Day 22: Jeremiah 21: 1-14
I am against you Jerusalem, you who live above this valley on the rocky plateau, declares the Lord-- you who say, "Who can comes against us? Who can enter our refuge?" I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the Lord. I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you (Jeremiah 21: 13-14, NIV).
I
remember listening to Cornelius Lindsey speak and he was talking about how
people have made God out to be like a hippie who just loves everyone and is
okay with everything and they completely ignore that He is also a God of wrath.
We must not make the mistake of only focusing on the God is love side and
ignore the fact that He is also a just God and that His judgment and wrath are
real. God was fed up with Jerusalem at this point and He tells them that He is
against them. That is not a good place to be in! I always think it’s funny when
people say how can this God you Christians always talk about be so loving if He
is willing to destroy places and people if the people won’t serve Him; that
doesn’t seem like a very loving thing to do. As we read we see that God has
given these people ample amount of opportunities to turn to Him. He has warned
them multiple times of the destruction to come if they don’t turn to Him. He has
told them what they needed to do multiple times in order to avoid the trouble
that was to come but they continued to choose their own path.
God will give us way more opportunities than
we deserve to truly give our lives to Him but we fail to take heed to it. Or just
as King Zedekiah did, we’ll only turn to God when we’re in trouble for Him to
fix the problem so that we can return back to what we were doing. I want to
leave you with this thought from my life application study bible: “King
Zedekiah turned to God for help, but without acknowledging God’s warnings or
admitting his sin. Too often we expect God to help us in our time of trouble
even though we have ignored Him in our time of prosperity. But God wants a
lasting relationship. Are you trying to build a lasting friendship with God, or
are you merely using Him occasionally to escape from trouble? What would you
think of your family and friends if they thought of you as only a temporary
resource?” Think about the number of opportunities that you have had to return
to God wholeheartedly yet you have declined. Understand that we can’t use His
grace and mercy as an excuse to remain in sin but we must use it as an anchor
to keep us from drifting away from God’s will.
What verse spoke to you
the most from this chapter? Be sure to share it to encourage someone
else! Tag me so that I can share it as well (IG: @angel_cheron. Twitter:
@angelcheron. Facebook: Angel Cheron and add #ChangedHearts #Jeremiah)
- Don't forget to check out the Changed Hearts website www.changedheartsunited.com
- Watch the Changed Hearts: Matters of the Heart here!
- Watch the Changed Hearts: I AM Woman:Woman 2 Woman here!
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