August 26, 2012

Why Should Any Man Complain in View of His Sin? (8/26)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Lamentations 3:37-5:22.

The people of God were suffering rightly for their sins. God gave them His law, showing them what they should do; yet they rebelled against Him. God then sent His prophets to warn them to return or face punishment, yet they refused to listen. They were to blame for their sins and the suffering they were enduring as a result.

Yet man often has a tendency to complain that circumstances that exist in life are not fair. Even when he is suffering for his own actions, he will often complain that his actions did not warrant the consequences he is now facing. Jeremiah warned the people not to have this attitude as they faced God’s punishment for their sins.

“Why should any living mortal, or any man, offer complaint in view of his sins? Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord” (Lamentations 3:39-40).

When we sin, we are in no position to complain about the consequences and punishments that come as a result of our sin.
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August 25, 2012

False and Misleading Oracles (8/25)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Lamentations 1:1-3:36.

The book of Lamentations is a lament over the state of God’s people. They had rejected God for so long and departed so far from Him that His patience had run out and He was punishing them for their sins. But how could these people – who should have known better – fall so far? One major factor was the false prophets among them.

“Your prophets have seen for you false and foolish visions; and they have not exposed your iniquity so as to restore you from captivity, but they have seen for you false and misleading oracles” (Lamentation 2:14).

There were two fundamental problems with the message of these false prophets:
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August 24, 2012

"Neither Israel nor Judah has been Forsaken" (8/24)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 51-52.

Israel had been punished by God at the hand of the Assyrians. Judah had been punished by God at the hand of the Babylonians. At the end of Jeremiah’s prophecy, the Lord told of the coming punishment by God of Babylon at the hand of the Medes (Jeremiah 51:11). In all of this, there was an important point for God’s people to remember:

“For neither Israel nor Judah has been forsaken by his God, the Lord of hosts, although their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel” (Jeremiah 51:5).

The people of Israel and Judah were God’s chosen people (Deuteronomy 7:6). The above passage is talking about God not forsaking a nation as a whole. While we do not live under the same time of collective national identity before God, there are some lessons to be learned.
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August 23, 2012

“You Only Live Once”

Man jumping

This phrase is commonly used as a call to do those things we often put off but might later regret leaving undone. It usually involves taking risks, acting unconventionally or impulsively, or fulfilling one’s desires. The activities involved could be good or bad – or might not fit into either category. It is all about using time while we have it so that we do not later regret wasting it.

The statement itself is true. The Hebrew writer expressed it this way: “And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). Understanding the fact that we only live once, there are some Biblical admonitions to be made.
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August 23, 2012

"The Lord Has Opened His Armory" (8/23)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 49-50.

“‘How the hammer of the whole earth has been cut off and broken! How Babylon has become an object of horror among the nations! I set a snare for you and you were also caught, O Babylon, while you  yourself were not aware; you have been found and also seized because you have engaged in conflict against the Lord.’

“The Lord has opened His armory and has brought forth the weapons of His indignation, for it is a work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans. Come to her from the farthest border; open up her barns, pile her up like heaps and utterly destroy her, let nothing be left to her. Put all her young bulls to the sword; let them go down to the slaughter! Woe be upon them, for their day has come, the time of their punishment” (Jeremiah 50:23-27).

There are several important lessons we can learn from the prophecy against Babylon:
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August 22, 2012

"Cursed Be the One Who Does the Lord’s Work Negligently" (8/22)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 46-48.

“Cursed be the one who does the Lord’s work negligently, and cursed be the one who restrains his sword from blood” (Jeremiah 48:10).

Much of the book of Jeremiah focuses on the sins of the people of Judah and their coming judgment at the hands of the Babylonians. Yet Jeremiah indicated that God was going to use the great Babylonian army to punish more than just the inhabitants of Judah. The Babylonians would devastate other nations as well. As these prophecies indicate, this was also the work of God. The verse above can be found in the prophecy against Moab.

Those doing the Lord’s work in this context were the Babylonian soldiers. God was sending them to punish the Moabites. In executing this punishment, the soldiers were not to be negligent of their task, or else God would curse them.
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August 21, 2012

Burning Sacrifices to the Queen of Heaven (8/21)

Thought from today’s Bible reading from Jeremiah 41-45.

Divine judgment was coming against Judah for the idolatry of the people. Yet they were not willing to listen and refused to acknowledge the negative consequences of their behavior. Those who are caught up in false religions today do the same things.

“Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, ‘As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we are not going to listen to you! But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food and were well off and saw no misfortune. But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine’” (Jeremiah 44:15-18).

These people, in their error, refused to accept certain things:
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