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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.
The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the
fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year
of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the
people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: For twenty-three
years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this
very day—the word of the Lord has come to me and I have spoken to you again and
again, but you have not listened.”
“And though the Lord has sent all His servants the prophets to you again
and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. They said, ‘Turn now,
each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in
the land the Lord gave to you and your ancestors for ever and ever. Do not
follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse My anger with what
your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.’”
“But you did not listen to Me,” declares the Lord, “and you have aroused
My anger with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to
yourselves.”
Therefore the Lord Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to
My words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord, “and I will bring them
against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations.
I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and
an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness,
the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of
the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these
nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
“But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of
Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares
the Lord, “and will make it desolate forever. I will bring on that land all the
things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and
prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They themselves will be
enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their
deeds and the work of their hands.”
Jeremiah 25:1-14
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
How often do you take time to just listen to hear what the Lord might be
saying to you?
I’m afraid we don’t take as much time as we should given the hectic,
break-neck nature of life and how busy we allow ourselves to be. Too often, we
permit our time to be used up to where we fail to pray or read the Bible, two
prime spiritual occasions where the Lord can speak to us the most, occasions
when we are place life and its demands aside to commune with God either through
conversation or the scriptures. And when He does speak, we need to receive His
words and be obedient to anything He instructs us to do.
In other words, simply hearing the Lord isn’t enough if we don’t listen
to Him and carry out His will. We can’t afford to repeat the mistakes of the Old
Testament Israelites who are the focus of today’s passage drawn from the
opening chapters of Jeremiah 25. Look again at these words:
The word came to Jeremiah
concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of
Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of
Babylon. So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all
those living in Jerusalem: For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of
Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the Lord has
come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.”
“And though the Lord has sent
all His servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or
paid any attention. They said, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and
your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the Lord gave to you and your
ancestors for ever and ever. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship
them; do not arouse My anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not
harm you.’”
“But you did not listen to Me,”
declares the Lord, “and you have aroused My anger with what your hands have
made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.”
Therefore the Lord Almighty says
this: “Because you have not listened to My words, I will summon all the peoples
of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,” declares the Lord,
“and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all
the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object
of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the
sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of
millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate
wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
“But when the seventy years are
fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the
Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the Lord, “and will make it desolate
forever. I will bring on that land all the things I have spoken against it, all
that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the
nations. They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will
repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.” Jeremiah 25:1-14
The Israelites had chosen to not listen to God and it wasn’t just something
that had just started. Rather, it had been going on for 23 years despite God
attempting to get through to them through any number of servant prophets who
brought His messages over and over again only to find them falling on deaf ears.
Those messages contained commands for God’s people to turn from their evil ways
and practices which included following and worshipping false gods and idols. If
they would do as He directed, then God promised to allow them to stay in
Canaan, the land of their ancestors where they could reside without harm.
But the Israelites were just too determined to do what they wanted to do
and so they chose to not listen to anything God or His messengers had to say.
Think how you would feel if you had been speaking to someone for 23 years
and they chose to just not pay attention and ignore you during that time. You
would be pretty angry over it if you could even last 23 years before just
giving up. Perhaps the duration of time this went on speaks volumes about the
patience God has with His people. He had held out hope that His people would
just wake up and finally get it but that never happened. The Israelites, for
whatever reason, dared God to take action and bring judgment on them.
And as we see in the scriptures, they lost that dare and got what they
asked for. Or as the Lord put it, “You have brought harm to yourselves.”
That harm included an invasion from King Nebuchadnezzar and his Babylon
forces who God used to come against His land and people as well as surrounding
nations. The Babylonians, acting on behalf of God, would utterly destroy the
way of life the Israelites enjoyed, leaving their land a desolate wasteland
while making them an object of horror and scorn. Not only would God banish joy
and gladness from the lives of His people but He would banish them from their
land altogether, sending them off into seventy years of captivity in Babylon.
It would have been much easier on them if they had just listened to the
Lord. I think you would agree.
So where does this leave us today? What is the word of God trying to
teach us about living this thing called life in the 21st century?
Well, the message is simple. We are to listen to the Lord, not just hearing
Him but taking action to show we are listening to Him when He speaks. What we
do after He speaks to us will speak volumes as to whether we have chose to tune
into Him or have decided to tune Him out.
Based on what happened to the Israelites, we know God will judge those
who choose to ignore and disregard Him. That judgment was one that lasted
seventy years for His people in Jeremiah’s time.
Do you really need a similar punishment, seventy year or otherwise, levied
against you in your life?
I don’t think anyone in their right mind would want it so before you
allow yourself to get caught up in all the busy trappings and distractions of
the world, take time each day to just listen to the Lord and then show Him you
have heard Him loud and clear by ensuring He always sees you living in
accordance with His will and way, in full obedience to all He expects.
Those who do, find themselves living in a way that is pleasing in His
sight and will bask in the glow of His favor and blessings.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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