SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/21/2014
8:45 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
God Opposes the Leaders of Judah PT-2
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
21:8-10
Message of the
verses: We are looking at the second
sub-point under this main point of God opposing the leaders of Judah.
A Pronouncement to the People (Jer. 21:8-10): “8 "You shall also say to this people,
’Thus says the LORD, "Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way
of death. 9 "He who dwells in this
city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence; but he who goes out
and falls away to the Chaldeans who are besieging you will live, and he will
have his own life as booty. 10 “For I have set My face against this city for
harm and not for good," declares the LORD. "It will be given into the
hand of the king of Babylon and he will burn it with fire."’”
I am going to begin this portion of this SD by giving an
example of what is written here with a portion of the message that our Pastor
gave last Sunday evening. He was talking
about what people ask about how a loving God can send people to hell. One of the points that he made in this
message is something that I have never thought about and that is that people in
hell are still arrogant and would not leave hell if given the opportunity because
of their arrogance. Now as I look at
this passage, especially verse nine I see that God told the people that if they
wanted to live all they had to do was to go out from the city of Jerusalem and
turn themselves over to the Babylonians and they would not kill them. What kept the people from doing this? The same thing that keeps people in hell and
that is their arrogance, thinking that they are right and not wrong, thinking
that they are right and that God is wrong, which is just what these people in
Jeremiah’s day thought.
We see from this passage that God offers the people two
choices a way of life and a way of death.
Jeremiah later wrote in Jeremiah 27:12-13 “12 I spoke words like all
these to Zedekiah king of Judah, saying, "Bring your necks under the yoke
of the king of Babylon and serve him and his people, and live! 13 “Why will you
die, you and your people, by the sword, famine and pestilence, as the LORD has
spoken to that nation which will not serve the king of Babylon?” 2 “"Thus says the LORD, ’He who stays in
this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who
goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as booty and stay
alive.’ 3 "Thus says the LORD,
’This city will certainly be given into the hand of the army of the king of
Babylon and he will capture it.’"” (Jer. 38:2-3) I would have to describe these warnings as
being the long-suffering of the Lord.
Dr. Wiersbe writes:
“Since Nebuchadnezzar was doing the work of God in punishing the kingdom
of Judah (50:9, 23; 51:20), and since God was allied with Babylon in fighting
Judah, to surrender to Babylon really meant to surrender to the will of
God. It meant to confess guilt and
submit to the hand of the Lord. Rebellion
against the Babylonians was rebellion against the Lord, and that was the way of
death.”
He concludes this portion with words for us today: “As God’s people today, we need to realize
that the only safe and sane response to God chastening hand is submission. ‘Furthermore, we have had human fathers who
corrected us, and we paid them respect.
Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits
and live?’ (Heb. 12:9 NKJV). The implication of the question is that we
might not live if we don’t submit to the will of God! ‘There is a sin not unto
death’ (1 John 5:17).”
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: John MacArthur
writes the following in his study Bible about Hebrews 12:9, a verse that I have
not understood “be subject. Respect for
God equals submission to His will and law, and those who willingly receive the
Lord’s chastening will have a richer, more abundant life (c. 119:165). (‘Those
who love Your law have great peace, And nothing causes them to stumble.’) Father of spirits. Probably best translated as ‘Father of our
spirits,’ it is in contrast to ‘human fathers’ (lit. ‘fathers of our flesh’).”
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire t submit to the Lord and not be like
those in Judah during Jeremiah’s day.
Memory verse for the
week: Philippians 2:5-6
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,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Obey your parents” (Ephesians
6:1).
Today’s Bible
question: “Jesus said for a camel to go
through a needle’s eye is easier than what?”
Answer in our next SD.
5/21/2014 9:21 AM
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