HOW TO BECOME PLUNDER (OR NOT)

Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder?

Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted. Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull.

Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way?

Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates?

Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

Jeremiah 2:13

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Sometimes we can find ourselves at a point in life when we are devastated and shattered, our spirits dashed and broken. It’s as if someone came in and plundered away all that we had until we had lost nearly everything we held onto.

Have you ever been there? Perhaps you may even be there today.

So how did you get to that point, to the point of plunder? Do you see it as coming from a series of seemingly random life circumstances or do you see it coming in the form of consequences from the Lord for sinful acts you may have committed?

Let’s be honest here. We know the latter happens but we much less want to pin the cause on it as we do the former random happenstances of life. We simply don’t want to have to admit we have failed to be obedient to the Lord’s will for our lives and, in doing so, have invoked His punishment. Perhaps, that’s why we have trouble getting better at living in a way that pleases the Lord instead of inciting Him. We’re less and less willing to surrender our will for His and are resistant to admitting we are unable to resist sin without His strength.

In other words, we pave our own way to His plunder.

As we see in today’s passage from Jeremiah 2, this certainly was the case for the Old Testament Israelites. Look again at the words of the Lord here:

Is Israel a servant, a slave by birth? Why then has he become plunder?

Lions have roared; they have growled at him. They have laid waste his land; his towns are burned and deserted. Also, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes have cracked your skull.

Have you not brought this on yourselves by forsaking the Lord your God when He led you in the way?

Now why go to Egypt to drink water from the Nile? And why go to Assyria to drink water from the Euphrates?

Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.  Jeremiah 2:13

Did you catch why God had Israel plundered, their land laid to waste and their towns burned and deserted?

They brought it on themselves because they decided to worship false gods and idols, forsaking God and failing to stand in awe of Him, actions described in this scripture passage as evil and bitter. And it was because of this wickedness and backsliding that God punished and rebuked them.

With all this, here are a few questions to ponder:

Have you ever forsaken God in your life?

Have you ever backslid in your faith and devotion to Him, worshipping other things of the world over Him?

Have you ever allowed yourself to be in a position where you didn’t stand in awe of God?

If the answer to one or all of these questions is “yes”, then you have placed yourself in a position similar to the one that the Israelites had gotten themselves into.

And as we have seen from the word of God today, these actions are a surefire way to become plundered in life when the judgment of the Lord comes upon you, and rest assured that it will come, unless you are willing to fully surrender your life to Him and His righteousness. For it’s only in that place, where living in the righteousness of the Lord is all that matters that we will find ourselves, not plundered, but rich beyond our wildest dreams, recipients of all the treasures of heaven that the Lord can provide.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com