DISCARDED

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In Christ, Mark

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

“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and the Babylonians. I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”

Jeremiah 22:24-27

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

Imagine if you had a relationship with someone who could and would be able to give you all you could ever ask for in life which would include:

Provision.

Protection.

Encouragement.

Direction and guidance.

Wisdom.

Comfort.

Support.

Peace.

And the hope of a future that would endure forever.

Would you want that relationship?

Who wouldn’t?

And yet, so many people choose to reject such a relationship, one that is readily available to all through the Lord God Almighty. For He and He alone can and will provide us with exactly what we need because He made us and perfectly knows us to include what we need and when we need it. His timing is as perfect as His judgment.

What might be even more baffling than people knowing God and rejecting a relationship with Him are other people who choose to enter into a relationship with Him and then abandon that relationship as if the world can offer something better than God Himself. This is happening today and it’s not a new phenomenon as we have seen in our study of the Book of Jeremiah. For the Old Testament Israelites of that time decided that there was something better than God to turn to and follow as well and as they chose to discard Him, they found out that He could in turn discard them. Look at today’s passage as we look at God’s word in Jeremiah 22:

“As surely as I live,” declares the Lord, “even if you, Jehoiachin, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. I will deliver you into the hands of those who want to kill you, those you fear—Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and the Babylonians. I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. You will never come back to the land you long to return to.”  Jeremiah 22:24-27

In this chapter alone, we have seen the sons of Josiah, all kings who chose to follow wickedness instead of following their father’s righteous leadership, called out by God for judgment. They all had a chance to have a relationship with God and lead their people to that same relationship but they didn’t. Sin became more important to them than God, highlighted by their decision to worship and bow down to false gods and idols. There could be no greater expression of disrespect and disregard for God than that.

Indeed, the people of Judah, from the top down, had chosen to discard God in their lives and so He showed them just how that felt, hurling Jehoiachin away to King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylonian empire, never to return to Judah again. He wouldn’t be the only one hurled from Judah and Jerusalem as the king’s mother and other Israelites who followed him in embracing sin would follow him into exile.

I can’t think this story could have such a different ending, certainly a happier one. All Jehoiachin and his brothers Jehoahaz and Jehoiakim had to do was be obedient to God and insist that their people do likewise. God had promised them that He would be their God and they His people.

What more could the people want than that?

What more could we ever want than that?

And yet the Old Testament Israelites of Jeremiah’s time, as well as so many people today, opted to turn away from the God who can do and provide all things and embrace the ways of the world, ways that only serve to drag anyone from righteousness to wickedness.

The message today from God’s word is clear. Disregard God and you can and will find yourself disregarded and discarded by Him.

Do yourself a favor and never break your relationship with Him for in Him, you have all you’ll ever need, now and forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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