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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.
Then the Lord said to me: “Even if
Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this
people. Send them away from My presence! Let them go! And if they ask you,
‘Where shall we go?’ tell them, ‘This is what the Lord says: “‘Those destined
for death, to death; those for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation,
to starvation; those for captivity, to captivity.’”
“I will send four kinds of
destroyers against them,” declares the Lord, “the sword to kill and the dogs to
drag away and the birds and the wild animals to devour and destroy. I will make
them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of
Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem.”
“Who will have pity on you,
Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will stop to ask how you are?”
“You have rejected me,” declares the Lord. “You keep on backsliding. So I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back. I will winnow them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways. I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. At midday I will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men; suddenly I will bring down on them anguish and terror. The mother of seven will grow faint and breathe her last. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced and humiliated. I will put the survivors to the sword before their enemies,” declares the Lord.
“Alas, my mother, that you gave me
birth, a man with whom the whole land strives and contends! I have neither lent
nor borrowed, yet everyone curses me. The Lord said, “Surely I will deliver you
for a good purpose; surely I will make your enemies plead with you in times of
disaster and times of distress.”
“Can a man break iron—iron from the
north—or bronze? Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder, without
charge, because of all your sins throughout your country. I will enslave you to
your enemies in a land you do not know, for My anger will kindle a fire that
will burn against you.”
Jeremiah 15:1-14
This ends today’s reading from God's holy
word. Thanks be to God.
Imagine you are God for a moment.
You have created everything that exists in the heavens and
earth with perhaps your greatest (and most beloved) piece of handiwork being
human beings. You made them perfect, man and woman with no wrong within them. You
were their God and they were your people. All they were required to do is obey
everything you told them to do, like never eat the fruit from a certain tree in
the beautiful garden you gave them to live in.
But then something terrible happened. The man and woman
experienced temptation which was really facilitated more by them wanting to
fulfill their desires (to eat fruit that looked delicious, no matter what you
told them to do) than the serpent who helped convince them it was fine to do
what they wanted to do, even if it did violate a basic command. And so the
fruit was taken and eaten, sin entered the world for the first time, and all because
God had been rejected.
To say God was less than pleased would be an
understatement. His perfect creation had been tainted forever by the sin that
entered into the DNA of every man and women after Adam and Eve. And so,
rejected and dejected, God showed that this behavior would not be tolerated,
not then, not ever. Fed up, He passed consequences onto Adam and Eve but the
damage was already done.
Fast forward to the people of Israel during the days of
Jeremiah who were still sinners and seemed to not think twice about openly
committing transgressions in clear sight of God, as if they were daring Him to
do something. They worshipped false gods and idols, in direct rebellion against
God’s most basic command to have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3-4). And
in pursuing pagan gods that were just as false as the promises the people held
onto about them, the Israelites rejected God, opting for disobedience and
rejection of His word, will, and way.
And so, just as with Adam and Eve, God, dejected and
angered from the way His people had forsaken Him, took action and not even spiritually
respected giants like Moses or Samuel, had they still been alive, would not
have been able to intercede and save the people from God’s wrath which included
the following:
1. Abandonment.
Then the Lord said to me: “Even if Moses
and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not go out to this people.
Send them away from My presence!
“Who will have pity on you, Jerusalem? Who will mourn for you? Who will
stop to ask how you are?”
If the people didn’t want to have a relationship with God,
then they could experience the ramifications that come with that situation. And
so the Israelites were taken away into exile for seventy years to Babylon,
apart from their homeland that had been devastated and destroyed, apart from
their God. Even other nations and peoples would not express any concern or
compassion for what happened to the people of God. They were utterly alone in
isolation.
2. Death, starvation, and captivity.
This is what the Lord says: “Those destined for death, to death; those
for the sword, to the sword; those for starvation, to starvation; those for
captivity, to captivity. I will send four kinds of destroyers against them,”
declares the Lord, “the sword to kill and the dogs to drag away and the birds
and the wild animals to devour and destroy. I will make them abhorrent to all
the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh son of Hezekiah king of
Judah did in Jerusalem.”
I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for My
anger will kindle a fire that will burn against you.”
When the Babylonians attacked Judah
and Jerusalem, they would lay waste to the land and their assault would come
upon the Israelites as well. Many would die, some from the sword and still
others by starvation as all their sources of sustenance were disrupted and
destroyed. Those who were fortunate to survive ended up taken into captivity
and taken to Babylon, enslaved by the enemy for the aforementioned seventy year
exile.
3. Destruction.
“You have rejected me,” declares the Lord. “You keep on backsliding. So
I will reach out and destroy you; I am tired of holding back. I will winnow
them with a winnowing fork at the city gates of the land. I will bring
bereavement and destruction on my people, for they have not changed their ways.
I will make their widows more numerous than the sand of the sea. At midday I
will bring a destroyer against the mothers of their young men; suddenly I will
bring down on them anguish and terror. The mother of seven will grow faint and
breathe her last. Her sun will set while it is still day; she will be disgraced
and humiliated. I will put the survivors to the sword before their enemies,” declares
the Lord.
“Alas, my mother, that you gave me birth, a man with whom the whole
land strives and contends! I have neither lent nor borrowed, yet everyone
curses me. The Lord said, “Surely I will deliver you for a good purpose; surely
I will make your enemies plead with you in times of disaster and times of
distress.”
Not only had the Israelites openly
sinned against God but they had rejected Him, continuously backsliding into
wickedness from righteousness.
God became fed up with the folly of
His people and was tired of holding back so He sent a stern message to the
Israelites to underscore His unhappiness with them.
The land was decimated and left in
ruins. Families were broken apart as husbands perished and left their wives
widowed, a curse in biblical days as those who had lost their husbands were
pushed off into the fringes of societal living. They would end up disgraced and
humiliated, just as God had felt as a result of the sins of His people.
4. Plundering.
“Can a man break iron—iron from the north—or bronze? Your wealth and
your treasures I will give as plunder, without charge, because of all your sins
throughout your country.”
The people didn’t just lose their lands when the
Babylonians invaded. They lost all their belongings and possessions as well.
The attacking empire not only took the Israelites but their wealth and treasure
too.
Can we see that rejecting God is a bad idea that will only
bring extremely harsh consequences?
A dejected and fed up God is a God who brings judgment in
such a way that there is no doubt to His people that He is displeased with
their sinful behavior.
The good news is that it doesn’t need to come to this.
Yes, we are all sinners before a God who is perfectly
righteous and just, but we do not have to give into the sin that afflicts us.
There is a way to ward it off and that’s by the power of the Lord through the
Holy Spirit who lives and abides with us. When we turn to the strength of the
Lord over our own, then and only then can we be assured we can live in a way
that is pleasing in God’s sight, a way that says goodbye to rejection, dejection
and judgment, and hello to His favor as we serve Him in complete obedience,
reverence, and honor, just the way He expects us to.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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