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timewithgod.blog-city.com — February 2007
Jeremiah 16 & 17 God says, "Let Me show you your heart"
It's not what you think
God knew the peoples' hearts back then (as He knows ours now) and He knew them perfectly -- better than those who owned them. He determined to reveal them through Jeremiah. The people then (and we today) had blind spots in regards to their hearts. God said, "When you tell the people of Judah these things, they will ask you, 'Why has the Lord said these terrible things to us? What have we done wrong? What sin have we done against the Lord our God?' "
He spoke to them and to us very honestly: "You are very stubborn and do only what you WANT to do; you have not obeyed Me.... I see everything they do. They cannot hide from Me the things they do; their sin is not hidden from My eyes....The sin of the people ... is written with an iron tool. Their sins were cut with a hart point into the stone that is their hearts.... More than anything else, a person's mind is evil and cannot be healed. No one truly understands it. But I, the Lord, look into a person's heart and test the mind."
My commentary said that many people feel that this is too harsh an indictment of their heart, and it quoted Matthew Henry: "There is that wickedness in our own hearts which we ourselves are not aware of and do not suspect to be there; it is a common mistake among the children of men to think themselves, their own hearts at least, a great deal better than they really are. The heart, the conscience of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is deceitful above all things.... It calls evil good and good evil, puts false colors upon things and cries peace to those to whom peace does not belong ... The heart is deceitful. It cheats men into their own ruin; and this will be the aggravation of it, that they are self-deceivers, self-destroyers .... the conscience which should rectify the errors of the other faculties is itself a mother of falsehood and a ringleader in the delusion. What will become of a man if that in him which should be the candle of the Lord gives a false light, if God's deputy in the soul, that is entrusted to support his interest, betrays them?"
God sent word by Jeremiah for the people to at the very least try to obey just this one thing: the Sabbath. My commentary said that the constant pressure of materialism upon the lives of all.... made the keeping of such a commandment difficult, and for this reason this one commandment of the ten was a real test of the priority of the temporal or the eternal in the heart.
As I started reading the studies in the Downpour workbook, I couldn't help but think of what this is saying, almost as if God is saying to us, "Trust me in this one thing. Obey me by dedicating each Sunday night to Me and see what will result...."
Father, I know MY heart is deceitful. It's a product of my sin-nature. It will try to make me believe I'm doing great spiritually. But I want to hear from You, openly and honestly, about what I need to change in my life. I open myself up to hear from You. Show me the truth about myself.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
He spoke to them and to us very honestly: "You are very stubborn and do only what you WANT to do; you have not obeyed Me.... I see everything they do. They cannot hide from Me the things they do; their sin is not hidden from My eyes....The sin of the people ... is written with an iron tool. Their sins were cut with a hart point into the stone that is their hearts.... More than anything else, a person's mind is evil and cannot be healed. No one truly understands it. But I, the Lord, look into a person's heart and test the mind."
My commentary said that many people feel that this is too harsh an indictment of their heart, and it quoted Matthew Henry: "There is that wickedness in our own hearts which we ourselves are not aware of and do not suspect to be there; it is a common mistake among the children of men to think themselves, their own hearts at least, a great deal better than they really are. The heart, the conscience of man, in his corrupt and fallen state, is deceitful above all things.... It calls evil good and good evil, puts false colors upon things and cries peace to those to whom peace does not belong ... The heart is deceitful. It cheats men into their own ruin; and this will be the aggravation of it, that they are self-deceivers, self-destroyers .... the conscience which should rectify the errors of the other faculties is itself a mother of falsehood and a ringleader in the delusion. What will become of a man if that in him which should be the candle of the Lord gives a false light, if God's deputy in the soul, that is entrusted to support his interest, betrays them?"
God sent word by Jeremiah for the people to at the very least try to obey just this one thing: the Sabbath. My commentary said that the constant pressure of materialism upon the lives of all.... made the keeping of such a commandment difficult, and for this reason this one commandment of the ten was a real test of the priority of the temporal or the eternal in the heart.
As I started reading the studies in the Downpour workbook, I couldn't help but think of what this is saying, almost as if God is saying to us, "Trust me in this one thing. Obey me by dedicating each Sunday night to Me and see what will result...."
Father, I know MY heart is deceitful. It's a product of my sin-nature. It will try to make me believe I'm doing great spiritually. But I want to hear from You, openly and honestly, about what I need to change in my life. I open myself up to hear from You. Show me the truth about myself.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 18 & 19 -- What it takes for change
Water
God just seemed to keep working the images of clay and clay vessels over and over into my mind as I read and reread these chapters. Jeremiah was first told in chapter 18 to go to a potter's house to watch clay being transformed into a pot. Then in chapter 19, he was told to go again, buy a pot, and break it.
As he first watched the potter set a lump of clay, fresh dug from the earth on his wheel and begin to spin it, I'm sure he saw Israel before it was formed, thinking of Abraham hearing God calling him out of the common into what was then uncommon relationship with Him. Of course God had begun to mold and shape Abraham to be able to hear and respond to His call long before that.
He probably thought through Israel's history of how God placed them on His potter's wheel in Egypt. They weren't very compliant as they left, and indeed it took 40 years of work to make them pliable for shaping. God seemed able to form them into His vessel as they entered the Promised Land, and through David's and Solomon's reigns they proved suitable for His purpose. Yet when they became spiritually dry and unsuitable for His use, He had determined to break them to pieces and start over with new clay. Yet up until the last second, He was hoping for them to respond. God even plainly tells them not to have a "We're on the Titanic" mentality about it all, for He would change His mind if they obeyed.
I guess God's working in the idea of the Downpour Bible study, for I couldn't help but notice one thing as I traced through their history -- water. Just as the potter must constantly add water to keep the clay moist and pliable until it reaches his desired shape, God used water with Israel. The events of the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea as they left Egypt and entered the Sinai was like spiritual water, softening their hearts and making them pliable in His hands. Who knew then that it wouldn't be the generation living but their unborn children who this would effect the most! After 40 years of wondering and being shaped, God once again added water -- the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan. As His people stood ready to take the Promised Land, He worked it in to shape them for the daunting task to come -- removing the inhabitants of the land. But hundreds of years had passed, and they had not only become spiritually dry and calloused toward God, but also idolatrous. Now, God is preparing to add water again to what will be the remnant of the Jewish nation -- this time at the Euphrates River as He carries them into exile for exiling Him from their worship. Only a small portion of these would experience the next softening by the Sea of Galilee as Christ showed them how to change their hearts and minds. The rest will have to wait until His return.
Now we find our own church at the water as well -- "Downpour". It's been starting this week as we read and prepare for its start on Sunday. I hope that we will allow God to soften and reshape us into the vessel of His choosing. Our challenge is probably more the one He spoke of in 18:9 -- "There may come another time when I will speak about a nation (or church) that I will build up and plant. But if I see it doing evil by not obeying Me, I will change My mind and not carry out My plans to do good for them." If God is wanting to do something new with us, then saying, "No, we're going to keep doing what we've always done" is utter disobedience. And like stiff, unyielding clay, we soon become unusable to Him if we refuse to accept the changes He wants to make. Part of 18:15 really caught my eye: "But My people have forgotten Me.....They walk along back roads and on poor highways." They were settling for less than the best God had to offer them because they were unwilling to change. Are we going to do the same? Wouldn't it be horrible to hear God say about us what He did in verse 17: "They will not see Me coming to help them; they will see me LEAVING."
Father, I pray that You will make Downpour the spiritual water that our souls need to make us pliable to that we will react properly to Your hands upon us. Help every member to absorb Your Living Water and be ready to hear from You. Make us realize that this may not be for our own generation, but for those coming after us.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
As he first watched the potter set a lump of clay, fresh dug from the earth on his wheel and begin to spin it, I'm sure he saw Israel before it was formed, thinking of Abraham hearing God calling him out of the common into what was then uncommon relationship with Him. Of course God had begun to mold and shape Abraham to be able to hear and respond to His call long before that.
He probably thought through Israel's history of how God placed them on His potter's wheel in Egypt. They weren't very compliant as they left, and indeed it took 40 years of work to make them pliable for shaping. God seemed able to form them into His vessel as they entered the Promised Land, and through David's and Solomon's reigns they proved suitable for His purpose. Yet when they became spiritually dry and unsuitable for His use, He had determined to break them to pieces and start over with new clay. Yet up until the last second, He was hoping for them to respond. God even plainly tells them not to have a "We're on the Titanic" mentality about it all, for He would change His mind if they obeyed.
I guess God's working in the idea of the Downpour Bible study, for I couldn't help but notice one thing as I traced through their history -- water. Just as the potter must constantly add water to keep the clay moist and pliable until it reaches his desired shape, God used water with Israel. The events of the miracle of the parting of the Red Sea as they left Egypt and entered the Sinai was like spiritual water, softening their hearts and making them pliable in His hands. Who knew then that it wouldn't be the generation living but their unborn children who this would effect the most! After 40 years of wondering and being shaped, God once again added water -- the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan. As His people stood ready to take the Promised Land, He worked it in to shape them for the daunting task to come -- removing the inhabitants of the land. But hundreds of years had passed, and they had not only become spiritually dry and calloused toward God, but also idolatrous. Now, God is preparing to add water again to what will be the remnant of the Jewish nation -- this time at the Euphrates River as He carries them into exile for exiling Him from their worship. Only a small portion of these would experience the next softening by the Sea of Galilee as Christ showed them how to change their hearts and minds. The rest will have to wait until His return.
Now we find our own church at the water as well -- "Downpour". It's been starting this week as we read and prepare for its start on Sunday. I hope that we will allow God to soften and reshape us into the vessel of His choosing. Our challenge is probably more the one He spoke of in 18:9 -- "There may come another time when I will speak about a nation (or church) that I will build up and plant. But if I see it doing evil by not obeying Me, I will change My mind and not carry out My plans to do good for them." If God is wanting to do something new with us, then saying, "No, we're going to keep doing what we've always done" is utter disobedience. And like stiff, unyielding clay, we soon become unusable to Him if we refuse to accept the changes He wants to make. Part of 18:15 really caught my eye: "But My people have forgotten Me.....They walk along back roads and on poor highways." They were settling for less than the best God had to offer them because they were unwilling to change. Are we going to do the same? Wouldn't it be horrible to hear God say about us what He did in verse 17: "They will not see Me coming to help them; they will see me LEAVING."
Father, I pray that You will make Downpour the spiritual water that our souls need to make us pliable to that we will react properly to Your hands upon us. Help every member to absorb Your Living Water and be ready to hear from You. Make us realize that this may not be for our own generation, but for those coming after us.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 20 & 21 -- God pressing the override button
He can and does do it
I was really struck by God's inclination to both motivate and animate us to do a task that we might otherwise feel very reluctant to perform. Jeremiah is to the point of almost hating his life, wishing that he'd never been born, for all the ridicule and punishment he's endured as he speaks God's condemning words to the nation. He notices himself that he can't seem to control the volume or pitch of his voice, for instance, much less the content of his speech: "Every time I speak, I shout. I am always shouting about violence and destruction." It's clear that he wants to stop at times, tired of the derision he's been getting: "Sometimes I say to myself, 'I will forget about the Lord. I will not speak anymore in His name.' " Jeremiah felt that mainly because the people were reacting the opposite of what "church people" were supposed to react.
I've felt that in my own life on several occasions, and the circumstances were similar. "Church people" had for some reason decided that I had ulterior motives which absolutely did not exist, and God knows that. The hurt that entered my soul by being falsely accused is something that even to this day is hard to let go of. I can't imagine experiencing it on the level that Jeremiah did and for the length of time he did!
Yet God was there, keeping him going when he didn't feel like he could go on: "But then His message becomes like a burning fire inside me, DEEP within my bones. I get tired of trying to hold it inside of me, and finally, I cannot hold it in." God can only be resisted if He desires and wants to be resisted. But He can and does choose to easily have people say whatever He wants them to say, whenever He wants them to say it. In fact, we see that echoed in the New Testament when we're told not to worry about what we will say when we stand before kings and judges.
I don't know how many Bible study lessons I've prepared, but I know that God regularly gives me words that are not in any written material or commentary, but which He uses to connect my guys to His words written centuries ago, and like Jeremiah, I find myself amazed as they come out. I'm just glad that my job so far has been a much happier one than Jeremiah had.
In 20:14-18, I found myself asking if Jeremiah might be privy to an ability or power of God that we linear-time-bound humans would consider impossible. He's wishing that he'd never been born, and his narrative seems to be a plea to God to change the past. I'm sure most would say that's impossible, but an all-powerful God cannot be limited by time. He's "outside the box". We think of time as water flowing down a river, but God Himself said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," not "I was." He's as much in existence in their time as in ours, all at the same time. What a different world we might have if He began to answer prayers to undo the harm we've done by our past sins!
Father, I love the fact that I serve a God who is all-powerful and sovereign, who isn't limited by time, space, or by my reluctance to be used by Him. Keep me going, even when I get discouraged. Keep my eyes focused on You and You alone.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
I've felt that in my own life on several occasions, and the circumstances were similar. "Church people" had for some reason decided that I had ulterior motives which absolutely did not exist, and God knows that. The hurt that entered my soul by being falsely accused is something that even to this day is hard to let go of. I can't imagine experiencing it on the level that Jeremiah did and for the length of time he did!
Yet God was there, keeping him going when he didn't feel like he could go on: "But then His message becomes like a burning fire inside me, DEEP within my bones. I get tired of trying to hold it inside of me, and finally, I cannot hold it in." God can only be resisted if He desires and wants to be resisted. But He can and does choose to easily have people say whatever He wants them to say, whenever He wants them to say it. In fact, we see that echoed in the New Testament when we're told not to worry about what we will say when we stand before kings and judges.
I don't know how many Bible study lessons I've prepared, but I know that God regularly gives me words that are not in any written material or commentary, but which He uses to connect my guys to His words written centuries ago, and like Jeremiah, I find myself amazed as they come out. I'm just glad that my job so far has been a much happier one than Jeremiah had.
In 20:14-18, I found myself asking if Jeremiah might be privy to an ability or power of God that we linear-time-bound humans would consider impossible. He's wishing that he'd never been born, and his narrative seems to be a plea to God to change the past. I'm sure most would say that's impossible, but an all-powerful God cannot be limited by time. He's "outside the box". We think of time as water flowing down a river, but God Himself said, "I am the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," not "I was." He's as much in existence in their time as in ours, all at the same time. What a different world we might have if He began to answer prayers to undo the harm we've done by our past sins!
Father, I love the fact that I serve a God who is all-powerful and sovereign, who isn't limited by time, space, or by my reluctance to be used by Him. Keep me going, even when I get discouraged. Keep my eyes focused on You and You alone.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 22-23 and God's holiness compared to us
There's no comparison.
Speaking through Jeremiah, God gives us some incredible information here. King Josiah, who had tried to restore God-worship, was spared what would happen to his country. God said of him, "He was satisfied to have food and drink. He did what was right and fair.....He helped the poor and needy.... That is what it means to know God." For us to know Him, we actually have to adjust our hearts to be like God's.
Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah or simply Coniah, was cursed by God in that none of his descendants would ever sit on the throne of David. Joseph, Jesus' adoptive father, was from Jehoiachin's line through his son Shealtiel. This was the legal line of descent from David. But Jesus was not "descended from" Joseph. So He was not disqualified from being King because of this curse. Mary, Jesus' mother, was descended from David through his son Nathan, and this physical line qualifies Him as King.
God also reminded me of something I brought up at Downpour Sunday night. In 23:23, God says, "I am a God who is near....I am also a God who is far away. no one can hide where I cannot see him....I fill all of heaven and earth!"
In the Downpour segment I was reading last night, it spoke of the Seraphim that Isaiah had described, and how they covered their faces and feet with their wings -- the faces so that they could not see God, since looking upon His holiness would result in destruction, and the feet so God could not see them, and in looking upon their lack of His holiness, destroy them.
"God is infinitely high and infinitely nigh (near)", I've read, and He acknowledges that here. And His gaze can fall upon us wherever we are, in our sin. It's only by His grace that we are saved.
Father, please help me to fathom the depth of Your holiness and the separateness that therefore must exist between us, for only through Your Son can I even attempt to claim any holiness. Help me to understand that although You love me dearly, and want me with You, I cannot pretend to be walking beside You, for my sin is an affront to Your holiness.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jehoiachin, also called Jeconiah or simply Coniah, was cursed by God in that none of his descendants would ever sit on the throne of David. Joseph, Jesus' adoptive father, was from Jehoiachin's line through his son Shealtiel. This was the legal line of descent from David. But Jesus was not "descended from" Joseph. So He was not disqualified from being King because of this curse. Mary, Jesus' mother, was descended from David through his son Nathan, and this physical line qualifies Him as King.
God also reminded me of something I brought up at Downpour Sunday night. In 23:23, God says, "I am a God who is near....I am also a God who is far away. no one can hide where I cannot see him....I fill all of heaven and earth!"
In the Downpour segment I was reading last night, it spoke of the Seraphim that Isaiah had described, and how they covered their faces and feet with their wings -- the faces so that they could not see God, since looking upon His holiness would result in destruction, and the feet so God could not see them, and in looking upon their lack of His holiness, destroy them.
"God is infinitely high and infinitely nigh (near)", I've read, and He acknowledges that here. And His gaze can fall upon us wherever we are, in our sin. It's only by His grace that we are saved.
Father, please help me to fathom the depth of Your holiness and the separateness that therefore must exist between us, for only through Your Son can I even attempt to claim any holiness. Help me to understand that although You love me dearly, and want me with You, I cannot pretend to be walking beside You, for my sin is an affront to Your holiness.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 24-25 Repentance is a gift of God
He has to illuminate our minds or we will be unable to do it
God told Jeremiah that there would be two groups of people He would be dealing with. The "good" people would be the ones who accepted God's chastening, who came out of the city and surrendered when Nebuchadnezzar attacked it, and who went into exile in Babylon. He promised to look after them, bring them back, not tear them down but instead build them up, not pull them up but plant them and cause them to grow. He also said something amazing: "I will make them want to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God, because they will return to Me with their whole hearts."
The other group were the ones who were stiff-necked, who weren't about to give up. They'd fight to their death in Jerusalem because they'd refuse the Lord's chastening.
There were some things Jeremiah mentioned in chapter 25 that still sound unfulfilled to me, and should therefore be future prophecies even in our time. My commentary didn't note this. Speaking about the nations around Israel, God promised that He would completely destroy them and leave them in ruins forever. He also said He would send war on all the peoples of the earth, accusing and judging them all. "Those killed by the Lord will reach from one end of the earth to the other." That may be speaking of a time near Christ's second coming.
My sidebar, by Oswald Chambers, spoke about repentance such as that the "good" people above would experience. It said, "Conviction of sin ... is the threshold of an understanding of God ... When the Holy Spirit rouses a man's conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God...It is only the forgiven man who is the holy man. He proves his forgiveness by being the opposite to what he was, by God's grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself..... The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way around. Strictly speaking, a man cannot repent when he chooses; repentance is a gift of God."
That last thought is borne out in Jeremiah's prophecies here. Those who were willing and able to repent would be cared for and brought back into their land. In 25:10, I noticed something God said that I'd seemed to miss every time before. He said, "I will take away the light of the lamp." He's removing their knowledge of Him and their ability to know Him. Without this, repentance would indeed be impossible. So it is therefore a gift of God.
Father, I'm so thankful that You once again lit my lamp about 15 years ago. I know that my choices and actions had led me away from You and there was a time when I could not hear from You or know You. Thanks for lighting my lamp again, and for helping me to know You as never before!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
The other group were the ones who were stiff-necked, who weren't about to give up. They'd fight to their death in Jerusalem because they'd refuse the Lord's chastening.
There were some things Jeremiah mentioned in chapter 25 that still sound unfulfilled to me, and should therefore be future prophecies even in our time. My commentary didn't note this. Speaking about the nations around Israel, God promised that He would completely destroy them and leave them in ruins forever. He also said He would send war on all the peoples of the earth, accusing and judging them all. "Those killed by the Lord will reach from one end of the earth to the other." That may be speaking of a time near Christ's second coming.
My sidebar, by Oswald Chambers, spoke about repentance such as that the "good" people above would experience. It said, "Conviction of sin ... is the threshold of an understanding of God ... When the Holy Spirit rouses a man's conscience and brings him into the presence of God, it is not his relationship with men that bothers him, but his relationship with God...It is only the forgiven man who is the holy man. He proves his forgiveness by being the opposite to what he was, by God's grace. Repentance always brings a man to this point: I have sinned. The surest sign that God is at work is when a man says that and means it. Anything less than this is remorse for having made blunders, the reflex action of disgust at himself..... The new life will manifest itself in conscious repentance and unconscious holiness, never the other way around. Strictly speaking, a man cannot repent when he chooses; repentance is a gift of God."
That last thought is borne out in Jeremiah's prophecies here. Those who were willing and able to repent would be cared for and brought back into their land. In 25:10, I noticed something God said that I'd seemed to miss every time before. He said, "I will take away the light of the lamp." He's removing their knowledge of Him and their ability to know Him. Without this, repentance would indeed be impossible. So it is therefore a gift of God.
Father, I'm so thankful that You once again lit my lamp about 15 years ago. I know that my choices and actions had led me away from You and there was a time when I could not hear from You or know You. Thanks for lighting my lamp again, and for helping me to know You as never before!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 26 & 27 -- A God of 5th and 6th chances
God's love often causes Him to wait out His justice
God told Jeremiah to tell the people that He was planning disaster for their nation. But true to form, His love still shines through. He instructs Jeremiah to tell them once more to obey Him and follow His teachings. If they only will, He will change His mind and not bring disaster on them. We must never say that God cannot change His mind. He can with his conditional promises, but not with His unconditional ones.
The priests and prophets and common people grabbed Jeremiah as they would later grab Jesus, saying that he must die for prophesying against the Temple. (The Temple was more important to them than God.) Jeremiah then told them much the same thing that Jesus later would say: "Now change your lives and start doing good and obey the Lord Your God. Then He will change His mind and not bring on you the disaster He has told you about."
What's amazing is that the king's officers and the common people were then telling the priests and prophets that Jeremiah's words truly came from God. That would be like the congregation telling the pastor what God's will is in a church today! They even reminded them that under King Hezekiah's reign, Micah predicted the same thing and was not killed. It's a terrible shame when the people whom God ordained to lead must be led by the congregation.
Father, Jesus once said that if His followers wouldn't praise Him, then the stones would cry out in praise instead. And You show us here that when the spiritual shepherds fail to cry out, Your people will do it. Help us to remember that we are not to be told when and how to worship You. Instead, it should be a spontaneous act based on the love we are returning for what You've done for us. Help us to each clearly see Your will for our lives and not depend on others to open our mail from You.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
The priests and prophets and common people grabbed Jeremiah as they would later grab Jesus, saying that he must die for prophesying against the Temple. (The Temple was more important to them than God.) Jeremiah then told them much the same thing that Jesus later would say: "Now change your lives and start doing good and obey the Lord Your God. Then He will change His mind and not bring on you the disaster He has told you about."
What's amazing is that the king's officers and the common people were then telling the priests and prophets that Jeremiah's words truly came from God. That would be like the congregation telling the pastor what God's will is in a church today! They even reminded them that under King Hezekiah's reign, Micah predicted the same thing and was not killed. It's a terrible shame when the people whom God ordained to lead must be led by the congregation.
Father, Jesus once said that if His followers wouldn't praise Him, then the stones would cry out in praise instead. And You show us here that when the spiritual shepherds fail to cry out, Your people will do it. Help us to remember that we are not to be told when and how to worship You. Instead, it should be a spontaneous act based on the love we are returning for what You've done for us. Help us to each clearly see Your will for our lives and not depend on others to open our mail from You.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 28 - 29 Unable to Imagine what God has in store for us!
He does!
How do you tell someone that their actions have resulted in a 70-year detour for their lives, and though it's not what they'd planned, they'd better just sit back and enjoy it? Certainly someone confined to a jail cell wouldn't believe it. But what about being taken to a country where you've never been and where you don't know the language?
That was happening to the people who'd surrendered in Jerusalem. They found themselves in Babylon, not in jails but in homes. Many were thinking it might last just a few years, so they'd taken on a prisoner of war mentality, deciding they weren't going to actually "enjoy" their new location, but instead they'd be miserable, discontented, and homesick. Jeremiah told them to do otherwise. God had decided on 70 years because for the last 490 years, the Israelites had planted every year rather than obeying God and letting the land lie dormant every seventh year. So it would take 70 years to make up the difference.
And how do you keep up the prisoner-of-war mentality for 70 years? God said that you don't, for if they'd tried, this vital remnant would have withered away. Instead, God said to settle in, plant gardens, build homes, get married, have kids and watch you kids get married and have kids. In other words, make the very best of your current situation, knowing that God will be watching over you.
When Josh and I first met Joseph in Donetsk and asked him to come to America with us, he cried and hugged his caregiver. I didn't know until later, when his English skills had improved, why he'd done that. His part of Ukraine was anti-West and pro-Russia. It was the homebase of the man who'd gotten beaten out of the Presidency by the pro-U.S. candidate. Joseph said they'd all told him not to go to America and had said many things to dissuade him, once the National Adoption Center had contacted the orphanage to tell them we were coming for him. Seeing the videos of our home and hometown had won him over, but in those first few minutes I imaging that he was feeling just like those Israelites -- about to be sent to a foreign country where he didn't know the language and where he wouldn't be happy at all.
But God had the same message for Joseph that He did for Josh. Each of these powerless, orphaned Ukrainian boys with not even the clothes on their backs to their names were hearing God say, "I know what I am planning for you. I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Then you will call My name (they did!). You will come to Me and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will search for Me. And when you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me! I will let you find Me."
There was absolutely no way that Josh and Joseph could have possibly imagined the life God had in store for them here. They'd never been exposed to it to know it existed. It was only in following His will that they could receive the blessings, and it was the same with the Israelites. And how much more will the blessings be when our lives are following Him rather than ignoring Him!
Father, You brought me out of a spiritual desert into a life I never could have imagined. You clearly led me around the world to my sons, saying, "Trust Me in this," when most others thought I was crazy. I'm glad I let You drive. A million thanks will never be enough!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
That was happening to the people who'd surrendered in Jerusalem. They found themselves in Babylon, not in jails but in homes. Many were thinking it might last just a few years, so they'd taken on a prisoner of war mentality, deciding they weren't going to actually "enjoy" their new location, but instead they'd be miserable, discontented, and homesick. Jeremiah told them to do otherwise. God had decided on 70 years because for the last 490 years, the Israelites had planted every year rather than obeying God and letting the land lie dormant every seventh year. So it would take 70 years to make up the difference.
And how do you keep up the prisoner-of-war mentality for 70 years? God said that you don't, for if they'd tried, this vital remnant would have withered away. Instead, God said to settle in, plant gardens, build homes, get married, have kids and watch you kids get married and have kids. In other words, make the very best of your current situation, knowing that God will be watching over you.
When Josh and I first met Joseph in Donetsk and asked him to come to America with us, he cried and hugged his caregiver. I didn't know until later, when his English skills had improved, why he'd done that. His part of Ukraine was anti-West and pro-Russia. It was the homebase of the man who'd gotten beaten out of the Presidency by the pro-U.S. candidate. Joseph said they'd all told him not to go to America and had said many things to dissuade him, once the National Adoption Center had contacted the orphanage to tell them we were coming for him. Seeing the videos of our home and hometown had won him over, but in those first few minutes I imaging that he was feeling just like those Israelites -- about to be sent to a foreign country where he didn't know the language and where he wouldn't be happy at all.
But God had the same message for Joseph that He did for Josh. Each of these powerless, orphaned Ukrainian boys with not even the clothes on their backs to their names were hearing God say, "I know what I am planning for you. I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future. Then you will call My name (they did!). You will come to Me and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will search for Me. And when you search for Me with all your heart, you will find Me! I will let you find Me."
There was absolutely no way that Josh and Joseph could have possibly imagined the life God had in store for them here. They'd never been exposed to it to know it existed. It was only in following His will that they could receive the blessings, and it was the same with the Israelites. And how much more will the blessings be when our lives are following Him rather than ignoring Him!
Father, You brought me out of a spiritual desert into a life I never could have imagined. You clearly led me around the world to my sons, saying, "Trust Me in this," when most others thought I was crazy. I'm glad I let You drive. A million thanks will never be enough!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 30 & 31 -- Marvelous promises we might never see?
We'll already be there
There is such hope and incredible promise in these chapters. A new covenant is promised with Israel, and unlike the other covenants, this one is unconditional, and God will see that it happens. God is going to restore His people and do something incredible.
I loved God's words: "You will be My people and I will be Your God..." The Lord will appear to His people and will say to them, "I love you people with a love that will last forever.... and I will gather them from the faraway places ... They will pray as I bring them back. I will lead those people by streams of water on an even road where they will not stumble ... They will not be troubled anymore... I will change their sadness into happiness. I will give them comfort and joy instead of sadness .... My people will be filled with the good things I give them! ... So there is hope for you in the future!"
In the middle of all this is a true prayer of repentance: "Lord, You punished me and I have learned my lesson....Take me back so that I may come back. You truly are the Lord my God. Lord, after I wandered away from You, I changed my heart and life. After I understood, I beat my breast with sorrow. I was ashamed and disgraced, because I suffered for the foolish things I did when I was young."
Then God spells out what He will do: "I will put My teachings in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. People will no longer have to teach their neighbors and relatives to know the Lord, because all people will know Me. I will forgive them for the wicked things they did, and I will not REMEMBER their sins anymore."
I know that sounds absolutely wonderful and it sounds like a day we would each long to see. But it sounds like we'll miss it, for this is only to happen with the nation of Israel after the Great Tribulation, according to my commentary, and we will already be present with the Lord, raptured into His kingdom, and God will already have forgiven and forgotten all our sins and we will know Him.
Father, thank You for these awesome promises! I cannot wait for the time when I will no longer be held back in this sin-corrupted body, limited in my understanding of You. Oh, to see You, face to face!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
I loved God's words: "You will be My people and I will be Your God..." The Lord will appear to His people and will say to them, "I love you people with a love that will last forever.... and I will gather them from the faraway places ... They will pray as I bring them back. I will lead those people by streams of water on an even road where they will not stumble ... They will not be troubled anymore... I will change their sadness into happiness. I will give them comfort and joy instead of sadness .... My people will be filled with the good things I give them! ... So there is hope for you in the future!"
In the middle of all this is a true prayer of repentance: "Lord, You punished me and I have learned my lesson....Take me back so that I may come back. You truly are the Lord my God. Lord, after I wandered away from You, I changed my heart and life. After I understood, I beat my breast with sorrow. I was ashamed and disgraced, because I suffered for the foolish things I did when I was young."
Then God spells out what He will do: "I will put My teachings in their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. People will no longer have to teach their neighbors and relatives to know the Lord, because all people will know Me. I will forgive them for the wicked things they did, and I will not REMEMBER their sins anymore."
I know that sounds absolutely wonderful and it sounds like a day we would each long to see. But it sounds like we'll miss it, for this is only to happen with the nation of Israel after the Great Tribulation, according to my commentary, and we will already be present with the Lord, raptured into His kingdom, and God will already have forgiven and forgotten all our sins and we will know Him.
Father, thank You for these awesome promises! I cannot wait for the time when I will no longer be held back in this sin-corrupted body, limited in my understanding of You. Oh, to see You, face to face!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 32 and the possible loss of free will??
Good riddance!
God gives more than enough reasons why He's going to destroy Jerusalem, and Jeremiah spells out the sins of the tribes over the course of history. God tells him: "From their youth, the people of Israel and Judah have done only the things I said were wrong....They turned their backs to Me, not their faces. I tried to teach them again and again, but they wouldn't listen or learn .... I forced the people of Israel and Judah to leave their land, because I was furious and very angry with them." That ought to be enough to give God ample reason to start over with another group of people and try again. But instead, He says, "I am the Lord, the God of every person on the earth. Nothing is impossible for Me .... But soon I will gather them from all the lands where I forced them to go, ad I will bring them back to this place, where they may live in safety. The people of Israel and Judah will be My people, and I will be their God. I will make them truly want to be one people with one goal. They will truly want to worship Me all their lives, for their own good, and for the good of their children after them. I will make an agreement with them that will last forever. I will never turn away from them; I will always do good for them. I will make them want to respect Me so they will never turn away from Me. I will enjoy going good to them. AND WITH MY WHOLE BEING I WILL SURELY PLANT THEM IN THIS LAND AND MAKE THEM GROW."
That is one heck of a promise. If God could create the universe with just a thought, then just imagine if He throws His whole being into something, how impossible it would be to undo it!
The biggest thing I noticed, though, was when He said, "I will make the truly want ... to worship Me all their lives," for that implies the loss of "free will", that all-so-important thing (we think) that made us special above all the rest of creation, and the very thing that has for millennia kept us struggling against God. I say, "Good riddance!" This isn't a tyrant we're bowing do to, but the One who loves us with all His being and the One who has the power to actually DO the best for us that He promises. So who could possibly find objection to that?
Father, I long for the day when I'm no longer a slave to sin -- when I will want nothing more than to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord." I hate the fact that sin causes life to get in the way of that right now. I can't wait for You to change Me so that I can worship You for the rest of eternity.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
That is one heck of a promise. If God could create the universe with just a thought, then just imagine if He throws His whole being into something, how impossible it would be to undo it!
The biggest thing I noticed, though, was when He said, "I will make the truly want ... to worship Me all their lives," for that implies the loss of "free will", that all-so-important thing (we think) that made us special above all the rest of creation, and the very thing that has for millennia kept us struggling against God. I say, "Good riddance!" This isn't a tyrant we're bowing do to, but the One who loves us with all His being and the One who has the power to actually DO the best for us that He promises. So who could possibly find objection to that?
Father, I long for the day when I'm no longer a slave to sin -- when I will want nothing more than to say, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord." I hate the fact that sin causes life to get in the way of that right now. I can't wait for You to change Me so that I can worship You for the rest of eternity.
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Jeremiah 33 -- God reveals His best-kept secret
His Son will die for YOU
Just how hopeful should one feel, locked up in prison in a city that's under attack and about to be destroyed? Yet Jeremiah continues to get hopeful messages from God. God even says, "I'm going to let you in on a secret....."
Even though the people are about to go into captivity for 70 years, God promises to bring them health and healing, great peace and safety, to return them to their land and make Israel AND Judah great countries again. He promises to wash away their sin and forgive them. He promises that the world will be surprised and shocked at the blessings He's going to bring them. Then He mentions the secret He's kept close to His vest since time immemorial -- "At that time, I will make a good branch sprout from David's family .... At that time, Judah will be saved."
God's going to send His own Son as a descendant of David, to fulfill His promise to David as well as to offer salvation to the world. The amazing thing for the Jews was that God firmly established (and of course has the ability and capacity to carry out what He has just promised) that the salvation of Judah at some future time will be thus assured by His coming. His blood will be what washes away their sin, and what brings them back into fellowship with God. Despite all of their attempts to get away from God yet still try to hang on to their coveted special status with him, these people, and us as well, are loved by God with a love that knows no end, and He's willing to sacrifice everything to prove it -- even His own Son.
Father, I don't know why You love us this much, for we are absolutely, totally undeserving of it, but I am so glad You do!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
Even though the people are about to go into captivity for 70 years, God promises to bring them health and healing, great peace and safety, to return them to their land and make Israel AND Judah great countries again. He promises to wash away their sin and forgive them. He promises that the world will be surprised and shocked at the blessings He's going to bring them. Then He mentions the secret He's kept close to His vest since time immemorial -- "At that time, I will make a good branch sprout from David's family .... At that time, Judah will be saved."
God's going to send His own Son as a descendant of David, to fulfill His promise to David as well as to offer salvation to the world. The amazing thing for the Jews was that God firmly established (and of course has the ability and capacity to carry out what He has just promised) that the salvation of Judah at some future time will be thus assured by His coming. His blood will be what washes away their sin, and what brings them back into fellowship with God. Despite all of their attempts to get away from God yet still try to hang on to their coveted special status with him, these people, and us as well, are loved by God with a love that knows no end, and He's willing to sacrifice everything to prove it -- even His own Son.
Father, I don't know why You love us this much, for we are absolutely, totally undeserving of it, but I am so glad You do!
Your Brother In Christ,
Gary Ford
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