Hope for the people of God
2 Samuel 14:15
“We’re like water spilled on the ground; no one can gather it back. But God doesn’t take away life. Instead, he plans ways that those who have been sent away will not have to stay away from Him!”
In the book of Jeremiah, people were choosing to rebel against God. They had turned their backs on Him. They were living in the land of Promise and had turned towards their own comfort, success, and pleasure to fill them.
Other things were more important to them than God. They no longer feared Him. They were pouring out drink offerings to other God’s (the sun, moon and all the host of heaven) and not even thinking twice about it (Jer. 8:2). Why not? Maybe the other God’s would give them more of what they wanted (success and prosperity). They were each following their own course (Jer 8:6). Yet they thought they were wise and that the Lord was with them (Jer. 8:8).
Even the prophet and priest were corrupt and speaking falsely. They were telling the people it was good and there was peace, lulling them further into complacency and sin (Jer. 8-11) when they should have been correcting the people.
While every one else was rejoicing and talking of peace, Jeremiah spoke of coming judgment and war. While the people laughed and enjoyed themselves, Jeremiah wept. His heart was sick and he grieved deeply day and night over the condition of the people (Jer. 8:18-9:1).
Jeremiah confronted the people in their sin and the prophets in their lies. He called the people to repentance. However, none would listen to His correction. They hated Him for the words He spoke and rejected him for it.
What was it that God wanted? Jeremiah 32:38-40, that they would once again be His people, and He would be their God. For their own good and that of their children, that the people would fear God and follow in His ways. He wanted to establish an everlasting covenant with them. As a result of them fearing God and following in His ways, God would establish them, prosper them and rejoice in doing them good (Jer. 32:41,33:6-9).
If the people continued to experience the “good life” that they were living they would never turn to God. They would go further and further away from following after God. They needed to learn that the god’s they were serving had no power in their lives. They needed to cry out once again for the living God. Not for the sake of God’s needs, but for their own good. God does not need us, but He knows that we need Him. As we turn away from Him and seek to get our life from the world, God works to bring us back to Him in His goodness to us.
When the markets were crashing and the economy was reeling, my first reaction was to want to pray, “God make it stop! Fix everything so that I can have my comfort, convenience, and security back again.” I don’t want to worry about losing a job, loosing retirement or see it happen to anyone else around me. Part of me asks the question: Is God really good if the neighbor down the street lost their job, retirement income and is running out of unemployment insurance?
I am sure the same thing could have been asked in Jeremiah’s time. Was God really good? He was sending all the people into bondage in Babylon. They were being torn from the only life they knew to live a life of difficulty and near starvation. How could God claim to be good? However, when God tried to get their attention other ways, the people would not listen. God in His goodness was drawing their hearts back to Him – even if it cost them everything else.
What I found myself praying when our economy was crashing was “Let Your kingdom come, let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The truth is that what our country needs is not another retirement option or more prosperity, what we need is for our hearts to turn back to God. We need to repent of our greed, our pride, our selfishness, and our consuming of the worlds resources. We need to repent for our turning away from God and trusting instead in the world system and our own prosperity. We need to turn once again to our Savior and find that in God, and God only, can we trust.
The words “In God we Trust” need to be more than a pithy statement on a coin. I received an email on how many Christians were upset because they thought “In God We Trust” was being removed from some of our currency. What is deeply disconcerting is that for many of us, it has already been removed from our hearts. We are trusting in our economy and system rather than God. Having it removed from coins would be a good thing if it would perhaps cause a few of us to grieve for the state of our hearts.
War, famine and being hurled away to Babylon looked to be a horrible thing in the time of Jeremiah. However, it ultimately is what saved the people. It turned their hearts to long once again for God. God restored His people and brought them back. God is good and His works are good. I say that now but I still have a good job and most of my retirement plan. What if I were to loose everything? Would I still proclaim God’s goodness so loudly? I hope so!
In the midst of being overwhelmed with the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah wrote, Lam 3:22-25, “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my ‘portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I have hope in Him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.’” Amen!
“We’re like water spilled on the ground; no one can gather it back. But God doesn’t take away life. Instead, he plans ways that those who have been sent away will not have to stay away from Him!”
In the book of Jeremiah, people were choosing to rebel against God. They had turned their backs on Him. They were living in the land of Promise and had turned towards their own comfort, success, and pleasure to fill them.
Other things were more important to them than God. They no longer feared Him. They were pouring out drink offerings to other God’s (the sun, moon and all the host of heaven) and not even thinking twice about it (Jer. 8:2). Why not? Maybe the other God’s would give them more of what they wanted (success and prosperity). They were each following their own course (Jer 8:6). Yet they thought they were wise and that the Lord was with them (Jer. 8:8).
Even the prophet and priest were corrupt and speaking falsely. They were telling the people it was good and there was peace, lulling them further into complacency and sin (Jer. 8-11) when they should have been correcting the people.
While every one else was rejoicing and talking of peace, Jeremiah spoke of coming judgment and war. While the people laughed and enjoyed themselves, Jeremiah wept. His heart was sick and he grieved deeply day and night over the condition of the people (Jer. 8:18-9:1).
Jeremiah confronted the people in their sin and the prophets in their lies. He called the people to repentance. However, none would listen to His correction. They hated Him for the words He spoke and rejected him for it.
What was it that God wanted? Jeremiah 32:38-40, that they would once again be His people, and He would be their God. For their own good and that of their children, that the people would fear God and follow in His ways. He wanted to establish an everlasting covenant with them. As a result of them fearing God and following in His ways, God would establish them, prosper them and rejoice in doing them good (Jer. 32:41,33:6-9).
If the people continued to experience the “good life” that they were living they would never turn to God. They would go further and further away from following after God. They needed to learn that the god’s they were serving had no power in their lives. They needed to cry out once again for the living God. Not for the sake of God’s needs, but for their own good. God does not need us, but He knows that we need Him. As we turn away from Him and seek to get our life from the world, God works to bring us back to Him in His goodness to us.
When the markets were crashing and the economy was reeling, my first reaction was to want to pray, “God make it stop! Fix everything so that I can have my comfort, convenience, and security back again.” I don’t want to worry about losing a job, loosing retirement or see it happen to anyone else around me. Part of me asks the question: Is God really good if the neighbor down the street lost their job, retirement income and is running out of unemployment insurance?
I am sure the same thing could have been asked in Jeremiah’s time. Was God really good? He was sending all the people into bondage in Babylon. They were being torn from the only life they knew to live a life of difficulty and near starvation. How could God claim to be good? However, when God tried to get their attention other ways, the people would not listen. God in His goodness was drawing their hearts back to Him – even if it cost them everything else.
What I found myself praying when our economy was crashing was “Let Your kingdom come, let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The truth is that what our country needs is not another retirement option or more prosperity, what we need is for our hearts to turn back to God. We need to repent of our greed, our pride, our selfishness, and our consuming of the worlds resources. We need to repent for our turning away from God and trusting instead in the world system and our own prosperity. We need to turn once again to our Savior and find that in God, and God only, can we trust.
The words “In God we Trust” need to be more than a pithy statement on a coin. I received an email on how many Christians were upset because they thought “In God We Trust” was being removed from some of our currency. What is deeply disconcerting is that for many of us, it has already been removed from our hearts. We are trusting in our economy and system rather than God. Having it removed from coins would be a good thing if it would perhaps cause a few of us to grieve for the state of our hearts.
War, famine and being hurled away to Babylon looked to be a horrible thing in the time of Jeremiah. However, it ultimately is what saved the people. It turned their hearts to long once again for God. God restored His people and brought them back. God is good and His works are good. I say that now but I still have a good job and most of my retirement plan. What if I were to loose everything? Would I still proclaim God’s goodness so loudly? I hope so!
In the midst of being overwhelmed with the destruction of Jerusalem, Jeremiah wrote, Lam 3:22-25, “The Lord’s lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness. ‘The Lord is my ‘portion,’ says my soul, ‘therefore I have hope in Him.’ The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him.’” Amen!
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