SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/23/2014
9:09 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Jeremiah
Writes some Letters PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
29:24-32
Message
of the verses: Before we get into
the text for today’s SD I want to briefly look at Jeremiah 29:4 “"Thus
says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from
Jerusalem to Babylon.” What I
want to point out are the highlighted words of this verse, and we can see that
God sent each individual person that He desired to send into exile. God had a purpose for sending each of these
individuals into exile and had control over all their circumstances in order to
get them to Babylon. As I thought about
this morning it gives me comfort to know that God is in control of my life just
as He is in control of all lives on planet earth. We may not realize this all of the time, but
it is surely true. I have been retired
from my main job that I had for almost 35 years and have wanted to move from
the house we are living in, but for reasons I will not get into I am still
here, and so I must trust the Lord who has kept me here for His reasons, for He
is in control.
Jeremiah’s word of warning (vv. 24-32): 24 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall
speak, saying, 25 "Thus says the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ’Because you have sent letters in your own
name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of
Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 "The LORD has made you priest instead of
Jehoiada the priest, to be the overseer in the house of the LORD over every
madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar, 27 now then, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah
of Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28 “For he has sent to us in Babylon,
saying, ’The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant
gardens and eat their produce.’"’" 29 Zephaniah the priest read this
letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then
came the word of the LORD to Jeremiah, saying, 31 "Send to all the exiles, saying, ’Thus
says the LORD concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, "Because Shemaiah has
prophesied to you, although
I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie," 32 therefore thus says the LORD, "Behold, I am about to punish
Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living
among this people, and he
will not see the good that I am about to do to My people," declares
the LORD, "because he
has preached rebellion against the LORD."’"”
As we end this 29th
chapter of Jeremiah we see another letter comes onto the scene, and this letter
is from Shemaiah who is another false prophet who went into exile and he wants
Jeremiah put into stocks or probably even killed for what Jeremiah is saying
about the length of the time of the exile.
The chief temple officer Zephaniah allowed Jeremiah to read this letter
which we have seen before “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD when
King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur the son of Malchijah, and Zephaniah the
priest, the son of Maaseiah, saying, (Jeremiah 21:1). Jeremiah must have been friends with
Zephaniah for him to allow Jeremiah to see this letter. Again we see God punishing another false
prophet and this as the death of the other two false prophets which we saw in
our last SD should cause the people to believe Jeremiah is a true prophet of
the Lord. We have mentioned before that
God has plans for these exiles as when we look at the genealogy of our Lord
Jesus Christ we can see that it goes through: “Mt 1:17 So all the generations
from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; from David to the deportation
to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah, fourteen
generations.”
We will conclude this portion of
this SD with some very insightful words from Warren Wiersbe who ends his eight
chapter of his commentary on the book of Jeremiah saying: “What life does to us depends largely on what
life finds in us. If we seek the Lord
and want His best, then circumstances will build us and prepare us for what He
has planned. If we rebel or if we look
for quick and easy shortcuts, then circumstances will destroy us and rob us of
the future God wants us to enjoy. The
same sun that melts the ice also hardens the clay.
“God’s thoughts and plans concerning
us come from His heart and lead to His peace.
Why look for substitutes?”
Spiritual
meaning for my life today: I know
that I am not always going to do the things that please the Lord even though I
desire to do so, but like Paul writes to the Romans “18 For I know that nothing
good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh; for the willing is present in me, but
the doing of the good is not. 19 For the good that I want, I do not do, but I
practice the very evil that I do not want. 20
But if I am doing the very thing I do not want, I am no longer the one
doing it, but sin which dwells in me (Romans 7:18-20).”
My Steps of Faith for Today: When I fall down I must remember the
statement that the old Scottish preacher said “The successful Christian life is
a series of new beginnings.”
Memory
verses for the week: Philippians 2:5-9.
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 bond-servant, and being
made in the likeness of men. 8 Being
found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point
of death, even death on a cross. 9 For
this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is
above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those
in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth,
Answer
to yesterday’s Bible question: “Joseph”
(Mark 1:20).
Today’s
Bible question: “Which book tells about
Onesimus?”
Answer
in our next SD.
6/23/2014
9:48 AM
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