August 10 - Jeremiah 11-13
Do you realize that God makes covenants with His people? That is what Jeremiah is told to remind the people about in this passage. God made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of Egypt. It was very specific. It included blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience. (Deuteronomy 28) God had determined that Israel had broken their part of the covenant, so He was having to carry out the curses. (11:3b) This is the way God works. He expects commitment, and He has consequences for a lack of commitment to His covenants. Do you know that we live under the New Covenant now? Do you know that God is watching to see if we are keeping our part of the New Covenant, which is to become like Jesus? Do you doubt that there are consequences to breaking the New Covenant? I hope you realize that it is serious to break any covenant with God.
Jeremiah was warned that he might be killed for telling people about the covenant and the curses of not following it. (11:21b) That threat led him to ask God a question in chapter 12. The question had to do with why the wicked were prospering, when they were breaking the covenant. God answered his question by saying that He had forsaken His people, and soon, they would be destroyed. They might have some temporary prosperity, but in the long-run God's justice would prevail. We might have the same type of question, if we don't see the big picture, the eternal perspective of life. Never doubt that God will judge sin and bless righteousness, even when He does not carry out that judgment as we think He should. Let God handle the details.
Finally, I must comment on Jeremiah 13:23. God was punishing His people, because their basic nature had become evil. It was not what they were doing on the outside; it was who they were on the inside that concerned God. An Ethiopian could not change his skin color, because that is in his DNA, and so are the spots of a leopard. The Israelites had evil in their spiritual DNA, and God knew that He must punish them, or it would destroy them all. Take a long look at your own heart today. What do you see? Be honest, because God sees everything. He can cleanse it if it is dirty, but you can't change it yourself. Go to Him, and He can cause you to become a new person spiritually. He can change that spiritual DNA.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Jeremiah 14-16.
Jeremiah was warned that he might be killed for telling people about the covenant and the curses of not following it. (11:21b) That threat led him to ask God a question in chapter 12. The question had to do with why the wicked were prospering, when they were breaking the covenant. God answered his question by saying that He had forsaken His people, and soon, they would be destroyed. They might have some temporary prosperity, but in the long-run God's justice would prevail. We might have the same type of question, if we don't see the big picture, the eternal perspective of life. Never doubt that God will judge sin and bless righteousness, even when He does not carry out that judgment as we think He should. Let God handle the details.
Finally, I must comment on Jeremiah 13:23. God was punishing His people, because their basic nature had become evil. It was not what they were doing on the outside; it was who they were on the inside that concerned God. An Ethiopian could not change his skin color, because that is in his DNA, and so are the spots of a leopard. The Israelites had evil in their spiritual DNA, and God knew that He must punish them, or it would destroy them all. Take a long look at your own heart today. What do you see? Be honest, because God sees everything. He can cleanse it if it is dirty, but you can't change it yourself. Go to Him, and He can cause you to become a new person spiritually. He can change that spiritual DNA.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Jeremiah 14-16.