One of my biggest pet peeves is when people say, "God told me to tell you ______." It's not that I can't let God speak to me through other people, but I have a hard time believing that what these people say really has anything to do with God. Often when I've experienced this or I've heard stories from others experiencing it, the ... [Continue Reading]
Restore Us (Lamentations 4-5)
Lamentations reveals the suffering hearts of the Israelites. True, they had been warned for many centuries about their wandering away from God, and the punishment that they faced they largely brought upon themselves, but you can't read the book and not feel the pain. I particularly like 5:21a, "Restore us to yourself, O LORD, that we may be ... [Continue Reading]
The Cruel Mistress (Lamentations 1-3)
I've never had an affair, but I'm guessing it's an exciting thing in the moment - otherwise people wouldn't waste their time and risk their families. The problem with a mistress is that there's not really a commitment from either party involved. The fling can end at any moment in time, and the two are left returning to the place from ... [Continue Reading]
Shoving God Away (2 Kings 24-25; 2 Chronicles 36)
While it is true that you can never really go so far from God that He refused to forgive (maybe with the exception of what's written in Luke 12:10), it is also true that you can close yourself off so much to the things of God that you aren't able to hear His voice anymore. That seems to have been the issue with the Israelites. They didn't want to ... [Continue Reading]
Where is God? (Psalm 79; Habakkuk)
Habakkuk is a book that we can all relate with because we've all, at one time or another, wondered about the presence of God. Where is He when life hurts? Where is He when wars are going on and injustices are taking place throughout the world? There are so many times when life just doesn't make sense, and we want to cry out, "Where are ... [Continue Reading]
Game Over (Jeremiah 51; Psalm 74)
Babylon was the most powerful nation of its day, and it was used by God to bring discipline upon the Israelites. However, God had not abandoned his people, and Babylon was going to be snuffed out. This final prophecy from Jeremiah is a reminder that God doesn't abandon those He loves even though it may feel at times that His presence is missing. ... [Continue Reading]
The Greater Fear (Jeremiah 38-39, 42)
It's not bad to have fear, depending on what your fear is. The problem is that most people fear the wrong things. In the case of the Israelites, they were afraid of what might happen to them if they ended up in Babylon. So instead of fearing God (which is whom they truly should have been afraid of), they feared the king of Babylon. The ... [Continue Reading]
Still a God of Grace (Jeremiah 30-31, 33)
I think one of the things I love and appreciate about the book of Jeremiah is the hope that is shared in the midst of the doom and gloom. Yes, Israel broke its covenant with God, and yes, there will be consequences that come as a result of the broken covenant. Yes, God was planning to use the Babylonians as a punishment to recapture the hearts of the ... [Continue Reading]
Like an Hourglass (Jeremiah 20, 22-23)
The Lord's desire is that all people would come to repentance. That's always been His desire as He has sought to have a relationship with man. It was for this reason that God was slow at finally dealing with the sins of Israel. He wanted them to turn around and to come back to Him. But the opportunity for change wasn't open-ended. ... [Continue Reading]
In the Hands of the Potter (Jeremiah 18-19, 21)
Working with clay is far from easy. When I was in college, a friend of mine and I decided to go play with the pottery wheels one night. It was a disaster! We left with bits of clay all over our clothing and with no pottery to show for it! Jeremiah uses the analogy of a potter working with clay to describe how God works with His people. ... [Continue Reading]
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