SPIRITIUAL DIARY FOR 2/4/2014
8:30 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Two More
Sins of Judah
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jer. 5:10-31
Message of the
verses: We are going to try and look
at the last 21 verses in the 5th chapter of Jeremiah which look at
two more of the sins that they have committed against the Lord.
Devastation: They
were Unfaithful (Jeremiah 5:10-19): “10 "Go
up through her vine rows and destroy, But do not execute a complete
destruction; Strip away her branches, For they are not the LORD’S. 11 “For the
house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with
Me," declares the LORD. 12 They have lied about the LORD And said,
"Not He; Misfortune
will not come on us, And we will not see sword or famine. 13 “The
prophets are as wind, And the word is not in them. Thus it will be done to
them!" 14 Therefore,
thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, "Because you have spoken this word,
Behold, I am making My words in your mouth fire And this people wood, and it will consume them. 15
“Behold, I am bringing a nation against you from afar, O house of Israel,"
declares the LORD. "It is an enduring nation, It is an ancient nation, A
nation whose language you do not know, Nor can you understand what they say. 16
“Their quiver is like an open grave, All of them are mighty men. 17 “They will
devour your harvest and your food; They will devour your sons and your
daughters; They will devour your flocks and your herds; They will devour your
vines and your fig trees; They will demolish with the sword your fortified
cities in which you trust. 18 “Yet even in those days," declares the LORD,
"I will not make you
a complete destruction. 19
"It shall come about when they say, ’Why has the LORD our God done
all these things to us?’ then you shall say to them, ’As you have forsaken Me
and served foreign gods in your land, so you will serve strangers in a land
that is not yours.’”
When I look at verse ten it makes me think of the story
that Jesus gave to His disciples hours before He was to go to the cross from
the 15th chapter of John. In
that chapter He spoke about the vine and the branches, and I believe that He
was speaking about different kinds of branches for some of them produced much
fruit, some did not produce as much fruit, and some of them did not produce any
fruit, and were thus burned up. We see
in this section that most of Judah was not producing fruit for the Lord, and
they even though that because they had the temple in the city of Jerusalem,
that God would not allow them to be destroyed.
We also learn from the section from verse 18 that God would not destroy
all of them. I take this to mean that
this is the remnant that we read so much about in the OT, and that remnant would
provide the necessary people to complete the words of the OT, along with producing
a blood line that Messiah would come from.
I mentioned in an earlier SD that I see parallels between
the people of Israel, and Judah with the people of our nation and probably much
of the world today, and I believe that the thing we have in common is that many
people do not believe in the Lord God anymore.
Before the theory of evolution people who were not even believers
believed that God created the things we see and don’t see during the first six
days as seen in the book of Genesis. Now
that the theory of evolution has come about many people in our land and around
the world believe it so that they do not have to be accountable to the Lord,
and so just as Israel and Judah did they turn their backs on the Lord. There will come a day when every knee will
bow before the Lord and confess that He is Lord, and let me tell you it is
better to do that in this life than to do it in the next life when judgment
will come upon all of those who do not confess Jesus as Lord in this life.
Proclamation: They
were unconcerned (Jeremiah 5:20-31): “20
"Declare this in the house of Jacob And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
21 ’Now hear this, O foolish and
senseless people, Who have eyes but do not see; Who have ears but do not hear. 22
’Do you not fear Me?’
declares the LORD. ’Do you
not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for
the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss,
yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it. 23 ’But this people has a
stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed. 24 ’They do
not say in their heart, "Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain
in its season, Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The
appointed weeks of the harvest."
“25 ’Your iniquities have turned these away, And
your sins have withheld good from you. 26 ’For wicked men are found among My
people, They watch like fowlers lying in wait; They set a trap, They catch men.
27 ’Like a cage full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit; Therefore
they have become great and rich. 28 ’They are fat, they are sleek, They also
excel in deeds of wickedness; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the
orphan, that they may prosper; And they do not defend the rights of the poor. 29
’Shall I not punish these
people?’ declares the LORD, ’On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge
Myself?’ 30 “An appalling and horrible thing Has happened in the land: 31 The
prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My
people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?”
Dr. Wiersbe writes that Jeremiah tells the people of
Judah that they were “foolish, senseless, blind, and deaf, and that they had no
fear of God. They were stubborn and
rebellious, having turned away from serving the Lord. The mighty seas obeyed God’s rule, but His
won people rejected Him. God sent the
rains and gave the harvests, but His people refused to thank Him.”
The people were not encouraging one another to fear the
Lord instead they were doing what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans about in
chapter one of that book: “and although
they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy
of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who
practice them (Romans 1:32).”
Again I see parallels to this time in the history of
Judah with our nation today as we today have people who are to preach the Word
of God make up their own things to say and not preach out of the Word of
God. We also have a society which is
being divided between the haves and have not’s.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “When a nation becomes corrupt, there is no hope.”
He concludes this section with the following words “The
sinners thought they were getting away with their crimes, but God asked them, ‘What
will you do in the end?’ (5:31) ‘There is a way which seems right to a man but
its end is the way of death’ (Proverbs 14:12).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The best hope
that we have as a nation today is the hope of the Lord, and what believers are
to be doing is to tell other about the salvation that comes only through Jesus
Christ. One person at a time as we pray
that the Holy Spirit will bring people into our lives who have a need, and that
need is the Lord.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Fight the good fight for the Lord today, and
be ready to tell others of the hope that lies within me.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Goliath” (1 Samuel 17:10).
Today’s Bible
question: “The ram and the two horns
that Daniel saw in a vision, represented the kings of what place?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/4/2014 9:07 AM
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