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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
This is what the Lord Almighty
says:
“Let them glean the remnant of
Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass your hand over the branches again, like
one gathering grapes.”
“To whom can I speak and give
warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so they cannot
hear. The word of the Lord is offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.”
Jeremiah
6:9-10
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
Have you ever been around kids a lot?
If so, you know they take a lot of time as you keep an eye
on what they do in an attempt to keep them safe and out of trouble, especially
when they are little. It seems like you never get a break when it comes to
correcting and often times, you start to wonder whether the children are
actually listening to you or not. At least on the surface, it appears they
learn very early on to close their ears and exercise selective listening. It’s
not that they don’t hear us; it’s just that they respond to whatever they
desire to and ignore the rest.
Again, if you have been around kids any, you will
completely relate to what I just said.
But here’s the thing. We don’t get any better when we
become adults. I know it hurts to have to accept that but how many times have
you chose to close your ears and simply not listen to something or someone. It
happens more often than you may want to admit and sadly, it isn’t just in your
dealings with other people. Unfortunately, it happens in your relationship with
the Lord too.
As we see in our scripture passage for today, the
Israelites had the problem well over 2,000 years ago. It was so bad that the
Lord Himself called them out for it. Look again at these words as we continue
our study of Jeremiah 6:
This is what the Lord Almighty says:
“Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine; pass
your hand over the branches again, like one gathering grapes.”
“To whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their
ears are closed so they cannot hear. The word of the Lord is
offensive to them; they find no pleasure in it.” Jeremiah
6:9-10
First off, know that the remnant of Israel the Lord is
speaking of here are the remaining two tribes of Israel, Judah and Benjamin,
who were all that remained after the Assyrians attacked and ran roughshod over
the other ten tribes in their assault on the northern kingdom. The people who
were left in Judah and Jerusalem were likened to grapes on a vine, waiting to
be gleaned and that gleaning would happen at the hands of the Babylonians when
they attacked the southern kingdom, leaving it in ruins before hauling off the
people and sending them into captivity in Babylon.
There were many things the people of Israel had done to
anger the Lord but they all had one thing in common. Opting for sin over the
righteousness the Lord offered was nothing short of blatant disrespect and
disregard, two things He would not tolerate. It wasn’t as if He didn’t try to
warn His people that they were going the wrong direction. He did. But just like
the children we try to correct who choose to not listen, we opt to not listen
to God and close our ears so we don’t hear Him. We read and hear His word but
when it comes to application, we’re simply not interested, as if the word of
God is offensive to us. We find no pleasure in being obedient to His will and
way because we’re too interested in chasing after our own desires.
Frankly, it’s a miracle that the Lord doesn’t wipe most of
us off the face of His creation. If He started doing that, maybe people would
start to open up their ears and listen. In fact, I’m sure it would happen.
But the Lord isn’t going to do that. He shouldn’t have to
compel us to do anything. The onus isn’t on Him; it’s on us. He is the Master
and Maker of us all. We are to be subordinate to Him in every conceivable way.
It’s Him we are to bow down to every chance we get and acknowledge Him as the
Sovereign, Almighty God that He is. He deserves nothing less than our undivided
attention and devotion as well as our honor, glory, and praise.
Friends, the Lord is ever speaking to us. He desires to
guide us so that we might be seen in His image as He created us. The only way
that’s going to happen is if we not only open our ears but our hearts and
invite Him in, just not some of the time, but all of the time.
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
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