Wednesday, September 9, 2015

WHAT COMES AROUND, GOES AROUND



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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says:

“Because the people have spoken these words, I will make My words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.”

“People of Israel,” declares the Lord, “I am bringing a distant nation against you—an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors. They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.”

“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’”

Jeremiah 5:14-19

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

Have you ever heard of the expression, “What comes around, goes around?”

It basically means that when someone happens to do something wrong against another person, that same wrong seems to come back on the perpetrator at a later time. Sometimes it’s also referred to as “poetic justice” which simply means that someone got something that was coming to them.

Let me give you a real life example to bring the point home.

Let’s say that a man and woman are dating and they have sworn a staunch commitment, vowing to not see anyone else. The woman stays true to her word but the man starts seeing a woman behind her back and eventually leaves his girlfriend for the other woman once his cheating is discovered. The man thinks, that’s alright because I still have a woman but not long after he starts seeing her and thinks there is a commitment in the relationship, the woman has an affair on the man.

What comes around, goes around.

In other words, the man who cheated on his mate got a taste of his own medicine when the woman he chose to cheat on his first partner turned around and cheated on him. Some might say he got what he deserved.

So what does this have to do with today’s word of the Lord from Jeremiah 5?

As you will see, the people of Israel got a taste of “what comes around, goes around”, God-style. Look again at these words here:

Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty says:

“Because the people have spoken these words, I will make My words in your mouth a fire and these people the wood it consumes.”

“People of Israel,” declares the Lord, “I am bringing a distant nation against you—an ancient and enduring nation, a people whose language you do not know, whose speech you do not understand. Their quivers are like an open grave; all of them are mighty warriors. They will devour your harvests and food, devour your sons and daughters; they will devour your flocks and herds, devour your vines and fig trees. With the sword they will destroy the fortified cities in which you trust.”

“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. And when the people ask, ‘Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?’ you will tell them, ‘As you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your own land, so now you will serve foreigners in a land not your own.’”  Jeremiah 5:14-19

If you’ve been following this blog and the devotions through first Isaiah and now Jeremiah, you know the main issue between the Israelites and God.

God had commanded His people to have no other gods before Him. No Israelite was to worship or bow down to anyone or anything except God.

Now, the religious practices of the Gentiles (non-Jews) living in Canaan were polytheistic in nature. This is why God had ordered His people to drive out all the Gentiles when they first took custody of the Promised Land. He knew that if they were allowed to remain, His people would end up corrupted. But the Israelites disobeyed God and allowed the people to stay, an action which eventually led to them intermarrying within the pagan cultures who placed their faith and hope in false gods.

In essence, the people of God had turned away and forsaken Him.

So what did God do about it?

He gave them a taste of their own medicine and since they decided to turn away from Him to follow foreign gods, God put events in motion that would remove His people from their homeland and send them to a foreign land where they would be oppressed into servitude.

God’s people abandoned Him and so He abandoned His people.

What comes around, goes around.

So what does this tell us today? What message is God trying to get through to us here in this day and age?

I believe He’s simply telling us to be very mindful of what we are doing in life, particularly in the way we live it. We should be acutely aware that any sin we commit against God or anyone else for that matter could come back around and impact us in the future. We learn from our scripture passage today that God will not hesitate to give us a taste of our own medicine in order to drive home the point that sin and wickedness are not acceptable in His sight. Ever.

Let’s do ourselves all a big favor and choose to be completely obedient to the Lord so that His word and will and way reign supreme. In doing so, we can be assured that the only thing that comes around will be His blessings because all we do is bless Him and others with the things we do.

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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