HEAR THE WORD OF THE LORD (PART 1)

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In Christ, Mark

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

Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him,  “Did not the Lord remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land? When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today. Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed Him or followed His law or His decrees or His stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.”

Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah in Egypt. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’”

“Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!”

Jeremiah 44:20-25

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

The people who made up the Jewish remnant of Mizpah had made their intentions crystal clear.

They had no real interest in giving God any regard or respect.

First, although they had promised to go wherever God wanted them to go, doing what He wanted them to do, they chose to completely reject His way, refusing to remain in Judah and settle there but rather going to Egypt.

That was bad enough in its own right but then God’s people decided to take their obstinate sinning to another level, unashamedly and unapologetically worshipping false gods and idols. Their actions were no different than their peers who lived in Judah and Jerusalem, the peers that experienced God’s judgment as their kingdom was destroyed by the Babylonians and they were taken away into captivity.

So as we look at the words from today’s scripture passage, we know why God’s prophet Jeremiah is saying the things he is saying. Look at his words again here:

Then Jeremiah said to all the people, both men and women, who were answering him,  “Did not the Lord remember and call to mind the incense burned in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem by you and your ancestors, your kings and your officials and the people of the land? When the Lord could no longer endure your wicked actions and the detestable things you did, your land became a curse and a desolate waste without inhabitants, as it is today. Because you have burned incense and have sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed Him or followed His law or His decrees or His stipulations, this disaster has come upon you, as you now see.”

Jeremiah reminded the people that God’s judgment was coming to the Jewish remnant of Mizpah in Egypt, just as it did on the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Through their illicit, pagan worship practices, they had lived in wicked and detestable fashion in plain sight of the God they were insulting and dishonoring through their actions. In both instances, sinning was just as common as breathing, disobedience as natural as a heartbeat.

Note here that Jeremiah does not have the last word in our scripture passage for today. For the Lord still has something to say to His people. Look at His words here:

Then Jeremiah said to all the people, including the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah in Egypt. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You and your wives have done what you said you would do when you promised, ‘We will certainly carry out the vows we made to burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven.’”

“Go ahead then, do what you promised! Keep your vows!” 

The people were not going to stop hearing the word of the Lord. No matter how much they wanted to disregard Him, He would not allow Himself to be ignored.

So what did He have to say?

It was simple. He wanted the people of the Jewish remnant to know that He knew that they had done every evil act they had proclaimed and promised.

Every one of them.

His people had sworn to continue to “burn incense and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven” and they had done just that. It made no difference to them that the Lord had spoken the following words for their ancestors to hear, words that had been passed down from generation to generation, words that this current generation had decided to completely pay no heed to:

“You shall have no other gods before Me.”

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them.” Exodus 20:3-5a

You see, the Lord was doing plenty of speaking so His people could hear all that He wanted them to know, everywhere He wanted them to go, and all He wanted them to do once they got there.

The problem wasn’t that God had not spoken. The problem was that His people were simply choosing not to listen.

Are we doing the same thing today?

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark
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