Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 10-12
I love the way that our reading for today starts out! It calls idols “scarecrows,” but “the Lord is the true God; He is the living God, the eternal King.” What an insult to make a idol of material and then equate it to the loving, just “LIVING” true God, Who made heaven and earth! My high school best science non-Christian teacher, when asked if he believed in evolution, replied, “I’m not dumb enough to believe that all this just happened, but what Being created our world, I just don’t know!” So you would have noticed in our readings that God as Creator is the most reliable proof of His presence in our lives!
I am thinking that it is Jeremiah who quietly prays to the Lord, “I know, O Lord, that a man’s life is not his own; it is not for man to direct his steps. Correct me, Lord, but only in justice – not in Your anger, lest You reduce me to nothing.” Seems to be a good daily prayer for me to pray!
Jeremiah’ reaction to invitation to be part in God’s covenant is the opposite to Israel’s reaction! Hopefully my reaction will be Jeremiah’s – “Amen, Lord!” And the benefits for obedience to the covenant are desirable enough!
Interesting that God would say that Judah had as many gods as towns! And there are a lot of things this world pursues rather than the One true living God! But the New Testament tells me the answer for this. The god of this age (Satan) has blinded the minds of those who believe not, so that they can not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, Who is the image of God. (2 Cor. 4:3-4) But it is a choice of whether to believe or not!
I guess I’m like Jeremiah and get tired waiting for God’s justice! I guess I don’t have the glorious long-suffering patience which God has! But He waits with great longing, Peter tells us that all would be saved, but as God told Jeremiah, in the end, He will bring judgment on those who don’t believe!
But even the nations who submit to God will have part in blessing – He is a God Who delights to bless and His patience is super-human, but when the right time comes, He will judge in complete justice, in complete holiness! And I like Peter’s admonition “Therefore, beloved, since we look for such things, be diligent to be found in Him in peace, spotless and blameless!” A good goal to aim for! – not for impossible perfection in this life, but through the process of sanctification in this life – found in Him in peace, spotless and blameless when He comes to catch us away or we step though the door of death into immediate life forevermore in His presence!
If my mind serves me right, the second last verse in the Bible says, “Even so, COME, Lord Jesus!