Sunday, February 7, 2016

CALLED OUT



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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 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.

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