SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR
6/17/2014 9:21 AM
My Worship Time Focus: Judgment for the Gentile Nations PT-3
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
25:34-38
Message of the
verses: We are looking at the last
of three SD’s that comes from the 25th chapter of Jeremiah.
The Broken Pottery
(v.34): “34 “Wail, you shepherds,
and cry; And wallow in ashes, you masters of the flock; For the days of your
slaughter and your dispersions have come, And you will fall like a choice
vessel.” “34 Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the
flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered
like fine pottery NIV).”
We looked at an action sermon in Jeremiah 19:1-13 and
also see 13:14; and 48:38. Dr. Wiersbe
makes the point that “the Hebrew word translated ‘pleasant vessel’ refers to
fine pottery and not just common pots.
God wants His vessels to be clean and yielded. If they aren’t, He has the right to smash
them.” Some people have a hard time
believing that the Lord can do this, and that is why it is important for all of
God’s children to study the attributes of God.
The slaughtered
flock (vv. 34-38): “34 “Wail, you
shepherds, and cry; And wallow in ashes, you masters of the flock; For the days
of your slaughter and your dispersions have come, And you will fall like a
choice vessel. 35 “Flight will perish from the shepherds, And escape from the
masters of the flock. 36 “Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds, And the
wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture, 37
“And the peaceful folds are made silent Because of the fierce anger of the
LORD. 38 “He has left His hiding place like the lion; For their land has become
a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because of His
fierce anger."”
We read a lot about shepherds in the Bible, and the
shepherds were to be the leaders of the people when you look at the different
metaphors from Scripture. Why do you
suppose that this is used so much in the Bible?
I think that the answer to this question is that people have much in
common with sheep, and sheep need good leaders so that they don’t get into
trouble. I have read a couple of books
by a man who was a shepherd of sheep and so he was able to write a book about
Psalm 23, a Psalm that speaks of the Lord being “my” shepherd. The tenth chapter of the gospel of John we
see that Jesus is indeed the Shepherd of the flock of God and He will led His
people safely. When we come to the last
chapter of Peter’s first letter we see that he writes about how pastors are to
shepherd the flock of God. In the
section we are in today we are looking at shepherds who led the people of Judah
and they are not doing a good job, in fact they are about to be judged because
of their bad job.
Dr. Wiersbe writes “Instead of hearing the cries of the
sheep, the shepherds would hear their own wailing as they saw their pasture
(Judah) destroyed. Like a fierce lion
(v. 38 see v. 39), God would leap out on the shepherds and the sheep, and there
would be no escape.”
“For the time is come that judgment must begin at the
house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the endo be like of them
that obey not the Gospel of God?” (1
Peter 4:17)
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: The verse we just
looked at is a sobering verse indeed, and one not to take lightly.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Proverbs 3:5-6
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 a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness
of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a
man, He humbled Himself by becoming 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,
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Seven.”
Today’s Bible
question: “What was the fourth plague
that God placed on Egypt?”
Answer in our next SD.
6/17/2014 10:33 AM
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