SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 2/25/2014
8:53 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
Jeremiah Looks up & Prays for Mercy
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
10:23-25
Message of the
verses: “23 I know, O LORD, that a
man’s way is not in himself, Nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps. 24
Correct me, O LORD, but with justice; Not with Your anger, or You will bring me
to nothing. 25 Pour out Your wrath on the nations that do not know You And on
the families that do not call Your name; For they have devoured Jacob; They
have devoured him and consumed him And have laid waste his habitation.”
When we look back at Jeremiah 7:16 we read “"As for
you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them,
and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you.” Jeremiah was instructed by the Lord not to
pray for these people, and son in this passage Jeremiah prays for himself, as
one who is a representative of these people.
Jeremiah had a great heart and a great burden for these people, and I
suppose that is why the Lord chose him for this job.
Dr. Wiersbe points out that the prayer that Jeremiah
prays presents three arguments to persuade the Lord to be merciful to His
people. I am reminded of what Moses did
when he prayed for the nation of Israel after they had sinned and how it was
that he interceded for them as Moses also had a great burden for the people of
God.
First part of the prayer Jeremiah reminds the Lord that
these people were only flesh and blood.
Let us look at Psalm 103:13-16 to see if maybe Jeremiah was thinking
about these verses when he prayed for the people of God: “13
Just as a father has compassion on his children, So the LORD has
compassion on those who fear Him. 14 For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but
dust. 15 As for man, his days are like grass; As a flower of the field,
so he flourishes. 16 When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, And its
place acknowledges it no longer.”
Second we see in this prayer that if the Lord gave these people what they deserved
then they would all be destroyed, but isn’t that the truth with all of us for
if it were not for the mercy of the Lord we would all be consumed. Let us go back to Psalm 103 and look at verse
ten: “10 He has not dealt with us
according to our sins, Nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.” As we compare these verses in Psalm 103 with
Jeremiah’s prayer we can be sure that Jeremiah was a student of the Word of
God.
In his third argument Jeremiah brings up the point that
the nations were trying to destroy Israel, whereas God wanted Babylon to
discipline them, but they took it too far and now God would judge these nations
for trying to destroy the nation of Israel.
This kind of thing is still going on today and has been going on ever
since Israel became a nation for Satan hates Israel and is doing everything to
destroy them, but he will not succeed.
When God called Abram who He renamed Abraham He told him “1 Now the LORD
said to Abram, "Go forth from your country, And from your relatives And
from your father’s house, To the land which I will show you; 2 And I will make you a great nation, And I
will bless you, And make your name great; And so you shall be a blessing;
3 And I will bless those who bless you, And the one who
curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be
blessed." We can see
throughout history that God has kept his promise to Abraham and to his
offspring. Just as we saw when we
studied the book of Daniel that Daniel prayed for things that God had promised,
and this is a pattern that we as believers should follow.
Dr. Wiersbe finishes this third chapter in his book by
writing “It was on this note that Jeremiah ended his ‘temple sermon.’ The results?
According to Jeremiah 26, he was seized and condemned to die! Rather than hear and obey the true Word of
God, the priests would rather commit murder!
The Lord saved Jeremiah from being killed, but he was banished from the
temple (36:5). I wonder how many
preachers today would boldly preach a message they knew would result in their
being dismissed? And I wonder how many
in the congregation would be willing to accept that message and obey it?
“God didn’t promise Jeremiah any easy ministry, but He
did promise to keep him strong (1:7-8, 17-19).
He kept His promise to Jeremiah, and He will keep His promises to His
servants today.”
Spiritual meaning for
my life today: My prayer is that God
will keep me strong doing what He desires me to do regardless of any
consequences that may come.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5-6
Memory verses for the
week: Philippians 2:5-7
5 Have this attitude in
yourself which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, although He existed in the form
of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, 8 but emptied
himself, taking the form of a bond-servant and being made in the likeness of
men.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible question: “Jesus” (John 2:7).
Today’s Bible
question: “Ben-hadad was king of what
country?”
Answer in our next SD.
2/25/2014 10:31 AM
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