God has shown patience to his people for decades, but His message in this chapter is that he is no longer waiting…the time to pay the piper has arrived. Their sin will now be punished by God…with the intention of reminding His people that He is God.
Lord, help me to listen immediately and not need your punishment to see who You are and act like it.
I love that unity is the first step in the process of transforming the heart from stone to flesh. A signal that it was not just one heart that was solidly frozen to thawed…but actually completely replaces from one that is worthless to one that functions as it should. Lord, I need my heart of flesh, keep me soft, pliable and sensitive to your impulses.
Obedience to God always seems like such an easy straightforward task…which in reality it is! But being surrendered to His plan enough to trust that it is best is the hard part. We so often think that there is another way, one that will be less painful, less scary, less embarrassing…but that way always leads to more destruction. Lord, help me to trust You only and reject my ways of foolishness!
Repeatedly the warning from God is that this disaster will come because of their rebellion, so that they will “know that I am the LORD”. He wants us to know, and acknowledge Him as king of our lives and the world…it is such an easy concept, but our desire to do what we want is so strong, it is hard to do! Lord, grand me the strength to put my own desires to death and follow you without a second thought!
Ezekiel has been given some crazy task to act out this siege of Jerusalem and must eat defiled food, yet here God relaxes the requirements in an act of kindness. What a bizarre scene, yet God is at work teaching the Israelites the importance of obedience. Lord strengthen me to be obedient at every moment!
This chapter is short and it took me a few times through to see anything that was helpful…then it jumped off the page: even inanimate objects obey the Lord without fail! Yet God gives us free will and most of us use it to reject Him. How heartbreaking! Lord, help me to see your commands as joyful and speed my heart and mind toward obedient surrender!!!
Lord, how many times have I pressed ahead trying to achieve what I wanted…help me to trust in You alone for direction and not try to force my own desires.
God repeatedly gave His children opportunity to turn back to Him. It is rarely just a single call, His patience is long lasting and thankfully so, because we need it. Watching these people purposefully reject God call through Jeremiah is painful, but I am sure that is how my own life looks at times from Gods perspective. Lord, help me to trust you and reject my own feelings…
The people of Israel were so confident in their own plan that they rejected the very words of God. How many times do I do this same thing? Lord, help me to hear, understand and follow your words without question!
We so often want to know directly from God what He wants us to do in a specific situation…that is what the Israelites wanted here so they got Jeremiah to ask for them. After 10 days the Lord answered but it was not what they expected…
How we respond to Gods direction for us reveals our own hearts, do we want God or do we want to follow our own plans? Lord, help me to follow You at every opportunity, strengthen my faith to trust you and obey your instruction!
It’s incredible that God continues to pursue His people as they reject Him over and over. We are so easily swayed to do what we this is best. God, help me to see through the lies of my inner lawyer to know, understand and obey your voice!!!
Obedience when God is watching, then disobedience the next minute is never a good idea…primarily because God does see everything we do, say or think.
What a beautiful picture of God bringing peace, joy and blessing to the people who have just experienced discipline. His intention with trials/discipline is not to destroy but rather to transform and draw us near. Lord help me to always be looking toward Your ultimate plan rather than being so focused on the suffering of today.
We have thousands of voices that are constantly telling us what to do, what is right or wrong, what is good or bad, what is best for us. This was no different for the people of Israel, the voices were dominated by false prophets, dreamers, sorcerers and soothsayers…and we have the same: social media, news, commercials etc.
Lord, help me to elevate Your voice above all others, let me hear You, strengthen me to obey it, and reject all of the other influences that pull my attention. Let me live in absolute surrender!
God is so patient with us…He is looking for us to turn to Him, reject our own selfishness and listen. It seems so simple, yet actually doing it takes being surrendered. That of course is the last thing we ever want to do, because surrender requires a continual putting to death our own desires empowered by the Spirit of God. It is literally impossible without the Spirit…Lord strengthen me to follow You rather than my own desires…
God’s patience is on display in this passage even though we are breaking in at the point where He to the final straw. His people’s rejection of His warnings and instruction has been ignored and rejected for decades and He cares so much for their ultimate good, that He will send consequences that will be painful and traumatic.
Lord, help me to listen right away and not need decades of your patience. Allow me to follow You at the first instruction.
Caring for others, seeking justice and living our righteousness is what our life looks like when we know God.
God has clearly given us all that we need to understand for how we live…He has placed the path for life in our hands through scripture, obey and surrender to find peace, joy and abundant life. Reject and find chaos, destruction and death. It really is that simple…
We need healing & salvation every moment until we are glorified and in His presence. He is offering that to each one of us, all we have to do is listen, receive His gift of grace and mercy…then follow Him.
Discipline is hard and punishment feels terrible…but Jeremiah reminds us that since it is God who metes out these things, there is hope. Hope because of Gods character, who He is and the reason for it. His intentions are to draw us into right thinking and obedience…not because He likes order, but because we can flourish within the boundaries He created.
