Friday,
July 2, 2021
“Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, and don’t beg me to help them, for I will not listen to you. Don’t you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? No wonder I am so angry! Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. And they pour out liquid offerings to their other idol gods! Am I the one they are hurting?” asks the Lord. “Most of all, they hurt themselves, to their own shame.” So this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees, and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger.” This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: “Take your burnt offerings and your other sacrifices and eat them yourselves! When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them: ‘Obey me, and I will be your God, and you will be my people. Do everything as I say, and all will be well!’ “But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their evil hearts. They went backward instead of forward. From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets—day in and day out. But my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful—even worse than their ancestors. Jeremiah 7:16-26
I remember the time my father got so mad at me I
seriously considered getting my affairs in order. It was my fault, not his. My mother was a sweet woman to whom I owe a
great deal of thanks for whatever spiritual education actually got through to
my dense soul. But, sometimes, it was at
great cost to her.
It was Thanksgiving, and that meant the extended
family was coming to our house for the gathering and meal. Mom took the preparations seriously and
wanted my help. (I’m certain whatever “help”
I could give could have been accomplished more efficiently, and with less
complaining in the air, had she done it herself. But, if there was anything she took more
seriously than preparations for company, it was teaching her boys the
responsibility of pitching-in.)
I don’t recall exactly how I complained about my
assigned tasks, but it was my early teen years, and I’m certain that describes
enough. My father found me sitting in
the living room. With those steel blue
eyes blazing he said, You made your mother cry. Come to think of it, it wasn’t the eyes this
time, it was the set of his jaw and the clenched fists. My Dad was using every ounce of restraint in
his reserve to deal with his son’s arrogance.
Get up, and get moving; I won’t say another word. And he didn’t; he didn’t have to! And the fact that, at 74 years of age I
remember that exact moment, makes the point; I got the point.
There comes a time when God’s patience also runs out. God punished Israel for her arrogant disobedience. He told Jeremiah to forget praying for
them. He was going to make an example of
his disobedient family. Like my Dad, but
on a much wider, wiser, and grander scale, God made His point – God’s eye was
on them, and He was not pleased.
The apostle Paul warned the Corinthian believers
that all the judgments of God we read about when Israel constantly disobeyed Him
was kept in Scripture for an example to all of us – a warning of how God reacts
to those who would defy him.[1]
My Mom and Dad loved their children. And, contrary to the somewhat distorted views
of teenage rebellious values, their discipline was on the mark. The discipline we received was because
our parents loved us, and did not want us to wind up with less than valuable
values. They were building men, not complainers.
For You Today
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!
[1] Title Image: Pixabay.com Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©
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