Thursday, March 29: Hebrews 2- One-liners of substance.

Verse 1: We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.

Verse 8: … In putting everything under him [Jesus], God left nothing that is not subject to him. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him.

Verse 17: For this reason he [Jesus] had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.

Verse18: Because he [Jesus] himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Even with all the teaching about Jesus, I found my spirit drawn to verse 1 and the commendation to pay careful attention lest we drift away. One of the important themes of Hebrews is constantly calling believers to persevere, to pay attention to their faith, and the trajectory of their faith.

Am I growing closer to Jesus, the Father and the Sprit, or am I drifting away? This question leads to self-examination. I confess that I am a mixed bag, with some areas of growth and some of stagnation.

How about you? Are you sailing toward God or drifting away? This is serious business…

Lord God, I pray with the Father in the Gospel.   I believe, help my unbelief. Oh Lord, I seek to grow to be more like Jesus, to manifest the Fruit of the Spirit, to exude faith in Jesus.  Help me in my areas of weakness and sloth. I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

 

Wednesday, February 29: Lamentations 3- Great is Thy Faithfulness.

What a powerful chapter! This chapter had so much for me. I had forgotten what amazing truths lie in this one chapter.

The chapter opens with Jeremiah’s continuing lament.  His heart screams out in pain. I am the man who has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath (1). It seems like this chapter will continue as the two before, weeping at the destruction of Jerusalem.

But an unexpected curve in the road happens around verse 22. Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." The LORD is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD (22-26).

I had to soak in the luxury of these verses for awhile. Rather than me re-writing them, go back and re-read them… once, even multiple times. The hymn Great is thy Faithfulness finds its inspiration from these verses. Dare to read them once more…

God is faithful. His mercies are new each day. I testify to this. Even during the days of greatest pain and testing God’s mercies were evident in abundance. “Oh, Bill, put your hope in the Lord,” became my person admonishment to myself as I read and re-read on these verses this morning…

Then came more from the Lord. In verses 3:36, 38-39 Jeremiah makes sense of the destruction of Jerusalem and the justice of God. [T]o deprive a man of justice-- would not the Lord see such things? …Is it not from the mouth of the Most High that both calamities and good things come? Why should any living man complain when punished for his sins? The destruction, the death, the horror of what he had witnessed,is not some God run a muck, a rampage of violence like a mob destroying a city. No, it is punishment for sin.

These actions were just –as painful as they appear and feel.  God’s judgments are just. The people are receiving due justice for their sins.

The next thing I knew, Jeremiah was leading me to a time of personal introspection. Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD. Let us lift up our hearts and our hands to God in heaven, and say: "We have sinned and rebelled … (40-42).

Oh Lord, as I examine my ways, I, too, have sinned. I confess that I have not lived as You would have me live. I have not loved neighbor as I love myself and I have not loved You as You deserve. Forgive me for my general sin-filled ways and for the specific sins I have committed…

I cannot stand in persona righteousness. I come to You only through the name of Jesus, my Savior and Lord, in whose name I pray. Amen.

 

Tuesday, February 28: Lamentations 2- A Word to Religious Leaders.

 

The cries and pain continue to pour from Jeremiah. The most dreaded has happened. Emotions flow in torrents. I see videos of 9/11, loop in my mind as I read, people running covered in dust. World Trade towers crumbling, screams, and jumpers… panic everywhere.

Jeremiah’s tears flood as he laments his ‘9/11.’

Verse 14 caught my eye: The visions of your prophets were false and worthless; they did not expose your sin to ward off your captivity. The oracles they gave you were false and misleading. Those who should have warned Jerusalem, who should have protected Jerusalem, failed. More so they were a major component of the problem. The prophets should have spoken up.  They should have heard from the Lord and steered Jerusalem to safety. Instead they gave false words and steered Jerusalem into disaster.

Last month a Carnival Cruise captain piloted his ship into the rocks off Italy’s shores. Like the prophets, he disregarded the known maps and took his ship where it should not have gone. Disaster resulted. Dozens died as the captain abandoned ship. A sad but fitting metaphor for what happened in Judah.

When leaders in God’s house do not do their job, when they don’t offer the true word of the Lord and allow (even steer) people to run outside the safety of God’s Word, disaster happens.

Pray for church leaders. Pray that they remain faithful and teach God’s Word. Pray hard.

Lord, my heart breaks for some of the things I see happening in Your church today…

Lord, I pray that I remain faithful to Your Word.  That Your Word would shape and mold me, my thinking and my living. Lord, I pray that Your Word would be the plumb line against which I align my life, my thoughts, my behaviors. Through Jesus, the Living Word, I pray. Amen.

 

Monday, February 27: Lamentations 1- Relationship involves communication .

A word about Lamentations

Jeremiah wrote Lamentations as he mourns the fall of Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was not just any city; it was God's holy city - the seat of God's temple.  With the burning of God's city and temple and the deportation of His people, there is more than the destruction of a city.  There is the realization that God has rejected His people because of their faithlessness and sin. Lamentations consists of five poems of mourning.

 

 

Jerusalem has fallen to the Babylonians and been destroyed. After killing the army and looting the temple and important buildings the Babylonians destroyed the city. They tore down all the important buildings including the Temple. The ripped apart the protecting walls. Jerusalem lay in ruins…

Jeremiah was overcome with grief. Out of his broken heart comes Lamentations… a poem, a dirge to the destruction of Jerusalem, the city of God.

In his pain –utter pain- Jeremiah gives voice to his anguish. He allows his grief to move his pen. As I read today I tried to feel the pain he was venting…

We cannot all write like Jeremiah, but his model is a healthy model for all of us, expressing to the Lord what’s going on. Write, sing, cry, weep, speak, play music… however you can release your inner pain to the Lord, do it.

God longs for a relationship with us and relationship involves communication… communication at all levels, joy and pain, fear and strength. God can handle what’s happening in your life… so talk with Him. Jeremiah did and we have Lamentations because Jeremiah dared to share the pain of Jerusalem’s demise…

Think about it.

Lord, I bare my soul and thoughts to You. I come to You for You can give me strength and solace, love and peace in every season of my life.

I come to You in Jesus, my Saviors’ name. Amen.

 

Saturday, February 25: Jeremiah 52- A crushing day.

With detail, Jeremiah chronicles the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. As a priest, the heartache from watching the temple be destroyed and the sacred articles carted away was an immense burden to bare. The heart and soul of Jeremiah’s faith was destroyed.  How would sins be atoned for? How would people express their gratitude and thankfulness to the Lord?

Priests, more than anyone, understood that the temple was God’s footstool on earth. God’s presence lived in the temple.  Where would God be now? How would people connect with the Lord? The center of Israel’s faith was destroyed.

I thought about crushing days… days of despair and anguish. This was a national day of despair for all of Israel. Jeremiah witnessed it.

Life has days like this…

Somehow, someway,  God remains present to and with us on those days. God stood with Jeremiah. God’s covenant with His people remained in tact even though the temple was destroyed.

The Lord is there with us in the storms of life. God was with Jeremiah. God was with His people preserving and protecting a remnant. God is with us when pain and heartache and anguish are the stapes of life during those crushing times…

“Hold on,” that’s what I kept hearing. “Hold on!  The Lord is with you during those pain wracked seasons of life. Hold on to the Lord!”

Lord God, as I review my life, I respond ‘Yes, Amen.’ You were there during the dark days. You are there during the dark days and I don’t know how I would survive were it not for You and Your presence during those days.

Thank You for standing beside me. Thank You for providing strength I could not have mustered on my own. Thank You for never leaving nor forsaking me. Praise be to You, Lord God. Through Jesus, I pray. Amen.

 

Friday, February 24: Jeremiah 51- God cares.

How do you encourage a broken people? What lifts the spirits of the defeated?

Yesterday the Lord reminded Israel (and us) her sins will be forgiven… a search will be made for Israel's guilt … and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare (50:20). The guilt they now feel will be lifted off and taken away. That word lifts spirits!

Today God confirms that judgment will come upon the enemy (Babylon) who inflicted pain upon them. And so through out today’s chapter, God declares His Word against Babylon

Babylon will suddenly fall and be broken. Wail over her! … 'The LORD has vindicated us; come, let us tell in Zion what the LORD our God has done.' … For the time will surely come when I will punish the idols of Babylon; her whole land will be disgraced and her slain will all lie fallen within her (8, 10, 47). Knowing your enemy gets their just desserts can encourage.

And so God speaks. He speaks peace to the guilt wracked psyche of Israel & Judah. He confirms that Babylon, their great enemy, will fall and pay for the pain they inflicted.

Twenty-five centuries later, these can be difficult words to read and ponder but to people in the day, they brought great hope and encouragement.

I thought about what I just typed… that’s it. God cares. God enters our world and offers us what we need.

In the fullness of time God literally entered our world in Jesus and offered broken and defeated humanity what it sorely needed… a Savior. Jesus lifts the sin of all who believe in Him and He will judge God’s enemies and the enemy of His church.

God wins and His people win with Him.

Lord, thank You for the ways You enter my life and speak words of encouragement and hope and peace and forgiveness. Thank You for always being there; for inviting me to rely on You.

Praise be to Your name Lord God.

To You I pledge my life and my all… to share Your name and tell Your story… to be an ambassador for You, wherever I am.

Praise You, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 

 

Thursday, February 23: Jeremiah 50- .

As I read about the total destruction of Babylon, pictures of modern day Bagdad kept flashing in my thoughts. Babylon of old was somewhere in that vicinity and that area is nothing but barren dessert. God fulfilled His Word…

Maybe a third of the way through the reading, a lone verse, verse 20, surprised me. I made a mental note… this would be my meditation point for the morning.

Amid the ravages of destruction, this verse was an oasis of life. In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "search will be made for Israel's guilt, but there will be none, and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare.

God never looses sight of His objective. Babylon was to be a hand of discipline against His people. But when their penalty was served -70 years- His people would be restored. They would be called back home, reestablished in the land. Verse 20 adds one additional detail to the picture, their sins will be forgiven.

I love the imagery of verse 20… a search will be made for Israel's guilt … and for the sins of Judah, but none will be found, for I will forgive the remnant I spare. Psalm 103 reminds us that as far as the East is from the West, so far has God removed our sins from us!

Holocaust survivor and devoted Christian, Corrie Ten Boom, used to say, “God takes our sins and throws them into the deepest part of the sea and then puts up a sign, ‘NO Fishin’ Allowed’”

What an amazing picture of forgiveness. Kings would call for a search of the archives to find a decree or a piece of history. You and I can go to a library or Google something but in the case of Israel and Judah’s sin, nothing could be found! That’s God’s forgiveness. Once forgiven, the sin is gone, erased...

The same gift is offered to you, me, and everyone if we will confess our sins and believe in and receive Jesus as Lord. …

Think about it…

Lord Jesus, I confess that I have sinned (spend some time here)…

I am sorry and I repent. Please pour out Your forgiveness that I might be washed clean, so that if a search be made, no sin can be found in me, thanks to You.

In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, I pray. Amen.