relationships (Jeremiah 36:1-32) Taking Those We Love Seriously

(Jeremiah 36:1-32) 

In the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Take a scroll and write on it all the words which I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations, from the day I first spoke to you, from the days of Josiah, even to this day. 3 Perhaps the house of Judah will listen to all the disaster which I plan to carry out against them, so that every person will turn from his evil way; then I will forgive their wrongdoing and their sin.”

4 Then Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote on a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which He had spoken to him. 5 Jeremiah then commanded Baruch, saying, “I am restricted; I cannot go into the house of the Lord. 6 So you go and read from the scroll, which you have written at my dictation, the words of the Lord to the people at the Lord’s house on a day of fasting. And you shall also read them to all the people of Judah who come from their cities. 7 Perhaps their pleading will come before the Lord, and everyone will turn from his evil way; for great is the anger and the wrath that the Lord has pronounced against this people.” 8 So Baruch the son of Neriah acted in accordance with all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him, reading from the book the words of the Lord in the Lord’s house.

9 Now in the fifth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah, in the ninth month, all the people in Jerusalem and all the people who came from the cities of Judah to Jerusalem proclaimed a fast before the Lord. 10 Then Baruch read to all the people from the book the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord in the chamber of Gemariah the son of Shaphan the scribe, in the upper courtyard, at the entry of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.

11 Now when Micaiah the son of Gemariah, the son of Shaphan, had heard all the words of the Lord from the book, 12 he went down to the king’s house, into the scribe’s chamber. And behold, all the officials were sitting there—Elishama the scribe, Delaiah the son of Shemaiah, Elnathan the son of Achbor, Gemariah the son of Shaphan, Zedekiah the son of Hananiah, and all the other officials. 13 And Micaiah declared to them all the words that he had heard when Baruch read from the book to the people. 14 Then all the officials sent Jehudi the son of Nethaniah, who was the son of Shelemiah, the son of Cushi, to Baruch, saying, “Take in your hand the scroll from which you have read to the people and come.” So Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them. 15 And they said to him, “Sit down, please, and read it to us.” So Baruch read it to them. 16 When they had heard all the words, they turned in fear one to another. And they said to Baruch, “We will certainly report all these words to the king.” 17 Then they asked Baruch, saying, “Tell us, please, how did you write all these words? Was it at Jeremiah’s dictation?” 18 And Baruch said to them, “He dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink on the book.” 19 Then the officials said to Baruch, “Go, hide yourself, you and Jeremiah, and do not let anyone know where you are.”

20 So they came to the king in the courtyard, but they had deposited the scroll in the chamber of Elishama the scribe; and they reported all the words to the king. 21 Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it out of the chamber of Elishama the scribe. And Jehudi read it to the king as well as to all the officials who were standing beside the king. 22 Now the king was sitting in the winter house in the ninth month, with a fire burning in the brazier before him. 23 And when Jehudi had read three or four columns, the king cut it with a scribe’s knife and threw it into the fire that was in the brazier, until all of the scroll was consumed in the fire that was in the brazier. 24 Yet the king and all his servants who heard all these words did not tremble in fear, nor did they tear their garments. 25 Even though Elnathan, Delaiah, and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. 26 And the king commanded Jerahmeel the king’s son, Seraiah the son of Azriel, and Shelemiah the son of Abdeel to seize Baruch the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them.

27 Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after the king had burned the scroll and the words which Baruch had written at the dictation of Jeremiah, saying, 28 “Take again another scroll and write on it all the previous words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah burned. 29 And concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah you shall say, ‘This is what the Lord says: “You have burned this scroll, saying, ‘Why have you written on it that the king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land, and will make mankind and animals disappear from it?’” 30 Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah: “He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David, and his dead body shall be thrown out to the heat of the day and the frost of the night. 31 I will also punish him, his descendants, and his servants for their wrongdoing, and I will bring on them and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the people of Judah all the disaster that I have declared to them—but they did not listen.”’”

32 Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch the son of Neriah, and he wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire; and many similar words were added to them.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

God's word can sometimes be tough to hear or read, but we are to take heed.  If we ignore these types of passages, and only pick and choose the "softer stories" or the "gentler attributes" of God, we would then be trying to create our own god, in our own image.  Yes, God is love, but God is also holy and just and cannot have a relationship with sin.  And how can we know that we need the Lord in our lives, unless we see just how sinful we truly are?!

Yet, God's love is so great, to all the world - who deserve death and punishment - He extends His hand to offer everyone forgiveness, new life, and eternal life with Him!  He desires that all come to know Him.  He would love nothing more than to adopt everyone to be His children.  He is there, waiting for us, to decide to enter into a personal relationship with Him... the Lord God, Savior, and King of Kings!  But because He is love, He will not force anyone to love Him back, or to accept His salvation, or even to obey Him.  But why would we not want to?  He cares and wants to bless us, and keep us from His wrath and punishment... and as His children, He doesn't want to discipline us, but He will, because He loves and cares!

Therefore, we do need to have a healthy fear and respect for the Lord, and be willing to listen to everything He tells us.  From these last few chapters, we get a glimpse into how God wrote the Bible through godly men, by dictating, inspiring and guiding every single word.  We don't worship the word itself, but the Lord God.  And with those we love, do we not look forward to holding deep and meaningful conversations with them?  And with those we love, do we not take them seriously, and not take them for granted?  Therefore, we should yearn to take all God's words to heart, for the Lord, Himself, is the Word.

(John 1:1-14)   In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of mankind. 5 And the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not grasp it.

6 A man came, one sent from God, and his name was John. 7 He came as a witness, to testify about the Light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the Light, but he came to testify about the Light.

9 This was the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every person. 10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, and yet the world did not know Him. 11 He came to His own, and His own people did not accept Him. 12 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name, 13 who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of a man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.

relationships (Deuteronomy 13:1-18) Fear and Focus

(Deuteronomy 13:1-18)  “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, 2 and the sign or the wonder comes true, concerning which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods (whom you have not known) and let us serve them,’ 3 you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams; for the Lord your God is testing you to find out if you love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 You shall follow the Lord your God and fear Him; and you shall keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him. 5 But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has counseled rebellion against the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery, to seduce you from the way in which the Lord your God commanded you to walk. So you shall purge the evil from among you.

6 “If your brother, your mother’s son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end), 8 you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him. 9 But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people. 10 So you shall stone him to death because he has sought to seduce you from the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 11 Then all Israel will hear and be afraid, and will never again do such a wicked thing among you.

12 “If you hear in one of your cities, which the Lord your God is giving you to live in, anyone saying that 13 some worthless men have gone out from among you and have seduced the inhabitants of their city, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods’ (whom you have not known), 14 then you shall investigate and search out and inquire thoroughly. If it is true and the matter established that this abomination has been done among you, 15 you shall surely strike the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying it and all that is in it and its cattle with the edge of the sword. 16 Then you shall gather all its booty into the middle of its open square and burn the city and all its booty with fire as a whole burnt offering to the Lord your God; and it shall be a ruin forever. It shall never be rebuilt. 17 Nothing from that which is put under the ban shall cling to your hand, in order that the Lord may turn from His burning anger and show mercy to you, and have compassion on you and make you increase, just as He has sworn to your fathers, 18 if you will listen to the voice of the Lord your God, keeping all His commandments which I am commanding you today, and doing what is right in the sight of the Lord your God.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

We should not be tempted to even contemplate what others are saying if it goes against God and His will.  We should also be careful not to believe accusations against people without there being proof.  Thinking through how these two things might work together towards deception and destruction, I can see that one of my acquaintances uses both tactics.  Maybe she does this to shake my faith, but I don't know what her true motive is, as I cannot see into her heart, soul and mind.  What I can see is that she constantly points out what the world believes, while at the same time pointing out flaws in Christian people and churches, as well as TRYING to poke holes in the Bible itself. 

Fortunately, my faith is not placed in people!  Also, I know God's word well enough to confidently believe that there are absolutely no inconsistencies in the Bible!  And when we love the Lord Jesus, we will desire to follow Him, fear Him, listen to what He says, remember what He says, do what He says, serve Him and cling to Him.  We will know to avoid sin and evil, because there is no benefit in being attracted to or being seduced by it.  But we don't have to fear it, when we fear the Lord.

What we fear, we will attract - seek - and create!!!  What we focus on will become our target.  So if we only fear and focus on the Lord - we will move closer to His love, goodness, peace, joy and security...  And we will become more Christ-like as we ask Him to work in and through us, in His wisdom and strength, all to His glory.

relationships (Genesis 3:1-6) Get Advice and Consult the Bible

(Genesis 3:1-6)  Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION: 

So, I'm sure we can all relate to this one... being misquoted or misquoting someone else.  How annoying or infuriating is that when your words are taken out of context, making you look like something you are not?!  And how forgetful or careless are we to relay a message incorrectly.  Or - we weren't listening well enough to begin with.  That in itself is an insult to the other person.  

Here Eve was holding a conversation with Satan and discussing what God said or didn't say.  And, like the world's first slander-and-gossip-fest, Satan obviously got Eve's attention by tickling her ear.  Eve then built on this by adding to God's words - that - they were not even supposed to TOUCH the one tree!  By adding just that tiny bit, kind of makes God look and sound unreasonable.  Even though He had generously created this paradise for them and said that they could eat from everything else!

How easy is it to take the good things for granted.  And how easy it is to ignore the threat of death or some other huge consequence when some tiny, temporary delight is dangled in front of our faces?  What could it hurt???  BUT, it is not God torturing or tempting us, it is Satan's realm of darkness and our own selfishness, greed and pride!  Remember, it is not a sin to be tempted, but it is a sin to dwell on it and act on it.

Let's take some notes from Eve's actions, or lack thereof.  What should we do when we find ourselves in a similar situation?  What should Eve have done?

- delay the desire for instant gratification

- talk to another person who is wise, loving and trustworthy

- better yet and most definitely, consult God and His word!!!

- seek out wisdom, understanding and clarity

Eve could have and should have dropped everything and sought out God Himself who knows EVERYTHING!!!  And He is EVERWHERE!!!  There is no excuse.  She should have asked God directly, "Okay, so what did You actually say?  Specifically?  And could You shed some light on this so that I can understand what death would mean?" ETC!!!

Instead, Eve chose to do things her way, in her own wisdom and then amplified the problem because "misery loves company".  Getting someone else to join you in sin is NOT love.  And any sin that we commit goes against God.  Each sin that we commit without remorse is like hammering the nails into His hands and feet.  Something to visualize and consider:  can anyone say that they love God while purposefully driving nails into His hands and feet?