.  We just run to Him and He will take care of our business...that is beautiful to think about.  Run to Jesus!

He that loves you with an infinite, unchanging love, is leading you by his Spirit and providence...Jesus knows your way. - Robert Murray McCheyne

Jeremiah 46

O Jacob, My servant, do not fear, for see, I am going to save you from afar...for I am with you.  For I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you, yet i will not make a full end of you; but I will correct you properly...and by no means leave you unpunished.  

Someone who loves their kids know that punishment for the proper situation is critical.  Love...true love disciplines.  We discipline our kids because we love them and we want the best for them.  Hebrews talks about a dad who loves his children will discipline them and that season is very short but it leads to our wholeness.  Wow.  How much more does God love us than our human fathers?  God's love for us drives Him to discipline us to holiness.  That's true love.  So don't lose heart friends.  If you aren't discipline, you are illegitimate sons and daughters.  God says to the Israelites...I am going to discipline you...but it will be proper.  I will save you for I am with you.  In the end, it will be complete and perfect and right...just trust in me through this season.  Amen.

There is no higher ministry, no more important office, than that of intercessor." -Harry Ironside.

Jeremiah 45

I am consumed with myself all day long, did  you know that?  I am!  Uggh, but I am praying to be more consumed with the Lord than myself.  I can tell if I have been in the Word or not, because early afternoon when I start getting a bit upset or self-focused, it is because I haven't spent time with the Lord.  When I do start my mornings off in His Word, I notice a huge difference.  I am able to chew and meditate on Him throughout the day instead of thinking about myself.  I we want to be consumed with ourselves, we have that luxury, but we will be eventually torn down and uprooted...and those two words do not sound fun, do they?  So let's allow ourselves to be moved by God...to be consumed with God.  Let's start our morning tomorrow focused on His Word and start the day off that way.  Don't seek anything else until you have first sought the Lord, that is what my goal is every day.

No one can love God until he surrenders to him" - E. Stanley Jones

Jeremiah 45

I am consumed with myself all day long, did  you know that?  I am!  Uggh, but I am praying to be more consumed with the Lord than myself.  I can tell if I have been in the Word or not, because early afternoon when I start getting a bit upset or self-focused, it is because I haven't spent time with the Lord.  When I do start my mornings off in His Word, I notice a huge difference.  I am able to chew and meditate on Him throughout the day instead of thinking about myself.  I we want to be consumed with ourselves, we have that luxury, but we will be eventually torn down and uprooted...and those two words do not sound fun, do they?  So let's allow ourselves to be moved by God...to be consumed with God.  Let's start our morning tomorrow focused on His Word and start the day off that way.  Don't seek anything else until you have first sought the Lord, that is what my goal is every day.

No one can love God until he surrenders to him" - E. Stanley Jones

Jeremiah 44

Uggh, this is tough to write something about :).  I will be excited to move on from Jeremiah, someday...shew.

But the Lord desires our all.  He doesn't want to be second, in fact, He won't stand to be second.  He desires that we desire Him.  Let's learn some valuable lessons from the Israelites who had a tendency to walk the other way from the Lord, which is something that I am very good at doing easily if I am not careful.  God is a just God, which at times is hard to swallow, but His jealousy for us is not to be messed with.  He loves us, He died for us, He chases after us...He is good and what He gives is good...why do we want anything else?  Why, when we could have His living water, do we want to drink from another well?  Oh the ugliness of sin and the brokenness in our hearts and yet, He...God, does not leave us.  In fact, to deal with our sin and brokenness, He gave us Jesus.  Redeemer!  Healer!  Savior!  Our rescue has come!  Look to Jesus friends...look to Jesus!!!

O that God would make me more lively and vigorous in grace, for his own glory! - David Brainerd

Jeremiah 43

Man, talk about the anger of God ignited because of disobedience, you have it right here.  Jeremiah is giving the Word of the Lord and they choose to ignore the Words and call Him a liar.  Essentially, they were calling the Lord a liar and I am guessing that is not a good thing to do.  And the anger of God is sparked and punishment comes upon the people.  We deserve the same punishment and yet, yet...Jesus takes it for us.  I am Johanan in this story and so are you and we deserve the sword, or captivity, or death and yet what we get is love, grace, mercy, and God's kindness.  Wow.  Thank you Jesus.

"the real labor is to remember, to attend.  In fact, to come awake.  Still more, to remain awake."  CS Lewis

Jeremiah 42

The Lord's desire friends, is for Him to "build us up and not to tear us down...i will plant you and not uproot you."  But i find this part very interesting:  I will show you compassion so that he (the king) will have compassion on you and restore you to your land."  You would think that God showing compassion on the king would result in the king having compassion on the people, but of course, doesn't always work that way, does it?  No, compassion on the people is critical regardless of where the king lands in all this, but the Lord knowing all things knew exactly how this was going to play out...He always does :).  But I love that the Lord has compassion on us regardless of where or what we are in!  I like to think that if I were in the shoes of the Israelites, that knowing God's compassion was all over me would give me confidence...i would like to think, but the truth is His compassion is all over us.  We are in the political world right now and there are so many conversations about president but all that matters is that His compassion is on us and thus, He can do whatever He would like with whichever President we get.  We are talking about the king of Babylon here, probably worse than Hillary and Donald combine, but it didn't stop the Lord from working His power on His people.  Are we any different?  He's got this friends, so let's trust Him

Our LORD Jesus has destroyed the enemy's reigning power over us. He may worry us, but he cannot claim us as his own - Spurgeon

Jeremiah 41

I can remember as a boy doing the ole fake cry so that my mom would stop spanking me.  Then as she would leave the room, i would start to snicker to which that would unleash the beast and by the time she was done, I was wailing.  My mom could whip.  Ouch.  The ole fake cry!  How often do we pretend to be crying or aching when in reality, we are just putting someone on?  Here we have a classic example in v. 6 in which they use the ole fake cry to pull people in and then Ishmael and his men wiped them out.  Sad!  It makes me wonder though, are we sincere in our brokenness before God or do we "fake cry"?  Are we actually broken for our wrongs, or do we play the part for a bit?  The people are so far from God in Jeremiah's time that this is the game they would play.  And God finally said that is enough and they paid for it.  Our foolishness is against us and yet God says, that is enough and He sent Jesus as the payment...what?  That seems backwards.  Or could it be that is what the Gospel is?  My brokenness and foolishness is against me and God knows I can't do anything about it, so He gives me Jesus.  Unreal.  That causes me to be overwhelmed and yet sad, truly sad, because I don't deserve it at all.  But His love for me could not be any more real than that.  He loves us with such perfect love.  No greater love than this, that a friend would lay down His life for us.  Wow!

"If we will do God's work in God's way at God's time with God's power, we shall have God's blessing." -Leonard Ravenhill.

Jeremiah 40

What really is my desire?  The Lord or my comfort?  The Lord or my easy life?  It really is a good question, and very fair question.  Would we rather stay home in a land that is sweet, but headed for disaster, or go with the Lord to a place of barrenness, and yet to experience Him and His blessings?  That's tough.  If you are like me, you want to know how it is going to play out, but the Lord just looks at me and smiles and says, "you have to choose."  Comfort or Him?  Easy or Him?  "but now, behold, i am freeing you today from the chains which are one your hands.  If you would prefer to come with me to Babylon, come along, and I will look after you;"  Babylon is going to be miserable, but it is where God's blessings are going to be.  So...we choose God over everything, even when it doesn't make sense...because He wants us!

The storm has a bit in its mouth." - C.H. Spurgeon

Jeremiah 39

I love that yesterday we read about the foreigner who took care of Jeremiah in his situation.  Well, today, I am happy to state that the Lord was pleased with his actions, that the Lord decides to spare Ebed-melech from disaster.  The Lord says to him, "for I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me."  The Lord honors those who protects and has compassion on others.  Again, compassion isn't just a feeling but it is a feeling that leads to action.  We are reminded of great compassion by Ebed-melech and how the Lord honored him.  How are we doing in the area of compassion and protecting the ones that the Lord has brought to our lives?  May He be honored by us!!!

"where there is true grace, there is an insatiable desire for me."  Andrew Bromhall

Jeremiah 38

I seriously love how God works!  He never works the way that we think He will.  Jeremiah is in a dungeon because of his prediction of what is going to happen to Jerusalem and how they will be captured.  The news of Jeremiah's thoughts were not received well, so he was thrown in the dungeon maybe to die.  But God is always on the move and uses a man by the name of Ebed-melech, an Ethiopian, to save him.  He goes to the king and defends Jeremiah and states how the men poorly treated Jeremiah.  The king then orders 30 men to go get Jeremiah out of the dungeon and into a prison court.  How cool is that?  A foreigner being used to save a man of God.  Only God!!!  I am one who deserves the dungeon to death.  I am guilty for my wrongs and yet, only God can save me and He does by sending me a Savior who not only pulls me out of the pit, but allows Himself to be punished for my wrongs so that I could be set free.  Only God!!!  You are free friends...don't live in the dungeon anymore.

"But man cannot know, love, trust, or serve his Maker, unless he be renewed in the spirit of his mind." John Newton

Jeremiah 37 - When you walk in the ways of the Lord, not everyday is going to be peachy.  In fact, we should think of it the other way, to receive a peachy day is unusual :).  When you walk in the ways of the Lord, we will be misunderstood and not appreciated.  We likewise like Jeremiah, might end up in a "prison" of some sort, but don't lose heart friends, God is not done with Jeremiah's story yet and neither is He done with your story either.  He is still working and He will still be using us no matter what the situation might be.  He wasn't done with Jeremiah because God is never done.  So just hold on, even if it is just a little hanging on, just keep doing it, God has His eye on you.

"If you’re going to be a follower of Jesus, you’re going to be crucified. Following Jesus means taking the path he takes."  - Mike Breen

Thank you all for your prayers, support, and encouragement.  What a blessing it has been to serve La Croix Church.  You all have been so good to me.  Thank you...Thank you...Thank you.