TCN's Biblical Journey August 9th

Today's Journey is Jeremiah 37-40


I find this chapter interesting. The new king asks Jeremiah to pray for them and later when Jeremiah asks the king moves him to a better place, but yet he isn't repenting and turning to God. Since we don't know his heart it is impossible to say. Yet God used him to remove Jeremiah from those who wished to silence him and probably kill him.


Jeremiah asks a question which no one answers: "Where are the prophets?"(37:19) Jeremiah asks what about all those people who prophesied falsely. Where are they now? It is a good question. They seemed to have disappeared, yet the true prophet was suffering. It doesn't seem fair, but the world isn't fair.

It was true then and it is still true. Jesus warned his followers the world would not treat them right. So we shouldn't be surprised when it happens.

TCN's Biblical Journey August 8th

Today's reading is Jeremiah 33-36

God has brought and is bring destruction on Judah, yet here we find a great promise (Jeremiah 33). God is promising to bring them back and raise up the Messianic Kingdom. Part of this has been fulfilled in Jesus and part is yet to come but there is hope. Jeremiah knew he would never see it but as many a parent has had there is hope for those who come later. It is this kind of hope, which inspires people to sacrifice and even lay down their lives. It is this kind of hope which gives people the courage to face pain and not run, nor surrender.

Since the promise has been partly fulfilled in Jesus doing what was just and right, we can know that one day he will do the rest and make all things right. We too have hope. 

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

TCN's Biblical Journey August 7th

Today's reading  is Jeremiah 29-32

Finding serenity in conflict!

God's perfect plan for Israel wasn't for them to be conquered yet being God, he saw what was coming and was not surprised. For the people of Israel who had been conquered it was a shock. They didn't know what to do and God sent them a message. The message summed up was “bloom where you're planted" (Jeremiah 29:4-7).

This is perhaps the most difficult action to take. Many times, we want things made right or at least our image of right, but God says, "No." In this situation we see why God has done what he has done, it is because of the disobedience of the people. However, in our lives, we don’t always see everything. It is easy to say, God wanted this, but that isn’t true. God didn’t want it, he just gave man the freedom to do it. This, however, takes us away from our point. My point today is that often God asks us to live right, right where we are. There will come a day of change (Jeremiah 29:10-14), until that time live and be content with where you are.

Yes, there is a time to fight against the system. There is a time to stand against what isn’t right. There is a time also to wait. There is a time to let go. The key is to know when that is. Here in this passage, God is giving the captives instructions on what to do. For us, it may not always be clear. This is why the prayer of serenity is so poignant.

God grant me the serenity

To accept the things, I cannot change

The courage to change the things I can

And the Wisdom to know the difference.

Photo by Simon Migaj on Unsplash

TCN's Biblical Journey August 6th

Today's reading is Jeremiah 25-28

A long time.

Seventy Years?! (Jeremiah 25:11)

That is a long time. Was this chosen as an exact number to coincide with the number of years the Jews didn’t give the land its Sabbath rest (2 Chronicles 36:21). Maybe, it was it was at least part of it. Was it a rounded number to show God’s perfect completion/harmony? That may have had part of it also. I lean towards the idea that both are true. It was to give the land rest after the years the Children of Israel didn’t, and it was also to show God’s perfect (7) completion/harmony (10).   

One thing is certain once God sets a time he fulfills it (Daniel 9:2). However, I can’t help but notice that after God’s work of perfect harmony(completion), the Children of Israel never served false God’s as they had in the past. It was a long time, but clearly, it was what was needed.

I can’t help but think that sometimes waiting is God’s way of making things perfectly complete. 

Photo by Aron on Unsplash

TCN's Biblical Journey August 3rd

Today's reading is Jeremiah 21-24

“This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live” Deuteronomy 30:19

"Furthermore, tell the people, 'This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.” Jeremiah 21:8

Doing research into Jeremiah 21:8, I wanted to see if what I saw here was generally accepted. I found a quote out of Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers which so matched what I was feeling that I have chosen to quote it.

“The words are not unlike those of Deuteronomy 11:26-27; Deuteronomy 30:15; Deuteronomy 30:19, but there is something like a solemn irony in their application here. They obviously present themselves, not with the wide spiritual application with which they meet us there, but are to be taken in their lowest and most literal sense. The “way of life” is no longer that way of righteousness which the men of Judah had forsaken, leading to the life of eternal blessedness, but simply submission to the Chaldæans, and the life so gained was one of exile and poverty, if not of bondage also.”[1]

The people of Israel had so walked away from God that the only thing left was physical life. Yes, as we read Jeremiah there is a hope for the future, but for now, there is only life. All the blessings of the covenant were gone. It is a very sad place. Those who had so much promise are now just living. It seemed a fate worse than death, however, this life was better than what lay in store for most of those who didn’t surrender.

Does this relate to us today?

I think it does. Those whom have had Jesus in their lives but haven’t lived into the Christian life may find they end missing out on the blessing in this life and the rewards in the next. Yes, they may be saved through fire, but they will have nothing to show for it (1 Corinthians 3:15). Yes, they aren’t lost, but that’s it. And this is a sad commentary on a life, the man on the cross who could do nothing for Jesus seems better off than a person who has the opportunity to obey and doesn’t. 

---

[1] Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers https://biblehub.com/commentaries/jeremiah/21-8.htm. Accessed 8-2-18.

Photo by Matteo Vistocco on Unsplash

TCN's Biblical Journey August 2nd

Today's reading is Jeremiah 17-20

"Who knows how you'll react."

I have enjoyed reading history and the history of war specifically I have noticed an idea which seems to be universally shared: "You don't know how you'll react to battle until your in it." Yes, you can prepare and train and this may help but there is something which happens inside a person. Sometimes they respond just like they have been trained. Others are captured by fear and freeze or run. Others rise to levels of courage which nearly sound like they are storybook. I say all this to say I have to agree with Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?"

There is an answer though, God understands it. "I the LORD search the heart and examine the mind, to reward each person according to their conduct, according to what their deeds deserve" (Jeremiah 17:10). God knows what is really happening. He knows if an action can't be helped or if it is a deliberate choice. The other side of this is that he rewards rightly. We can misjudge. We don't know the inside, which is why judging someone's intent and destiny is left in God's hands, not ours.

This is the Old Testament equivalent of Jesus' words not to judge. It is also a promise that God is just. He is fair and He can be trusted.

Photo by Stijn Swinnen on Unsplash

TCN's Biblical Journey August 1st

Today's Reading is Jeremiah 13-16

A linen parable.

Buy and wear a linen girdle (chapter 13:1). This type of cloth was underclothes made to be close to the skin. A symbol of God’s desire to have Israel close to him, but Israel rebelled against Him (verse 11). They started out being closer to him, but they soon were separated and was unable to have that relationship.

God, I believe, is a storyteller. The Bible, of course, is full of stories and parables were Jesus’ most often used teaching tool. God is once again using the story of the marred girdle to show the condition of Judah.

Judah thought they were okay. Yes, if they looked at the commands of God they would have known they weren’t, but they relied on human comparisons and probably thought they were good people. This is the condition of most people without God showing them they feel they are doing pretty good, and if not then they have others to blame. God, however, is showing them this what you are like and gives them the option once again to humble themselves and return to Him.      

Photo by Karen Maes on Unsplash