SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/31/2014
10:40 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
God Disposes of His Rebellious People
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah 24:1-10
Message of the
verses: “1 After Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had
carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the
officials of Judah with the craftsmen and smiths from Jerusalem and had brought
them to Babylon, the LORD showed me: behold, two baskets of figs set before the
temple of the LORD! 2 One basket had very good figs, like first-ripe figs, and
the other basket had very bad figs which could not be eaten due to rottenness. 3
Then the LORD said to me, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said,
"Figs, the good figs, very good; and the bad figs, very bad, which cannot
be eaten due to rottenness." 4 Then the word of the LORD came
to me, saying, 5 "Thus says
the LORD God of Israel, ’Like these good figs, so I will regard as good the
captives of Judah, whom I
have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans. 6 ’For I will set My eyes on them for good, and I will bring them again
to this land; and I will build them up and not overthrow them, and I
will plant them and not pluck them up. 7
’I will give them a
heart to know Me, for
I am the LORD; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they
will return to Me with their whole heart. 8 ’But like the bad figs which cannot be eaten
due to rottenness-indeed, thus says the LORD-so I will abandon Zedekiah king of
Judah and his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem who remain in this land
and the ones who dwell in the land of Egypt. 9 ’I will make them a terror and
an evil for all the kingdoms of the earth, as a reproach and a proverb, a taunt
and a curse in all places where I will scatter them. 10 ’I will send the sword,
the famine and the pestilence upon them until they are destroyed from the land
which I gave to them and their forefathers.’"”
One thing for sure as I look at this short chapter in the
book of Jeremiah and that is that I can see the sovereign hand of the Lord all
over this chapter. I can also see His
grace, mercy, and also His wrath in this chapter.
From our study of the book of Daniel we saw that there
were three deportations from the land of Judah to Babylon, the first was in
605, which is the one that is believed that Daniel went, then in 597 when
Jehoiachin went along with Ezekiel, and then there were also some who left in
586, but most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem stayed along with Jeremiah. The year 597 was the beginning of the end for
Judah. As we read this and other parts
of the book of Jeremiah we can see the distress that he must have been going
through, for after all he is known as the weeping prophet.
When one reads this chapter is it possible that what is found
here would bring encouragement to Jeremiah?
Dr. Wiersbe believes that God told Jeremiah about the good figs and the
rotten ones to give encouragement to him, because at least he could see that
God was not totally abandoning the children of Israel all together, but has a
plan for them as He shares in this short chapter.
We have seen in this chapter that God explains to
Jeremiah that the good figs were the ones whom HE sent into captivity, and
would again bring them back to the land later on. Jeremiah will tell us in the next chapter the
length of their stay in Babylon. The bad
figs will remain in Jerusalem and their lives will be the ones that will be
judged by the Lord for their unbelief, for this is what you do with rotten
figs, you get rid of them.
Let us look at Jeremiah 29:1-14, a letter he sent to
those who went in the exile: “1 Now
these are the words of the
letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders
of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom
Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jeconiah and the queen
mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen
and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) 3
The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and
Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 4
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles
whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 5 ’Build houses and live in them; and plant
gardens and eat their produce. 6 ’Take
wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your
sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and
daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. 7 ’Seek the welfare of the
city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for
in its welfare you will have welfare.’
8 "For thus says the LORD of hosts,
the God of Israel, ’Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your
diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 9 ’For
they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the
LORD. 10 “For thus says the LORD, ’When seventy years have been completed for
Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to
this place. 11 ’For I know
the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ’plans for welfare and not
for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 ’Then you will call
upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ’You will seek Me
and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ’I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD,
’and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and
from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ’and I will
bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’”
Dr. Wiersbe finishes this seventh chapter in his
commentary on Jeremiah with these words:
“The destruction of Jerusalem and the fall of Judah were not accidents;
they were appointments, for God was in control.
Now the land would enjoy its Sabbaths (2 Chron. 36:21; Lev. 25:1-4), and
the people exiled in Babylon would have time to repent and seek the Lord. In
far off Babylon, God the Potter would remake His people (Jer. 18), and they
would return to the land chastened and cleansed.
“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but
painful. Later on, however, it produces
a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it,’
(Heb. 12:11 NIV).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: As I look at the
very famous 11th verse in the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, I
can see hope for the times in my life when I am not following the Lord. I must confess my sins to the Lord, and then
seek Him with all of my heart, trusting that He will show me how this is done,
and also remember that the successful Christian life is a series of new beginnings.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust that the Lord will show me how to seek
Him with all of my heart.
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, 7 but emptied
Himself, taking on the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of men.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Jerusalem” (2 Kings 21:1).
Today’s Bible
question: “Who gave his nephew first
choice of land?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/31/2014 11:12 AM
No comments:
Post a Comment