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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 scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Therefore
this is what the Lord says: ‘I am about to give this city into the hands of the
Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who will capture it. The
Babylonians who are attacking this city will come in and set it on fire; they
will burn it down, along with the houses where the people aroused My anger by
burning incense on the roofs to Baal and by pouring out drink offerings to
other gods.’”
“The
people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in My sight from their
youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse My anger with
what their hands have made,” declares the Lord. “From the day it was built
until now, this city has so aroused My anger and wrath that I must remove it
from My sight. The people of Israel and Judah have provoked Me by all the evil
they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the
people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. They turned their backs to me
and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not
listen or respond to discipline. They set up their vile images in the house
that bears My Name and defiled it. They built high places for Baal in the
Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I
never commanded—nor did it enter My mind—that they should do such a detestable
thing and so make Judah sin.”
Jeremiah 32:28-35
This ends today’s reading
from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
If you have been following the Book of Jeremiah through the
many devotions written so far, you know that the people of Israel had fallen
out of favor with God and thus were subjected to His judgment. We need not
wonder what got them into such a predicament because as we see in chapter 32,
God calls out His people in His word and let’s everyone know what they did that
got them in trouble.
Look again at the words of the Lord here:
“Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I
am about to give this city into the hands of the Babylonians and to Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon, who will capture it. The Babylonians who are attacking this
city will come in and set it on fire; they will burn it down, along with the houses
where the people aroused My anger by burning incense on the roofs to Baal and
by pouring out drink offerings to other gods.’”
“The people of Israel and Judah have done
nothing but evil in My sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel
have done nothing but arouse My anger with what their hands have made,”
declares the Lord. “From the day it was built until now, this city has so
aroused My anger and wrath that I must remove it from My sight. The people of Israel
and Judah have provoked Me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and
officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in
Jerusalem. They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught
them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. They set
up their vile images in the house that bears My Name and defiled it. They built
high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and
daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter My mind—that they
should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.” Jeremiah 32:28-35
First, the Lord shares the punishment His people will
experience. He would give the city of Jerusalem, the once revered and holy city
of the Lord, into the hands of the Babylonians who were led my King
Nebuchadnezzar. Not only would the attacking Babylonian forces capture the
city; they would lay it to waste, setting it afire and burning all the houses
where His people chose to worship false gods like Baal. The scriptures tell
that this even happened in God’s temple and even that once sacred, divine house
of worship would fall.
Next, the Lord gets down to calling His people out for what
they had done, starting with general terms and then getting more specific. He
began with this:
“The people of Israel and Judah have done
nothing but evil in My sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel
have done nothing but arouse My anger with what their hands have made,”
declares the Lord. “From the day it was built until now, this city has so
aroused My anger and wrath that I must remove it from My sight.”
God
hated sin as it manifested itself in evil, wicked behavior by anyone who
adopted it. The people of Judah had done just that, arousing God’s anger and
stirring His wrath until it frothed up into judgment.
How
severe was God’s ire?
He
chose to remove the holy city of Jerusalem (and the people who lived there and
elsewhere in Judah) from His sight.
And
that’s exactly what He did. Jerusalem was leveled and left in burning ruins while
all the people who survived the Babylonian onslaught were hauled away into
seventy years of captivity. They had turned their backs on God, abandoning Him
for the false pagan gods and idols, and so they would get a taste of how it
felt to be abandoned.
So
we know the penalty but what specific sins did the people of God commit to
bring on the penalty?
God
tells us the following:
1. The people of Israel and Judah provoked
Him by doing evil in His sight.
The
provocation didn’t come from a minority of the people. No, God tells us that
the kings, their officials, the priests, the prophets, and the people in Judah
and Jerusalem were all involved. Perhaps it would have been easier for God to
list who hadn’t done evil to incite His rage.
2. The people of God had turned their backs
and faces from Him.
Think
about how you would feel if the people you cared for and about so much decided
to turn their backs and ignore you. You wouldn’t take to that very kindly, I’m
afraid and God definitely didn’t. He wouldn’t stand to be disrespected and
disregarded in Jeremiah’s time and He won’t stand for it today either. We would
be well served to make note of that.
3. The people of God did not listen or
respond to God’s teaching or discipline.
God
tried to instruct His people in the way He wanted them to live but they would
have none of it. Instead, they chose to do what they wanted to do and even with
attempts to get them to repent and change their ways, they stubbornly chose sin
over righteousness.
4. The people of God went to great lengths
to worship the gods they were forbidden to worship.
God’s
word tells us that the people burnt incense on the roofs of their homes to the
god Baal and poured out drink offerings to other gods. They set up images and
idols in God’s temple, defiling it with their wickedness. Then they did was
more despicable than anything aforementioned. For the Lord writes that they “built
high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom” and at those high places,
sacrificed “their sons and daughters to Molek”, a god of the Ammonites.
God
tells us what we already should know for He makes it clear that He would
commanded such a horrific, detestable deed. In fact, it isn’t something that He
would even think about.
No,
the people of God were acting on their own, doing as they chose, regardless if
it violated God or others along the way. And as we know, it led to their demise
at the hands of an angry Lord.
This
is all a great history lesson but what does this have to do with us today? What
can we learn from the actions of the Israelites and the subsequent response by
God?
I
would ask you to consider this:
Take
a moment and consider the words of the Lord if He decided to call you out. It
might look like this:
“(Fill
in your name here) has done nothing but evil in My sight since youth; indeed,
(your name) has done nothing but provoke Me with what his or her hands have
made.”
This
would then be followed by a detailed list of all the ways you have failed Him
by sinning in His sight.
Would
you want that?
I
know I don’t.
The
good news is that we can prevent this scenario and keep from forcing God to
call us out. All we need to do is turn to Him and His righteousness, listening
to His word, will, and way and then responding in obedience. When we do this,
we can guarantee we are turning away from sin and toward the kind of life God
desires.
And
when we do, we will find that He can just as easily call us out to praise us as
He can to condemn us. It’s just as easy to be in His favor as it is to be in
His doghouse.
So
what’s it going to be for you today?
We
know God hates sin and will not allow it to go unchecked and undisciplined.
Are
we going to force His hand like the Old Testament Israelites, leaving Him no
choice than to call us out and make an example of us with His punishment?
Or
are we going to be compliant with what He desires from us, following His
commands and expectations to a place where we live in a way that is pleasing in
His sight?
The
choice is really ours to make. I recommend you choose the latter over the
former.
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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