SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 7/31/2014
11:06 PM
My Worship Time Focus:
The Jewish Remnant: Doomed Idolaters PT-1
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Jeremiah
44:1-14
Message of the
verses: We will look at the first
sub-point from this last main point from the eleventh chapter of Warren Wiersbe’s
commentary on the book of Jeremiah.
Dr. Wiersbe writes the following at the beginning of his
commentary on this section: “This is
Jeremiah’s last recorded message to his people, given in Egypt probably in the year
580 B. C. If he was called by God in
626, the thirteenth year of Josiah’s reign (1:2), then he had been ministering
forty-six years. You can’t help admiring
Jeremiah for his faithfulness in spite of all the discouragements that had come
to his life.”
A seathing indictment (Jeremiah 44:1-14): “1 The word that came to Jeremiah for all the
Jews living in the land of Egypt, those who were living in Migdol, Tahpanhes,
Memphis, and the land of Pathros, saying, 2
"Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ’You yourselves
have seen all the calamity that I have brought on Jerusalem and all the cities
of Judah; and behold, this day they are in ruins and no one lives in them,
3 because of their wickedness which they committed
so as to provoke Me to anger by
continuing to burn sacrifices and to serve other gods whom they had not known,
neither they, you, nor your fathers. 4 ’Yet I sent you all My servants
the prophets, again and again, saying, "Oh, do not do this abominable
thing which I hate." 5 ’But
they did not listen or incline their ears to turn from their wickedness, so as
not to burn sacrifices to other gods. 6
’Therefore My wrath and My anger
were poured out and burned in the cities of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem, so they have become a ruin and a desolation as it is this day. 7 ’Now then thus says the LORD God of hosts, the God of
Israel, "Why
are you doing great harm to yourselves, so as to cut off from you man and
woman, child and infant, from among Judah, leaving yourselves without remnant,
8 provoking Me to anger with the works
of your hands, burning sacrifices to other gods in the land of Egypt, where you
are entering to reside, so that you might be cut off and become a curse and a
reproach among all the nations of the earth? 9
"Have you forgotten
the wickedness of your fathers, the wickedness of the kings of Judah, and the
wickedness of their wives, your own wickedness, and the wickedness of your
wives, which they committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of
Jerusalem? 10 “But they have not become contrite even to this day, nor have they feared nor walked in My law or My statutes, which I have set
before you and before your fathers."’ 11 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the
God of Israel, ’Behold, I am going to set My face against you for woe, even to
cut off all Judah. 12 ’And I will take
away the remnant of Judah who have set their mind on entering the land of Egypt
to reside there, and they
will all meet their end in the land of Egypt; they will fall by the
sword and meet their end by famine. Both small and great will die by the sword
and famine; and they will become a curse, an object of horror, an imprecation
and a reproach. 13 ’And I
will punish those who live in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem,
with the sword, with famine and with pestilence. 14 ’So there will be no refugees or survivors
for the remnant of Judah who have entered the land of Egypt to reside there and
then to return to the land of Judah, to which they are longing to return and
live; for none will return except a few refugees.’"”
What I am going to write is something that I will not
contribute my opinion on, but only state what happened to the Jews who had left
Jerusalem to go to Egypt. God had just
judged the nation of Judah because they had worshiped idols and sacrificed
burnt offerings to these idols which goes against the attribute of the
selfishness of God. God said the
following to the children of Israel in what is called the Ten
Commandments: “3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself
an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or
in the water under the earth. 5
"You shall not worship them or serve them; for I, the LORD your
God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on
the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing lovingkindness to thousands, to
those who love Me and keep My commandments (Exodus 20:2-6).” This is the very first of the Ten
Commandments so we can believe that this was very important to the Lord since
He made it the first of these Ten Commandments.
All of these people who went to Egypt from Jerusalem had
already been through a very difficult war and most of them had moved out of the
area in order not to be caught up in this war, but none the less had had a
difficult time because of the war. Now
Jeremiah had told them not to go to Egypt, something that they had asked him to
go to the Lord in prayer to find out if God wanted them to stay or go. The answer from the Lord was to stay and He
would care for them, but they told Jeremiah that he was lying and that the Lord
wanted them to go to Egypt. This of course
was wrong and it was not a lie from Jeremiah and so they went to Egypt. Jeremiah traveled with them and the Lord saw
that they not only disobeyed Him by going to Egypt, but they still worshiped
idols in Egypt of which they had many to choose from. Now the Lord was about to send the same
people who destroyed Jerusalem to destroy Egypt and so they went from the
frying pan into the fire and most of them would lose their lives because of
their disobedience of the Lord’s command to them. Jeremiah earlier had said that this remnant
was bad figs that nobody could eat and this is surely coming true.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I can see not
only God’s wrath, selfishness in this section, but also His longsuffering and
so these are three attributes that I can see that belong to the Lord. I am thankful for the Lord’s long-suffering
and desire to live for Him, but sometimes I fall prey to the old nature and
have to seek the Lord forgiveness for these failures.
My Steps of Faith for Today: I desire to obey the Lord’s commandments and
to serve Him with all of my heart.
Memory verses for the week: Colossians 3:1-3.
1 Therefore if you have
been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Chris is,
seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set
you min on things above, not on the things that are on earth. 3 For you have died and your life is hidden
with Christ in God.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Wars and rumors of war.”
Today’s Bible
question: “Who said ‘Lord, if you would
have been here, my brother would not have died.”
Answer in our next SD.
7/31/2014 11:39 PM
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