Gracepoint Devotions

Submitted by Hannah Y. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Key Verse

Jer. 46:28 “ Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you”

Jer. 48:47 “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab in the days to come” declares the Lord.

Jer. 49:6 “Yet afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites.” declares the Lord.

Jer. 49:39 “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Elam in the days to come” declares the Lord.

God is …

God is Sovereign over all the nations and He will assert His rightful place in them.  God is a God of justice.  He cannot tolerate the defiance, pride, arrogance, and idolatry of His people.  In God there is no falsehood or deception.  Ultimately the truth will prevail and God will pronounce his judgment on those who are godless.  In these last chapters of Jeremiah, we see God’s final judgment upon the nations and their final destiny.  God is clear about the destiny of those who are disobedient and idolatrous, and He is not like the false prophets who were promising peace when there was no peace.  He will swiftly deal with his rebellious people.  However, God is also a God of mercy.  He wants to restore the fortunes of the nations that He destroyed and there is that note of hope. Through this we can see that God’s heart is really that people would repent and turn to Him and he does not want to completely destroy.  He is willing to deal with them, willing to go through all these years of sending prophets to warn them, admonish them and plead with them to turn from their wickedness and their adulterous hearts.  Even to the very end, after final destruction of the nations, in “days to come”, God is willing to restore them and desires to see them have a new beginning.

Lessons for me …

Finally, in the last pages of Jeremiah, as I read the prophecies spoken to these different nations, Egypt, Philistia, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar and Hazar, Elam and finally to Babylon, it was a chilling feeling to go through the variety of emotions as God pronounces their final destiny.  I was struck by God’s tireless dealing with the nations, wanting them to repent and to turn to Him.  Each of these nations sinned against God in different ways and aroused his righteous anger, but I was particularly struck by what God says to Moab and Babylon.  It seems that Moab was known for their pride and arrogance.  Jer48: 29 it says “we have heard of Moab’s pride, her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance, the haughtiness of her heart.  I know her insolence but it is futile,” Declares the Lord, “and her boasts accomplish nothing”.  I thought about how Moab is such an apt picture of our society today.  They trusted in their deeds and riches (48:7).  Instead of trusting in God, they became so used to their wealth and material possessions, that they trusted in themselves, they trusted in the stuff they attained, perhaps large buildings, cutting edge technology of their time, good food and wine, abundance of possessions, their physical stature, and their fame among the other nations.  I can see how trusting in these outwardly things can give you such a sense of security.  April was promotion season for my company and as my coworkers were talking about who will be promoted, how the company will be reorganized, who will be recognized for their achievements, it was obvious that those who were getting that promotion just felt so secure and so good.  And those who didn’t get mentioned had such a sense of insecurity, some even bad mouthing management that they were not chosen to be recognized.  Even in this little way, I thought about how we are so prone to be like Moab.  I could really sense God’s heart, reaching out to them, urging them to turn from their pride and to turn to God.  48:31 says, “I will wail for you Moab, for all Moab I cry out…I weep for you”.  This is God’s heart for Moab and for me because He knows our destiny.  He knows that in the end, their “jars will be smashed”, “their towns will be invaded”, their glorious staff will be broken, they will be ashamed, their fortified cities will be in ruin, and their finest men will go down in the slaughter.  Ultimately, all that they took pride in would be completely destroyed.  Moab will be broken down.  It made me see how God wants me to let go of the pride that I find in myself through these fleeting things, and to humbly see the truth and the reality that He is the one who provides true security and reason for pride and boasting.  That I should not boast in myself but in Him.

I was by Babylon as well.  This is the nation that was conquering and defeating other nations.  But in the end, their time came as well.  Babylon had been God’s way of bringing down these sinful nations.  51:20 “you are my war club, my weapon for battle- with you I shatter nations, with you I destroy kingdoms…”  Babylon seemed like such a successful nation this whole time, but in the end, Babylon too fell into God’s hands and eventually became a desolate nation.  I thought about how indeed there will be times of success.  There will times of conquest, times of feeling superior and satisfied because of success, but in the process, I can not leave God and depend on my own successes and competence.   Babylon was punished for their sinful ways, turning from God and worshipping idols, and their wicked treatment of those in captivity. This was a warning for me.  Especially when things seem to be going well, and when I find that temptation to just depend on myself and go in cruise control in my spiritual life. I was reminded again that I need to come back to the truth.  The truth that I am at the mercy of God, that I am a wretched sinner in constant need of God’s forgiveness, and that I have this privilege of being a minister of reconciliation for God.

Finally, in the midst of so much anguish, wrath, anger toward the sins of the nations, there are pockets of hope for His people who are in captivity.  He says in Ch 46: 27-28“Do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel. I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile. Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid. 28 Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the Lord. “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.”  And He also tells Egypt, Elam, Moab and Ammon that He will restore the fortunes of these nations.  God’s intense love for his people is so clear.  Like the heart of a parent, the most intense anger, outrage and discipline is reserved for their children who they love more than anything.  I often feel this way when disciplining my own child.  However, the hope is that we would repent and turn to Him again and place Him in the rightful place in our lives.  I can see that even through all the severe judgment that God brings to these nations, His heart is for there to be restoration.

Prayer
Dear heavenly Father, as I see the way you dealt with all these nations, Oh lord, I confess that my heart is prone to this kind of godlessness and defiance.  When things go well, when things seem to be pretty smooth, please protect me from that temptation to think that it is because of my own capabilities and my own efforts. Protect my heart from becoming proud and arrogant like Moab, which you had to break down to establish the truth of who you are.  Please help me to be warned by the fate of all these nations, that ultimately you are in control and that I am at your mercy.  Please help me to come back to the truth of who I am and how I got here.  It’s through your mercy and how you worked in my life.  And thank you for loving me with this kind of intensity.  Please help me to receive your discipline and warnings with humility so that you can establish the truth of who you are in my life.

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Submitted by Abe Y. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Key Verse

Jeremiah 48:29-30:

29 “We have heard of Moab’s pride — her overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance     and the haughtiness of her heart.  30 I know her insolence but it is futile,” declares the Lord,  “and her boasts accomplish nothing.

God is…

Up until now, it may seem that God is only against Judah for the sins they’ve committed, but this is clearly not the case. Here, we see see God’s response to the sins of the neighboring nations. Jeremiah foretells the destruction and downfall of Egypt, Philistines, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Kedar, Hazor, Elam, and even the mighty Babylon. No one — no kingdom — is exempt from God’s mighty judgment.

In Jeremiah 48, we get a glimpse into God’s view of Moab. A good part of the chapter starts with the prophecy of what God will do to that nation, how God will run them off and they will become captives to foreign nations. He tells them that their days of comfort will come abruptly to an end (vv.11-13), and that their glory days are over (vv.18-25).

What is God’s main complaint against Moab? What have they been doing that deserve such punishment? Part of it is due to their worship in Chemosh, in this fictitious, made-up god.  However, it seems that God is far angrier by their pride. He is disgusted by Moab’s “overweening pride and conceit, her pride and arrogance and the haughtiness of her heart” (v.29). This is God’s main complaint against Moab, and for this reason alone, God will bring judgment against her.

Lessons for me…

In my younger days, much of my time was spent on fighting and struggling against more apparent sins. I remember constantly fighting against my lustful, fleshly desires, and that was a source of many troubles. I had a hard time in loving people, giving people my time and my heart when those are the things that I want to hold onto. I had to battle with a plethora of character issues, in learning to become just a better human being.

This isn’t to say that I don’t deal with these anymore. No, those battles are still there to this day. However, one thing I’ve been learning and relearning over the years is just how proud and boastful of a person I am. I may not be so clueless as to flaunt my skills and abilities, or to show off my intelligence, but deep in my heart, there are ways in which I continue to allow my pride to fester and grow. One thing that’s become more and more apparent to me is the different facets in which pride can reveal itself. For example, there exists within me the pride of wanting to be right, no matter what. Thus, when someone disagrees with me, or just cannot understand a certain position, I feel something inside of me swelling up. My natural instinct is to puff up, and bring out the reasons and logical arguments, to show how this person is in the wrong. This happened recently in which it became so bad, that only afterwards, when the dust had settled, I realized that I had completely missed what was really going on inside of him; I got so caught up by what he said, that I missed out on what he really meant. In our conversation, I knew I was in the right, but I so badly wanted this brother to know it, too. I was so immature, so proud, that I couldn’t bear the thought of him walking away, thinking that he was in the right. And so, I got so caught up in the tit-for-tat argument that I missed his heart — what was going on underneath — completely. It was an opportunity to really lift up this brother and encourage him, to bring truth from God in a very uplifting manner. Instead, the conversation just went further and further south.

God is adamantly against pride because it causes people to be blind — blind towards others, blind about themselves, and blind towards Him. Can we really minister to people if we’re like the Moabites — filled with pride, conceit, arrogance, and haughtiness of the heart? “Her boasts accomplish nothing,” God says of Moab (v.30). For the nation of Moab, nothing could shake them out of this stupor, so God had to go in and intervene. For them, God had to put them to the sword — for me, it was through a painful conversation that shook me out of my own stupor.

However, God’s judgment of doom will not last forever — not on this side of heaven, anyways. Unlike me, who’s so petty and immature as to just wanting to win an argument, God cares more about winning over His people. He’s not punishing these nations to show them “who’s boss,” to show them how utterly weak they are. It is that — but also much more. With the nation of Judah, for example, even though they are so far away in their sin, He says that he will “not completely destroy [them].” Though they will go to exile, He tells them, “Do not fear.. for I am with you” (46:28). Even to the Moabites — a nation that is not of His chosen people, He does not just turn them over to destruction and leave it at that. We see that God “wails over” them, that “for all Moab [He] cries out” and “moan for the men of Kir Hareseth” (48:31). This is God’s heart for His people — He punishes them for their sin, but He mourns and laments over their sorry state. He longs for them — even the foreign nation of Moab — to let go of their pride, to see themselves as they really are, and to return back to Him. He disciplines them out of His deep love and concern for them.

O, how I am so unlike God — how I lack the Father’s compassionate heart for others. I, in my pride, am still far too petty. I, in my pride, care more about maintaining the respect of others than to take the risk of actually caring for someone.

Prayer

Lord, help me to become more and more like You. Help me to continue to die to my pride daily — the pride that gets stirred when someone rubs me the wrong way, the pride that refuses to back down, the pride that insists that I am in the right at all costs. Lord, it’s this pride that is so heinous in Your sight — isn’t it this pride that causes people and nations to fall away from You? Father, let me die to this pride so that I may be able to love others — not just making sure that they’re doing the right things, but to genuinely love and care for them. Father, even in the midst of disciplining Your loved ones, Your heart continues to reach out to them. Let me become more like You, to be able to cry out on their behalf, to be genuinely remorseful over their estate when they fall away, rather than taking in what they’ve done as an indictment against me. Let me not take their offenses personally — after all, it’s not me that they’re spurning, but You! Help me to do all that I can to win over people’s souls, even if it’s costly to me — to my emotions, to my energy level, to my pride. Let this vicious pride die, so that I may love others wholeheartedly!

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Submitted by Ernestine L. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Key Verse

“the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. 5They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. –Jeremiah 50:4-5

God is …

At this point, Israel has been marked by much bloodshed, battle and unfaithfulness to God. However, in these concluding chapters of the book of Jeremiah, we see God’s final and ultimate heart for His people. He sees His people – He sees them terrified, retreating, hopeless and beaten. Though they have experienced much defeat, the Lord their God gives them a message of hope, of fierce confidence in Him. We see this god of retribution once again extending His arms to protect Israel, telling Jeremiah that He would bring them back and bind them to Himself as it says in Chapter 50.

God is a god who wants to build up His people and keep them from destruction. The beginning of Chapter 46 lays out a picture of God’s building up of His people and the promise of safety. God tells Israel that they should not fear and not be in dismay, for He will surely save them out of a distant place, that Jacob will again receive peace and security. Though he will destroy all the nations and scatter His people among them, God has a plan for them. He does this not because He wants his people to continue suffering or enduring shame and punishment. His loving discipline is that of a Father’s for His wandering and confused children. God’s heart for His people is one of a deep love that wants them to ultimately experience victory, but only through being humbled and broken. So they would not be left without hope, but instead with a hope entirely from and in God. The victory becomes sweet as they will experience returning and clinging onto God for dear life.

God hates pride. He detests it. As we look at the Moabites and the other nations, we see the extent of God’s heart against that deeply rooted sin called pride. As the chapters go on to include God’s message against the nations – Philistines, Moab, Ammon and so on, we take a look at just how much the Moabites banked on things that did not last – they trusted in their deeds and riches, but soon enough they too would be held captive and none of what they amounted to would matter. They indulged in their riches, in their idols and altars and ultimately retreated from reality, seeking comfort by keeping the sword from bloodshed.

And yet, a remarkable thing to note about our God is that He is one of deep compassion. Though He proclaims to Jeremiah the detailed accounts of how each of these nations will ultimately be brought down; though they bask in their pride and arrogance right now, there is still that mark of mercy. “Yet I will restore the fortunes of Moab, in days to come,” declares the LORD. “Yet afterward, I will restore the fortunes of the Ammonites, declares the LORD. And the same goes for Elam. God’s mercy depicts perfectly for us the heart of God. Though these nations will be destroyed, He will restore and redeem them when their pride has been broken and destroyed. There is this plan for each nation in mind.

Lessons for me …

The downfall of Moab would be her pride – conceit, arrogance, haughtiness of heart, insolence as Jeremiah 48:29-30 lists. God sees this attitude and condition as detestable and yet pitiful because He then wails over Moab, cries out, moans for their men. How true of this is God’s heart for me when I am in the midst of my detestable pride, when I rage up inside against others, against God Himself; when I want control over my life and over others like the Moabites over their nation, when I too want to retreat and keep my sword from bloodshed, wanting to just indulge in the comforts, the idols, the “riches” in my life – things I think I have control over. Again, God’s heart is that these things will be destroyed, they will be no more, futile in the grand scheme of this spiritual battle I am engaged in.

We see the bittersweet return of the people of Israel in Chapter 50:4-5 – as the attacks on Babylon will take place, these are the times, declares the Lord, that “the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces toward it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten.” Finally, their hearts will want to turn back to God, after long turmoil, after much defeat of their pride and the accounts of their unfaithfulness. Only when they themselves have been beaten down can they return with such longing of heart. This is how God sees me and every person – only when pride has been banished, destroyed, when our hearts have been wrecked do we see the sweetness, the beautiful retreat back to God – wanting to be bound with the Lord in this everlasting covenant. Only as I see myself more clearly, as I experience my pride being torn down, my desire for some semblance of control that is finally relinquished do I acknowledge this ever desperate need to come back to God.

When I think of these nations that gave into their idols, whose man-made systems of self-gain and self-glorification proved faulty in the eyes of God, so pitiful and futile, I see how relevant this picture is to me when I do the same exact thing – when I claw after the things of this world – image, status, respect, self-glory, which only resort in pride and arrogance. God’s wrath is against this; He wages war against my pride. I think about the people so given into the heights of their hills, the people proud and arrogant b/c they think they’ve got it going strong and well for them at this moment in time. However, they do not know how much this is wrecking the heart of God; they have no idea how futile their efforts are – those who chase after seeking glory for themselves, being driven by their pride and arrogance. Ultimately, God beckons to the lost, to my heart when it goes astray, to these nations – to come in tears to seek Him, to be bound to His everlasting covenant, to finally be given peace and security.

From examining each of these nations and God’s response to them, I see the effect of my own pride, my own chasing after idols, my own building up of high places – it was because these things were never meant to be for those purposes. Though God blesses me with fortunes, I cannot take them, twist them for my own gains. As in ministry – I cannot use what I have received from God for gain of self-glory. In relationships, I cannot turn them for self-approval or comparison to make myself feel more or less of anything. When I receive responsibilities over tasks or ownership over people, again, I cannot bulk up in any sort of arrogance thinking I can handle more or less than someone else. God sees the folly of each nation and how they have been enraptured by the heights of their hills and the clefts of their rocks as the Edomites were. And when my pride is exposed, this is when God needs to destroy and conquer over my heart, when He has in mind the steps needed to bring down my arrogance, then His promise to each nation and to me is “Yet I will restore….”  And yet He has in mind to restore me and still bless me with a life used for His advancement.

Prayer

Father, I come to You with all my pride and arrogance. I am like these nations, foolishly thinking I could bask in comforts, thinking I could build up altars and high hills for myself when You want to destroy all of these things within me. The battle has been marked, and You alone have spoken against my pride, my arrogance, my insolence. Your great desire for me is to have me finally return and bind myself to Your everlasting covenant. Though You speak against my sinfulness, my pride; though You break me by revealing to me the truth about myself, I understand Your great mercy that desires for me to ultimately return in humility and sweet victory over the enemy. Father, I acknowledge the detestable pride within me that rages up when I seek control in areas of my life, when I seek control over others, when I seek some sort of high hill to stand on. And I seek after You for Your mighty hand, Your protection, Your guarding over my heart against being deceived by my pride. Father, thank You for Your heart and mercy over me.

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Submitted by Joel L. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Key Verse

“Do not fear, O Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, O Israel.  I will surely save you out of a distant place, your descendants from the land of their exile.  Jacob will again have peace and security, and no one will make him afraid.  Do not fear, O Jacob my servant, for I am with you,” declares the Lord. “Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.” – Jeremiah 46:27-28

God is …

From these chapters, I see God’s heart going out to the other nations besides Israel where He is pronouncing what will happen to them, and some kingdoms will be destroyed such that no one will live there again or some kingdoms will have their fortunes restored in the future after being punished. God’s heart is not only for His people in Israel, but He is concerned for the surrounding nations, and His words must have given some hope to the nations who would be restored one day though judgment was coming. Though Israel failed to obey His commands and be faithful to Him such that they would glorify His name, God still continues to work and pursue nations and people who would open up their hearts and minds to Him. In order for this to happen though, Israel and the nations need to be punished for their sins and their pride smashed. God is focused on salvations, and this  is with Him even in the midst of His anger and dealing with the nations. Even in the midst of punishing Israel, God is not totally angry with them, but He says they will return to their homeland and have rest and security.

Lessons for me …

Personally, I am so thankful that God is with me during those tough times where my sins are exposed or truths are revealed to me that expose my shame and guilt, because these are times where my pride instinctively rises up and wants to be arrogant and stubborn. Though I don’t want to experience the pain and suffering that comes from being humble and confessing, repentance is necessary and it’s the only way to see the reality about myself and the consequences of my choices. Time and time again I have experienced those times of rest and security afterwards, because I see with such greater clarity who I am and who God is, and the fear of the world and protecting my pride gets replaced with the proper fear of God. As with the nations that God is going to punish, so it is with me where my pride gets puffed up with the blessings of the world and comforts. The fear of God is diminished and sin grows and makes me senseless.

“Every man is senseless and without knowledge; every goldsmith is shamed by his idols.  His images are a fraud; they have no breath in them.  They are worthless, the objects of mockery;    when their judgment comes, they will perish. – Jeremiah 51:17-18

God knows for His people and for me that these idols will not satisfy and it pains His heart when we go down these paths and this is why God continues to speak to us so that we may remember Him and know Him. God doesn’t delight in punishing, but He wants to give us true rest and security. How maddening it is for God when I try to find these things in the world when I seek after financial security, being liked and approved by others, desiring to be comfortable, and other idols. These idols will demand more and more of my time, resources, and strength, and what is stripped is a closer walk with God and a heart without passion to do God’s will but my will. Being  a minister, I myself have to be vigilant against idols, because those who look to me for guidance , I need to be able to speak with conviction against idols that will take them down destructive paths. When things are going in their lives, I can trust God is with them and He’s ultimately working so that they may be saved, and this needs to be my heart for them despite whatever my feelings, emotions, and thoughts are filled with. My heart needs to be regularly engaged with God so that I can listen with an open heart and mind and heed God’s instruction and warning as He wants to prepare me for what is coming. When God speaks to me about some sin, I need to confess it right away. If God is speaking to me about my habits, character issues, or lack of love, I need to be desperate to respond and lift up prayers whenever I can.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, you are a holy God, and I can see a little of how your heart must be frustrated when those you  love seek after that which is detestable. These nations became proud because they trusted in their riches and success, and it led them down a path that caused them to sin greatly and leave a trail of victims. You are just when you punish, and I praise you that you remember your people so that they are not completely devastated. You offer hope and renewal when we are humbled and turn back to you, and I pray that I will be responsive when your word speaks to me and my rest and security will come from you. Though the truth may be uncomfortable for me, I pray that I will receive it with humility whether it be from your word, messages, or times of praying. Make me an instrument to do your will and share in your heart to rescue more and more people from the path of destruction and lead me to know you and your son, Jesus Christ. I pray that my heart will grow in fearing you more than anything else, and I will leave with your presence in my mind. May your name be glorified and not my name. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

Submitted by Eunice K. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Jeremiah 41-45

Key Verse

Jeremiah 45:4-5  The Lord said, “Say this to him: ‘This is what the Lord says: I will overthrow what I have built and uproot what I have planted, throughout the land. ⁵ Should you then seek great things for yourself? Seek them not. For I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord,but wherever you go I will let you escape with your life.’”

God is …

The whole episode with Johanan is so tragic and maddening in a way.  There is that moment of hope when he and “all the people from the least to the greatest” came to Jeremiah asking for guidance and promising obedience to God.  And God answers them in such a reassuring and compassionate way, promising to build them up and to save them from the king of Babylon.  God talks about how he is grieved over the disaster he has inflicted on them and how he wants to restore them.  But once again, the people completely reject God’s words through Jeremiah.

This gives me insight into God’s heart as he carries out his judgment and wrath on his people.  It is not the picture of a raging, power-hungry king, who is simply angry that his subjects do not obey him.  Rather, it is the aching, long-suffering heart of a parent, who suffers rejection after rejection while eagerly hoping for his child to repent so that he can restore him and bless him.  I was struck by how even though God knows what’s in their hearts and that they are planning to reject his words through Jeremiah, still he gives them tender and compassionate promises and repeated warnings about what will happen if they disobey him.  It is a wounded and yet determined father who can’t give up, who still tries to persuade and plead even though he knows the son is so rebellious.

These chapters also give me a picture of how foolish and irrational we can be, as sinners, and what God’s response is to us.  It seems that Johanan and the people just could not trust God’s words because they were suspicious of Baruch and Jeremiah betraying them to the Babylonians, and because they were determined to seek safety in Egypt, where other Jews had fled.  And then in Egypt, when Jeremiah brings God’s warnings to all the Jewish exiles living there about their continued idolatry, they display amazingly revisionist memory and attribute the times they were well off in Jerusalem to the fact that they were engaged in idol worship.  It’s disheartening to say the least to see how the people simply did not learn their lesson and completely disbelieve God’s intentions despite all the warnings, all the prophetic words, and all the difficulties and grief.  How much more tragic and heart wrenching it must be for God.  And yet, it is amazing that God is not completely jaded and disgusted by their repeated offenses.  He continues to persist in trying to get through to them, following the Jewish exiles even into Egypt, still trying to reason with them and show them what their idolatry has led to.

Lessons for me …

I had to marvel once again at God’s persistence and commitment to his people.  It is the same kind of heart that we see in Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians – this kind of long-suffering love despite rejection and offenses.  I realize how God is so often misunderstood.  It’s so wrong to see him as a taskmaster that arbitrarily demands various things from us, or a petty ruler who wants to limit our freedom. That is simply a shallow and mistaken understanding of God and his heart towards us.  In my own Christian life, I need to mature more in understanding and sharing God’s heart that aches for sinners and is so committed to struggling with them, expending so much effort to get them to understand who He is to them and what will lead to a blessed life.  I realize once again that I need to recalibrate my perspective of what is genuine love according to what I see about God’s heart. Genuine love is not about maintaining pleasant and positive feelings; it inevitably involves commitment and striving and suffering in order to lead people to relationship with God and salvation from sin that can be so bewildering and stubbornly foolish.

Chapter 45 is an interesting little chapter that once again gives insight into how narrow my personal perspective can be.  I can totally relate to Baruch, who is groaning and feeling worn out by all that has happened.  And God’s personal message to him is a wakeup call, that life is not about seeking “great things for yourself,” and to understand the much greater reality about what God is doing and what kind of times he lives in. He reminds Baruch that the fact that he is able to live is really due to God’s graciousness towards him.   Like Baruch, my perspective is so instinctively self-centered and at times I feel like I’m “worn out” in my efforts to serve God.  But what I need are times of having my perspective broadened to see what God is doing, how He is contending with so many people that reject him and misunderstand him, how he is holding back true judgment and what our sins truly deserve in order to try to save us.  Against this backdrop of reality, I realize that I really haven’t scratched the surface of sharing in God’s heart and engaging in the kind of love he calls me to.  I need to be brought to the fresh realization that God has been so merciful to me, and that the stakes are much higher than my personal comfort.  God is grieving and struggling over lost people and he calls me to share in his heart.

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Submitted by Ben K. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Key Verse

42:10-12:

‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I am grieved over the disaster I have inflicted on you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the Lord, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands.  I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’

God Is…

A lot is revealed about God’s heart in God’s command to Johanan and his men in 42:10-12.  What’s interesting here is the amount of reassurance God gives them.  God could have just said, “I command you to stay.”  Instead, we see that God not only commands them to stay but He gives them many words of reassurance: I will build you up, I will plant you and not uproot you, do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, do not be afraid of him, I am with you, I will save you, I will deliver you, I will show you compassion, he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.  It seems God recognizes that what he is asking them to do is scary and will require faith so his answer to their question of what they should do is full of reassurance.  God hopes and wishes for his people to trust him.  God wants them to trust in his heart for them, to trust in his power.  An important aspect of any relationship is trust, and it is no different in our relationship with God. I am reminded of Proverbs 3:5 which says:

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”

What also stood out to me in 42:10-12 is that God admits to grieving over the disaster he has inflicted.  Though it was something that He chose to do, He still grieves over it.  It’s like a loving parent who disciplines his child out of love, but seeing the pain of his child causes the parent to hurt too. God’s discipline isn’t cold hatred or heartless vengeance, but God shares in the pain of his people as he disciplines them.  The picture of God that emerges through Jeremiah is a loving God who wants people to repent and enter into a trusting relationship with Him.

Lessons for me…

Because Ishmael and some men killed Gedaliah (the governor appointed by the king of Babylon), Babylonian soldiers and some Jews, the remnant in Judah are afraid of Babylonian retaliation.  Johanan and company are fearful for their lives so they consult Jeremiah asking him to ask God where they should go and what they should do.  Which country should they run away to?  What’s the best strategy for their survival?  In 42:5-6 they say to Jeremiah:

“May the Lord be a true and faithful witness against us if we do not act in accordance with everything the Lord your God sends you to tell us. Whether it is favorable or unfavorable, we will obey the Lord our God…”

However, when Jeremiah tells them what God’s told him, they don’t accept it because it’s not the answer they were looking for.  God tells them to go nowhere, to stay where they are.  From their perspective, this is the least strategic advice because they were convinced that the king of Babylon would destroy them if they stayed.  They were gripped by their fear and so they did not obey God.  Instead of admitting that they were disobeying because lacked faith and were afraid, they attack Jeremiah’s character and cast suspicion on his motives in 43:2-3:

“You are lying! The Lord our God has not sent you to say, ‘You must not go to Egypt to settle there.’ But Baruch son of Neriah is inciting you against us to hand us over to the Babylonians, so they may kill us or carry us into exile to Babylon.”

There are times when I feel like Johanan and company and find it hard to trust God.  I remember when I first started working and got my first meager paycheck, I started to feel anxious about money and career.  I equated money with security because I grew up wealthy but after my father passed away there was financial insecurity and there are a lot of negative feelings associated with not having enough money.  I made more than enough money to get by with my new job, but my insecurity drove me to desire more.  For the most part there wasn’t much tension between serving God and doing my job, but at times when the demands of work and ministry increased at the same time and I felt tired, the thought would cross my mind that if I didn’t have minsitry responsibilities to worry about, I would be able to invest so much more in my career.

During times of anxiety and fear God reassures me through his words much like he addressed the fears of Johanan and his men.  God addresses my issues time and time again through daily devotions and messages, and I am amazed by the constant provision of His words.  When I was struggling with financial anxiety, His words encouraged me to continue to follow Him and to trust him as my only source of security.  Were it not for God’s reassurance through his word, I would not be here at a church plant today nor would I have experienced the joy of seeing God so powerfully at work in our midst and seeing so many precious brothers and sisters come to salvation.

If we believe that God is all-powerful and that He is good, we ought to trust Him.  In 43:10 God calls the king of Babylon “my servant Nebuchadnezzar.”  God calls this incredibly powerful king that was the cause of such great fear for Johanan “my servant.”  I was reminded of Isaiah 40:15:

Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket;
they are regarded as dust on the scales; 

To God, all the nations are like a drop in a bucket.  I was reminded that God really is this big, and He bigger than all my problems, concerns, and anxieties.  I can be sure that no matter what the issue may be, my trust in God is not misplaced.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I am reminded again that you are a good God with good intentions for me and that you are mighty and powerful.  Please forgive me for my lack of faith and trust in you and for looking towards other things to provide my security and significance.  I thank you for your timely words that reassure me time and time again to trust in you.  And I thank you for all the blessings I have received through trusting in you.  You are indeed a faithful and trustworthy God!  In Jesus name, Amen.

Submitted by Steve K. from Gracepoint Riverside Church
Jeremiah 36-40
Key Verse
Jeremiah 38:20
“‘They will not hand you over,’ Jeremiah replied. ‘Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared.”

God is …
Jeremiah 36:3 “Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.”

In this verse God expresses His heart behind why He goes through the trouble of trying to warn the people of Judah through Jeremiah. Ultimately He wants them to heed the warning of the coming disaster and to turn from their wicked ways. He wants them to repent, so they can receive forgiveness for their sins rather than experiencing devastating consequences of their disobedience and rebellion against God.

I’m struck by God’s persistence and zeal to get through to His rebellious and stubborn people. Even after King Jehoiakim so brazenly showed no fear as he burned the scroll containing the words of God in chapter 36, God instructs Jeremiah to make another scroll just like the one the king burned. God is determined to give his obstinate and stubbornly proud people another chance to hear His words. God has been making His appeal to His stubborn and rebellious people for many years already by this point in the book, but I see how God faithfully speaks to his wayward people through warnings, corrections, and harsh rebukes to the very end before the disaster that God predicted came true through the Babylonian invasion.

I personally experienced God faithfully reaching out to me with His words as He sent many different prophets throughout the years of my life. From those early days of Sunday school teachers to my leaders at Gracepoint, God has never ceased to be speak to me even in times when I was proud and stubborn about pursuing my sinful desires and being committed to self-affirming thoughts like, “I’m an OK guy. There’s nothing wrong with the way I am.” God persisted to get through to me by making numerous attempts to warn me, reason with me and to shake me with ego devastating truths about myself.

As it were in the times of the King Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, God’s faithfulness and zeal to bring sinners to repentance were through the sacrificial obedience of people like Jeremiah. Because Jeremiah was willing to be set apart for God and undergo being mistreated, imprisoned, beaten, falsely accused as a traitor, and dropped into a muddy cistern to starve to death, the word of God was able to reach people and turn the hearts of some like Ebed-Melech, who was saved from being killed by the Babylonians.

I, too, am called to be God’s prophet for people God brings me to. Thinking about the sort of example Jeremiah was as God’s prophet, I’m challenged to fight against the temptation to resign to people who seem initially unresponsive. Need to fight against wanting to save myself from disappointments, frustrations, and heartaches in trying to love others who may be bent on pursuing their sinful desires or too proud to admit their sins and repent. I know that God is challenging me to be a faithful prophet and shepherd to His church and the people He has entrusted to me by persisting in prayer and looking for opportunities to share God’s words with them–not just once, twice, but as many times as God provides me with each person.

Lessons for me …
King Zedekiah is an interesting person. On one hand he seems so stubborn and unwilling to hear from God through Jeremiah. In Jeremiah 37:2 it says, “Neither [King Zedekiah] nor his attendants nor the people of the land paid any attention to the words the Lord had spoken through Jeremiah the prophet”. But then in the following verse it says that he sent a messenger asking Jeremiah, “Please pray to the Lord our God for us.” Zedekiah allows Jeremiah to be imprisoned, but then he asks Jeremiah in private, “Is there any word from the Lord?” Zedekiah seems conflicted in his heart. On one hand he seems to know that Jeremiah is a real prophet of God, but he doesn’t want to really heed God’s warnings and obey what God wants him to do. Zedekiah seems to be full of fears about maintaining his kingship, so he gives into the demands of officials to get rid of Jeremiah who is causing their soldiers to become discouraged. He says to his officials, “The king can do nothing to oppose you.” In King Zedekiah’s final conversation with Jeremiah he shares vulnerably what fears haunt him (Jeremiah 38:17-19). He fears being mistreated by the Jews who defected to the Babylonians if he should surrender to the Babylonians like God is commanding him to do. Jeremiah assures him by saying, “They will not hand you over. Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared.” King Zedekiah ultimately ends up being a tragic figure, because in the end he decides to cave into his fears and tries to escape rather than surrendering to the Babylonians like God told him to do. His disobedience results in his downfall and the destruction of his family and the rest of the Jews.

King Zedekiah’s life is a sober warning for me to consider if there are ways I’m trying to hear from God in a self-serving way. Being curious to know what God has to say, but not being willing to obey or just foolishly hoping that things will work out as I go on doing life the way I think is best for me. Am I hoping that God will change His mind and say things that would suit my selfish, sinful heart desires? I need to check my heart in approaching God’s words through daily devotions or hearing messages. I need to make sure that I’m listening to obey rather than trying to negotiate with God by delayed obedience or trying to see if God will eventually cater to my desires and fears.

I think another lesson to be learned is how my fears can cause me to have certain projections of the future that’s just not true or really insignificant in comparison to the bigger fear I ought to have about the consequences of living a life of disobedience to God. For King Zedekiah, he was focused on the possibility of being mistreated by Jews who defected and didn’t see that God’s wrath was upon him and his nation because of their sinful rebellion against God. If I don’t have proper fear of God, then like Zedekiah, I will be governed by fears and a projection of the future that will lead to making foolish, regrettable decisions. In my petty or even imagined fears about life I can become so stubbornly committed to doing life according to my own wisdom and perspective, and consequently stubbornly refuse to listen to God and obey Him. And like King Zedekiah, my foolish and self-serving approach to life will affect others around me. My disobedience to God can cause many others around me to suffer.

In Jeremiah 38:20, Jeremiah says to King Zedekiah, “Obey the Lord by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you….” God instructs me to obey Him in specific ways not only through my own reading of scripture, but also through spiritual leaders in my life who are like Jeremiah to me–people whom God appoints over me to guide, warn and instruct me to live a God honoring life. Ultimately God’s heart behind insisting that I obey Him is so that life will go well for me and to all those I affect. This is something I need to keep in mind as I strive to obey God even when obeying God becomes costly and difficult.

Submitted by Linda K. from Gracepoint Riverside
Key Verse
Jeremiah 38:15 “…Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.”

God is …
God’s heart for Jerusalem to turn from their sinful ways is described in Jeremiah 36:3, “Perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, each of them will turn from his wicked way; then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin.” Throughout the text, I see God pleading with the Kings to obey His word, but they refuse. They couldn’t have imagined surrendering to Babylon, but little did they know that obeying God would have saved their lives and other people’s lives. From this I see that God is more concerned about our relationship with him than with what we may think is so important to us (i.e. pride, possessions, etc.). His persevering love to deliver the truth is shown through Jeremiah, and although he is put under watch in the palace court and put into a cistern, God protects him, with the hope so that people can turn to the truth and be saved and forgiven.

Lessons for me …
Through Jeremiah 36-40, I see the consequence of not obeying God’s warnings through the fall of Jerusalem. Though Jeremiah faithfully delivers God’s words of warning to the officials and kings to surrender to Babylon, they resist. When King Jehoiakim heard God’s words in the scroll he threw them into the fire until there was no more and wanted Jeremiah killed. Whereas King Zedekiah was willing to hear what Jeremiah has to say and protects Jeremiah, but he does nothing to act upon what he hears until it is too late and all of Jerusalem is taken over. The frightening thing is from the time King Zedekiah became king (Ch. 37) to Jerusalem’s fall, it had been the ninth year of his rule (Ch. 39), yet his view and stance towards what Jeremiah had been saying remains unchanged throughout that long period of time. What characterizes this complacent attitude is described when Jeremiah says to the King in Jeremiah 38:15, “…Even if I did give you counsel, you would not listen to me.” Whatever it was that prevented Zedekiah from responding to the truth, I see that we are no different from these kings in how we respond to truth.

The response of these kings tells me how proud and stubborn our hearts are. We may hear the word of God day in and day out through our daily devotions, bible study, prayer meetings, Sunday messages, yet it is very possible for us to have the same response as the kings, that instead of humbly receiving the truth, we can reject it, or act passively until it is too late. Some of the ways we can do this is when our heart is proud and we reject the truth or think it does not apply to us or when we think we can take care of some sin or heed some warning later. All of these responses are disastrous because the consequences of our sin will catch up to us and do more harm than we originally thought.

Through this text, I see that God’s word is always timely and I ought to always take seriously God’s warnings about my sins and it can manifest in my life so that I can be on guard and be quick to confess and repent. Though the truth is not always easy to receive, I need to always have the posture and humility as a sinner to accept that God is the one who sees and knows all things and to trust always in His righteous judgment. The failure of the Kings to take Jeremiah and God’s word seriously led to the downfall of a whole nation. Then for me the failure to take my sins like my pride, arrogance, envy, jealously, etc. seriously will led to the downfall of my relationships around me and with God. I have to see that God’s warnings are not just to tell me that I am wrong, but an act of love to save me and others from the consequences of my sins.

Prayer
Lord, thank you for helping me to see through this passage the consequences of not taking your word and truths seriously through the destruction of a whole nation by a two kings. I confess that I am no different from them, that I have a heart that is resistant to the truth especially when it deflates my pride and ego, but help me to see that your words are life saving. Forgive me, Lord, for my prideful heart that thinks I know what is best for myself, when in reality I do not know how widespread effect my sin can have on myself and others. Help me, Lord, to be come humble to your words of truth and to the ugly truths about myself so that I will be eager to hear from your words of truth and from the people who bring the truth to me. And help me to be like Jeremiah, to be someone who faithfully delivers your words of truth to those who may be resistant with the hope they will understand see your heart behind it all. Thank you for your persevering love that does not end until I respond to the truth. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Submitted by Jenny C. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Key Verse

Jeremiah 31:34 “No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

God is…

What stands out to me through today’s DT passages is God’s heart of mercy and compassion. Though God has brought the sword upon his people and he has exiled them from their homeland, he remembers the covenant and the promises he has made in the past. Jeremiah 31:3-4 says, “The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness. I will build you up again and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.” Though for the time being, God punishes his people justly for their stubbornness, their rejection of him, their idolatry, God does not forget the love that he has for them, a love that is everlasting – what he has proclaimed in the past is still true today. Because this is who God is, despite Israel’s unfaithfulness, their backsliding, their evil deeds, God vows to build his people up again.

Lessons for me…

I am reminded through this of how a covenantal relationship with God ultimately does not depend on my deeds, my performance, my merit, my circumstances, but solely on who God is as a God who loves and is merciful despite my sinfulness and failures, my unfaithfulness and my desires to follow the stubborn inclinations of my heart. As I pause to think about it, I am so much like this obstinate nation Israel–my track record of following God is stained with selfish gain, complacency, deceitfulness, desire to rule over my own life. If a life of following God depended on my ability to be righteous and my faithfulness, I would be disqualified.  I would still be out in the desert as an exile because again and again in my relationship with God I forget His place in my life and settle for lesser things. As Romans 9:16 says, “It does not, therefore, depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.” In Jeremiah 31:33-34, “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the Lord. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord. “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

God himself will create a new covenant after his people have broken the old covenant. He longs to gather them back from the exiled places, to put his law in their minds and hearts, to be their God. And what is staggering is his promise to “forgive their wickedness and remember their sins no more.” After reading through the beginning chapters of Jeremiah and seeing how abhorrent Israel’s sins were, how anguished, offended, and hurt God was by their sins, these verses are astonishing to read. God, the rejected lover, the dishonored father, takes it upon Himself to rectify the wrong that his people have inflicted upon him. By all accounts, why should God put up with such sins? Why should He bother with people who keep on doing what they want and who hurt him so much? It is out of His everlasting love and his faithfulness to fulfill the gracious promise he made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah (cf. Jer 33:14). He says in Jeremiah 33:14 that he “will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line.  In those days, Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it will be called: the LORD Our Righteousness.” This promise was fulfilled in Jesus, the righteous Branch who saves us from our sins, God’s own initiative to restore a fallen people to Himself. More deeply I see God’s scandalous love for me.  Though my sins cause him pain, He has made the first move to reconcile me to Him through Jesus. Through Jesus, I see the anguish and pain of sin upon God’s heart.  Through Jesus, He forgives my wickedness and remembers my sins no more – this is amazing news and it is cause for me to be humbled once again, to be in awe of His love and grace for me.

God uses the imagery of a Father disciplining his son.  Though he corrects and punishes his son for being like “an unruly calf” (cf. Jeremiah 31:18), He says, “Is not Ephraim my dear son, the child in whom I delight? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares the Lord” (Jeremiah 31:20). God’s love is not deterred by the son’s lack of honor and love for Him.  Though the Father often speaks against him, his thoughts are never far away from his son. I am reminded of Hebrews 12:6, 10-11, which says, “Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son…God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.”  God pronounces his punishment to his people because of their wickedness, but ultimately he does so with a heart to bring them back and restore them. He longs to be their God, to bring health and healing to them, to cleanse them from all the sin they’ve committed against Him. In the same way, He is a God who longs to bring His holiness and His healing into my life, and this will involve correction, rebuke and discipline because I am a sinner who really does not know the right way to live before Him. Intrinsically, I do not like correction, I do not want to be disciplined, to go through hardships, and to have to struggle with my sins. Yet God’s reaction to all that is rotting and festering in my heart because of my sins, wrong values, distorted thoughts, is one of love – and it is because of His great love for me, His delight in me, His greater vision for me that he will discipline me. I think when ugly sins are exposed in my life, when I go through times of struggle, my inclination is to turn these into signs that I have personally failed God, that I am outside of His love and grace, that I am so far away from Him that I don’t know how to return to Him. God says as he has brought all this calamity on this people, so he will give them all the prosperity he has promised them (cf. Jer. 32:42). I can take heart that the correction I receive, the painful truth spoken to me are signs of His love for me.  Because of His covenantal love to me, He cannot stand to see me live for lesser things, He cannot leave me as I am when there are character and sin issues in my life. He wants for me to have singleness of heart and action, to fear Him for my own good; His desire is to shape and mold me into a people who will bring him renown, joy, and honor. Knowing this about God helps me to see discipline and hardship differently – they are things I desperately need as a sinner and they are signs that He loves me too much to allow me to continue down a broken path.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I am reminded of Your heart of compassion and grace in my life. The only reason I am not exiled from You because of my sins is because You had the heart to bring me back from the faraway country, Your heart to cleanse and restore me. I see how incredible and scandalous is Your love for me and Your promise to forgive all my sins and remember my wickedness no more. Lord, I am in awe of Your compassion for me – I know that it is out of this same love that You correct and discipline me. God I confess that I am proud and I would like to think I no longer need correction or am over and done with certain sins or struggles; please humble me with Your goodness, to know that You are a Father who disciplines, but with the intention of purifying my heart and causing me to fear You for my own good. Thank You that You love me with such a fierce, everlasting and covenantal love.

–

Submitted by Jasper C. from Gracepoint Riverside

Key Verse 

Jeremiah 32:37-40

37 Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. 38 And they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 39 I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. 40 I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.

Jeremiah 32:42

“For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.”

God is … 

God is justified in his anger, and he honors us by taking our sins seriously.  In the earlier parts of chapter 32, Jeremiah is recalling all these grievances that God has against his people, “you have brought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and wonders…they entered and took possession of it. But they did not obey your voice or walk in your law. They did nothing you commanded them to do.” (32:21-23) Not only did they repeatedly refuse to live the way that God commanded them to live for their own good after bringing them out of slavery, they turned their hearts to idols and other gods, offering sacrifices to Baal that consisted even of giving their own children, which was so appalling to God that he says it did not even enter his mind that they would do that (32:35). After thinking and going through the history and faithfulness of God to his people through their tumultuous history, I realize more why God must be feeling so much anger and hurt over the kind of response that he gets from his people in turn – certainly it puts into perspective the kind of punishment that God is promising through Jeremiah, of destruction to Jersusalem and its people, that it’s not about this wrathful God losing his temper and lashing out in revenge against his people, but rather it shows that God’s judgment is a final resort after struggling generation after generation with a unrepentant, stubborn and offensive people. It’s less about God dishing out a harsh sentence, but more about God giving his people the dignity of being taken seriously, and in giving them clear punishment so that they will be forced to confront their sin.

Love always seeks to bring us back from repentance into renewed relationship with God.  However, even through the receiving of the punishment for their sins, there is a clear redeeming purpose that God intends for the people, it comes out in the next few verses.  Starting from 32:37, God paints this great vision for a restored people: “I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God.”   This is God’s heart!  The punishment and destruction of Jerusalem isn’t the end of the story of God’s people, but it’s only the necessary step that needs to happen before the people can be restored.

Lessons for me …

What does this tell me about my struggles and the painful process of repenting for my sins? It tells me that I need not fear that if I struggle and confront ugly things about me that that will be the end of me, because God’s intention all along is restoration and bringing me back to the point of having a right relationship with him, to experience joys and good things – things that come from being free from enslavement to my own self-interest and image, to be able to have joy in loving other people and doing truly meaningful work that will make eternal impact. When I think of it, isn’t that what ministry is? Compared to wins and achievements that the world can offer, the impact of changing people’s lives will far outlive them all, because people are eternal whereas an innovation or an achievement is quickly overshadowed and forgotten by the next thing to come around. In 32:42, it states, “For thus says the Lord: Just as I have brought all this great disaster upon this people, so I will bring upon them all the good that I promise them.” When it comes to walking with God, I know that I do not have to fear permanent rejection knowing that God’s heart is one of love for me. It gives me confidence to be honest.

Prayer

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for being the kind of patient and loving God that you are, even in the times of discipline You demonstrate your heart and intention for restoring us to a way of life, that all along your heart is for us to experience a good a thriving life, free from the slavery of our sins. I thank you for the ways that I experience this in my own life, that broken path that I was on, even on to the cycle of failing and turning from you and needing to repent again and come back, through all of that you are patient to journey with me and that you don’t give up in this relationship. I pray that to the extent I come to understand this richness of my relationship with you, I will gladly obey you in loving other people through ministry and other avenues of my life, and that through that I would come to really share in your heart. Please continue to have mercy and patience with me as I struggle and grow, and I pray that I can become more effective in sharing love as my own testimony of your work in my life grows richer. In the name of Jesus I pray, amen.

–

Submitted by Brian W. from Gracepoint Riverside Church

Key Verse

“This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the Lord.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.

Jeremiah 31:33

God is …

In the midst of disobedience, in the pause of the Babylonians closing in, there is a note of grace, a moment of hope and peace for Jeremiah and he looks past the bleakness of the current situation where he is experience deep anguish, persecution from his own people, and frustration after frustration.  God in the end, despite Israel being an obstinate people, promises this: “I will be the God of all the clans of Israel, and they will be my people,” at the end of the captivity.  And in the midst of what God says we catch a glimpse of why the exile is so important for the Israelite people at the time:

“They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back.”  Jeremiah 31:9

“After I strayed, I repented; after I came to understand, I beat my breast.  I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth.”  Jeremiah 31:19

“I will put the law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God,and they will be my people.” Jeremiah 31:33

God’s heart is a heart of repentance and return from the people.  In the chapters of Jeremiah, there’s a recognition that God is not about external actions, just wanting his people to get things done – make sacrifices, shout praises, give offerings.  God’s not looking for people to simply serve diligently in doing ministry, doing their devotions or serving God in various capacities.  God clearly wants people to actually be His people.  It’s so easy to fall into the mentality of taking for granted my identity as a Christian.  I know when I get into a “groove” when I’m feeling like things are going well at work, when things are falling into place in ministry, and I am desiring to stretch out – that’s when it’s the most dangerous to become like the pre-exile Israelites, wanting to keep their slaves, refusing to stand to their commitments.

Lessons for me …

But these chapter echo a reminder the flip-side of the picture as God speaks of the future and the renewal of the covenant to a humbler nation coming out of captivity.  And I think about when am I the closest to God – isn’t it when I recognize the brokenness of my life.  It’s the times that I strayed, when I remember the years when I lived life for myself, the old life of spending endless hours on the computer not caring about the people right in front me.  It’s remembering the days when I simply just wanted to give up on ministry because it was too hard; not recognizing how I just wanted an easy, comfortable, predictable life for myself.  It was not just knowing the kind of life I was going to live, but repenting and turning from those thoughts – to become God’s people wherever I was needed, and I think now, though I still have a lot to grow in, still to fight against the sins that still hold me in exile, my pride and competitiveness, but knowing that all this in the end – is so that God will be my God, and I will be his people.  And the comfort seeking person I used to be is such a far cry from what God has done for my life today: working with so many of the other committed team members here in Riverside, seeing lives changes before my eyes, people still as undergrads committing to doing ministry, actively outreaching to their non-Christian friends – we have become God’s people – and I could’ve never imagined as such.

But what got me and will continue to lead me thus far?  It’s actual understanding of my sin and real repentance – only when I come “weeping … pray [God will bring me back].”  If I continue to be as I am, will God work?… maybe, but how much powerfully can He work if His people are humble – if I stop my life trying to compare myself to how other people are doing in ministry, or even terms of worldly or social success.  There are times when I look out and the siege ramps are starting to build to take up the city.  But unless I am self-aware and admit to my weaknesses through my stage of life and stop acting smug and self-sufficient and deluded like Zedekiah, can I be prepared for the sieges that come in life: difficulties in ministering to a broken world and rebellious hearts, the siege of the lies of the world wanting to compromise and settle so I can find a more predictable life making concessions just for the sake of marriage or better job prospects, loosening in my commitments finding space for myself – Babylon will come at some time or another, and will my compromises leave my land as a desolate waste?

At the end of the day, what is more powerful than staying faithful is being reminded of God’s faithfulness: “I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line he will do what is jus and right in the land.” At the end of the day in the midst of all the grime, messiness, and sin is the promise of a Savior, in whose promise I can actually be able to say “The Lord Our Righteousness.”  Because in the end, the only thing that can stop my vicious cycle of going back to the prideful life that I try to live, trying to out do other in position and career – if my life then becomes the church, it would simply translate into outdoing people in ministry and regard in the church: faithfulness for simply that sake would only lead to pride.  But because I know that I live only because I have a Savior, I know that I’m not living off my sheer effort but being reminded of these verses that once again – I know my cruel and default estate, that the only to be free from that is to live humbly knowing that my righteousness, true righteousness only comes through God and His promise and sacrifice – that nothing I can do I can rest my pride and laurels in.

Prayer 

God, in the midst of the warning, please do not let me fall into self-satisfaction of how I am serving or what I am doing – but continue to keep me humble: help me recognize in all the ways that I still need to grow, that I still need to learn: that the most tragic place I can be is someone who is arrogant and self-sufficient losing the need to be humble.  As you’ve put so many watchmen in my midst, my leaders, the older staff, peers and even the younger ones – that I would take strong warning from Jeremiah’s words.  Pray that I will also find the base of my hope in humble recognition of my human sinfulness, that this would be my foundation of my relationship with You, remembering Israel was closest to You in their weakness, in their need for God rather than in their own strength.  And as I continue on, now the third year here in Riverside – to never lose sight and awe of all that You have already done –

Keep me humble and repentant – in Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Background of Jeremiah: (compiled notes from the NIV Study Bible Notes & Life Application Bible Notes)

The book preserves an account of the prophetic ministry of Jeremiah, whose personal life and struggles are known to us in greater depth and detail than those of any other OT prophet.  His ministry was primarily in Jerusalem and spanned the years from 626 B.C.  to sometime after 586 B.C.  Jeremiah was commanded by God not to marry and raise children because the impending divine judgment on Judah would sweep away the next generation (16:1-4).  Jeremiah began prophesying in Judah halfway through the reign of Josiah (640-609 B.C.) and continued throughout the reigns of Jehoahaz (609), Jehoiakim (609-598), Jehoiachin (598-597) and Zedekiah (597-586).  It was a period of time when the doom of entire nations – including Judah itself – was being sealed.  The power centers of imperial giants of Egypt, Assyria and Babylon were shifting, causing upheavals in the smaller nation states in the area.

During that tumultuous time, King Josiah of Judah was killed near Megiddo in 609 at the hands of the Egyptian Pharaoh Neco II (2 Ch 35:20-24), and Jeremiah, who had found a kindred spirit in the godly Josiah lamented his death (2 Ch 35:25).  Josiah’s son Jehoahaz (also known as Shallum), ruled for just 3 months before Neco (the Egyptian Pharaoh) put him in chains and made Eliakim, another of Josiah’s sons, king and renamed him Jehoiakim.  This change of kings marked a significant turning point in the court’s attitude toward Jeremiah, as Jehoiakim was relentlessly hostile toward Jeremiah.  From that point on, Jeremiah would be persecuted and imprisoned, enjoying only brief moments of freedom.

Around this time, in 605 B.C., the Egyptians were crushed at Carchemish on the Euphrates by Nebuchadnezzar (46:2), the newly appointed ruler of Babylon.  Then Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in 605 B.C., humiliating Jehoiakim (Da 1:1-2) and carrying off the first set of Israelites into exile.  This is when Daniel and his three friends were taken (Da 1:3-6).  Later, in 598-597, Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem again and eliminated Jehoiakim.  Jehoiakim’s  son Jehoiachin ruled Judah for only 3 months (2 Ch 36:9).  Jeremiah foretold that Jehoiachin and his followers would be captured (22:24-30), a prediction that was later fulfilled (24:1; 29:1-2).  Then Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle and a son of Josiah, was renamed Zedekiah and placed on Judah’s throne by Nebuchadnezzar in 597 B.C. (37:1; 2 Ch 35:11-14).  Zedekiah was a weak and vacillating ruler who sometimes befriended Jeremiah and sought his advice but at other times was unwilling to protect Jeremiah and allowed the prophet’s enemies to mistreat and imprison him.  Near the end of Zedekiah’s reign, Jeremiah entered into an agreement with him to reveal God’s will to him in exchange for his own personal safety (38:15-27).  But the “protection” provided by Zedekiah was virtually a house arrest, which lasted until Jerusalem was completely captured by Babylon in 586 B.C. (38:28).  At the final destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, Nebuchadnezzar executed Zedekiah’s sons in front of him and then blinded him (39:1-7).

Overall structure: chapter 1 is Jeremiah’s call to be a prophet.  Then chapters 2 through 39 are prophecies about Israel and Judah.  The basic theme of his message was: “Repent and return to God, or His judgment will come.”  But then, because the people rejected this warning, Jeremiah moved to predicting specifically the destruction of Jerusalem (which was fulfilled in 586 B.C., described by chapter 39).  Chapters 40-45 describe events following Jerusalem’s fall, and the book concludes with prophecies concerning a variety of nations (chapters 46-52).