Thursday, June 28, 2018

Fallen


The Chaldeans burned the king's house and the house of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem.
Jeremiah 39:8

In this stark, short sentence is the curse of God fulfilled upon the sins of His people. All that Jeremiah had warned would happen to Judah if they continued in their willful rejection of God did indeed come to pass. The fires burned through the palace, the temple, and the districts of Jerusalem for days on end, reducing the city to uninhabitable rubble. The Chaldean army systematically tore down the city walls and fortifications, making it clear they did not want to occupy the city. They were razing it in order to carry away captives as trophies to Babylon.

And in this pain and tragic loss the Jews were led away to Babylon. All was ruined. All their lives were changed. The familiar was gone. The final consequence of their rejection of God had come. They were torn from all that was familiar and ripped away from any roots. And now they would have only one bit of their original identity as they were marched off as captives: they were they people whose God is Yahweh.

For the next 70 years as exiles in Babylon, they would recommit to their God and reform their faith around family and synagogues. They would long for Zion and pray to their Lord again. They would weep over their loss and long for restoration. They would find faith and hope in God again in the midst of their cruel exile. And God would restore them in His time, a humbled and trusting people again.

Wednesday, June 27, 2018

God does the heavy lifting.


I will restore the fortunes of Judah and the fortunes of Israel, and rebuild them as they were at first. I will cleanse them from all the guilt of their sin against me, and I will forgive all the guilt of their sin and rebellion against me.
Jeremiah 33:7-8

Three times in these two verses God promises to do the hard work of salvation for His people. They need only believe, accept, and recommit. When it comes down to it, we may repent and we may commit to change, but it is God Who does the real work of transformation in us. He promises His covenant people in this passage that He will restore both Judah and Israel to nation status again. He promises to rebuild their cites and nations after years of destruction, desolation, and exile. Those are physical promises, visible to the world.

God also promises to do the hardest spiritual work in His people. He promises to cleanse them from the guilt of their sin against Him. They would no longer bear the legal guilt of trespasses against God. The Lord, as judge, would waive their guilt and replace it with a verdict of “not guilty”. This is unilaterally God’s work of pardon. They WERE guilty. He would choose to declare them free of that guilt. They did not earn it or in any way prove themselves to be guiltless. God does this cleansing (and it happens now through the blood of Jesus, applied to each sinner who repents and trusts Jesus).

God will forgive all their sin. He will choose to forgive them, which means they were indeed in the wrong, guilty, and deserving of God’s judgment. But forgiveness means that God chooses to no longer hold their guilt against them. God is holy, just, judging sin.... yet He is also merciful and gracious, forgiving when dealing with sin and providing the means through the cross of Christ for all sin to be atoned forever. God does the hard work. He does the heavy lifting when it comes to removing sin’s guilt and offering forgiveness. We are called to accept this by faith and to follow.

Tuesday, June 26, 2018

New Days / New Ways


And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:34

Knowing God
is freeing.
It frees from ignorance.
It frees to love.
It frees from the bondage of sin.
And when one knows God
that knowledge is shared
to free others.

Loving God
Who loves us
helps us love others;
helps us love Him;
helps us love His commands.
And when we love God
His love is shared
as we love others.

Thank God
He forgives us.
And we forgive
as we are forgiven
so others may forgive.
And when God forgives our sins
that forgiveness is shared,
forgiving others.

Monday, June 25, 2018

a miserable reproach


I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.
Jeremiah 29:18-19

This is NOT the passage in Jeremiah 29 that gets bumper stickered and motivational postered! But in context, it is the point of the prophet! The Jews were destined to be a reproach among the Babylonians, and among all the nations they once envied. The choice made in Judah to forsake God, disregard the covenant, and turn against the messages from God’s prophets led to this curse pronounced by God Himself upon His own loved people. They would become the most hated and reviled of peoples.

In Babylon, the Jews became a ridicule among their captors... a nation that had fallen so far to become the butt of jokes. Driven from their land, their history, and the temple of their God, the Jews would be forced to consider their plight as a reproach and to begin to worship God intimately, personally, familiarly again. And new humility would slowly emerge. A new respect for the Word of God, for His covenant and His prophets would eventually return to God’s people over seven decades of humiliating exile.

Rejecting God leads to reproach. And it is heart-breaking to read thes words and to know just how true they are. Historically they were true for Judah. God led His people into pain-filled suffering because they did not pay attention to His words. And disregard of God in this way is always ruinous, even today! And so this example motivates me to be serious with what God says and asks of me. The misery of disobedience and the reproach that comes from rejection of God are NEVER worth it!

Friday, June 22, 2018

Repentance can’t be about me.



Though our iniquities testify against us,
act, O Lord, for your name's sake;
for our backslidings are many;
we have sinned against you.
Jeremiah 14:7

Repentance isn’t about me. Repentance is all about what I realize about God and the enormity of my sin against Him. In this confessional from the prophet Jeremiah, the way in which Judah needed to repent is put into prophetic words. And the spotlight shines brightly on God and His glory. Our sins testify against us, showing us how short we fall from the holiness of God. Our deliberate rejection of God is behind every sin. And the One we answer to, against whom we bear the guilt of our sins, is God.

But the prayer of confession here calls God to act... to grant hope and be our Savior (Jeremiah 14:8). And the reason He does this is not for our sake. It is for His name’s sake. God saves us... Jesus saves us... for His glory and not for our own. If we have been spared His eternal judgment and granted eternal life and the righteousness of Christ applied to us, it is only because He is most glorified in being merciful to sinners and gracious to repentant sinners like us because of Christ and for His own glory!

O Lord,
My iniquities are many and testify against me. They cascade down my life and at this stage I will limp with the scars of them in some way or another until I am in heaven with You. My sin falls short of Your glory and pulls me from You. Against You have I sinned... intentionally and often without even giving it a second thought. I am a glory thief. Yet, in Jesus You have acted to save me for Your name’s sake. I pull the attention off me! I confess my sin and fall on my knees before my only Savior! Act in grace, O my God and Savior for Your glory! Be glorious in Your grace to sinners!
Amen

“...and when I think that God His Son not sparing
Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in
That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing
He bled and died, to take away my sin...

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee...
How great Thou art... How great Thou art...”

Thursday, June 21, 2018

stupid shepherds


For the shepherds are stupid
and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.
Jeremiah 10:21

This indictment against the leaders of Judah shows a clear consequence when spiritual leadership goes awry. The priests, Levites, and royal officials in Jerusalem were all tolerant of idolatry and disrespectful of God’s covenant. They led the nation in idolatry and neglected seeking the Lord. They relied on their own wits to lead. God calls that strategy “stupid”.

The result of this selfish, immature, rebellious, stupid leadership was that Jerusalem faltered. The nation did not prosper under such leaders. They may have enjoyed high approval ratings. The idolatry might have seemed cool as they now “fit in” with the nations around them. And personal fortunes might have been made at the price of economic hardship on the poor and needy. But all of that came at the cost of the spiritual soul of the nation. And when that eroded, Judah was ripe for invasion as God’s consequence for disobedience. That is exactly what happened. The stupid shepherds were taken over. Their flock scattered and was decimated in the siege.

How much better it is to seek the Lord and to inquire of Him! Leadership demands that leaders themselves are followers of a higher standard than just their own thoughts. And the ultimate standard for leadership is non other than the Great Shepherd - Jesus! Looking to Him, asking of Him to provide wisdom, looking to His Word for truth and to the Holy Spirit for enablement can save shepherds from being stupid.

Wednesday, June 20, 2018

individual freedom and God’s loving correction


I have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
Jeremiah 8:6

Before God’s judgment fell upon Judah, He really did look for repentance from His people. But what He saw from the place to the temple, among the king’s court and with the priests & Levites in the temple courts, was unrepentant selfish evil. When God confronted His people through the preaching of Jeremiah, no one responded back with any awareness of their sin or a willingness to repent. Instead, the opposite was the state of the nation.

When a society emphasizes individual freedom (which is generally a good thing in principle) but also simultaneously refuses to believe God or accept His wisdom, individuals will make choices so tainted by selfishness and sin that they will corrupt the entire society. The sum of the bad individual choices will add up to a lot of corruption. What God saw in Judah was this moral chaos of individual freedom run amuck without any divine direction. The people refused to live by God’s design (Jeremiah 8:8-9), making them by God’s estimation worse off than animals in the natural world that follow divine instincts and patterns.

And so I must guard my own heart. I love that God has given me freedom. But I also know I am very imperfect and will make sinful and harmful choices left solely to my own insights. When I do, I pray I will have the courage and faith to always repent with the realization: “What have I done?” I trust God’s Word and the Holy Spirit to direct my life in the best possible course, away from a destiny of headlong destruction, and into the joy of my Lord!

Tuesday, June 19, 2018

the forge

I have made you a tester of metals among my people,
that you may know and test their ways.
Jeremiah 6:27

As Jeremiah the prophet preached the Word of the LORD among the Jews in Judea, God was preparing His people for the purifying work of His judgment. Part of the prophetic work that Jeremiah did in faithfully proclaiming God’s Word was meant to draw out the “dross” of wickedness from the “pure silver” God hoped His people to be.

The Word of God blew like a hot bellows and the lead was poured on the metal to burn off the dross. But all that refining work done by Jeremiah in delivering God’s Word was in vain (Jeremiah 6:29). There was too much evil in the land and no repentance happened in response. The metal of Judah was useless. The Word of God tested His people and found them rebellious, slanderous, and corrupt. He rejected them and prepared them for the fires of judgment (Jeremiah 6:30).

The Word of God can still test the metal of hearts today. And there are times I feel its heat blow upon my heart, burning away at my impurities of thought, motivation, and pride. And after the forge fires, the Lord can them make of my life something better as I am led to humbly repent, confess my awful sin, trust my amazing gracious Lord, and be useful again for His purposes to make of this life whatever He wants. Thus cleansed, I can be found tested, approved, content and at peace... filled with the holiness of my Savior!

Monday, June 18, 2018

needed: shepherds


And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3:15

People need to be shepherded. I need to be shepherded. I need people who can minister the Word of God to my sheepish heart. I need God’s knowledge and understanding to guide me, to lead me where I should go and protect me where I cannot see dangers lurking. I need God’s Word to be used by God’s people to shepherd me.

I was ordained to gospel ministry in 1988 and have been privileged to serve as a pastor-shepherd for 30 years now. You’d think that in all that experience helping others, I wouldn’t need any help at all. But I do... Oh, how I do. I feel it sometimes so heavy upon me. There are days my confusion, pain, and personal heartache lead to strings of sleepless nights... and that is just from my own personal circumstances, not just the burdens I bear for others. Add their pain to my own, and I would never make it far without good shepherding care.

What God has given me to bear right now I must bear with the help of fellow shepherds. God can use them to minster the guidance of Jesus, our Great Shepherd. How thankful I am not to be alone! How wise is our God to provide this ministry to weary and hurting hearts prone to wander from Him. And Oh how I need to feel it now!

Thursday, June 14, 2018

a few words with God


Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few.
Ecclesiastes 5:2

There are no instant answers, simple secrets, or inside methods of spiritual success with God. Rash “fast food” prayers and hasty emotional reactions have no business being in our practical theology. Worshiping God, knowing Him, walking with Him, and enjoying Him are matters of serious diligence. They can greatly enhance our daily life rythyms and through spiritual disciplines can flow into our lives, but never believe for a moment that belief in God, praying to God, or trusting God with hard circumstances (especially when other people’s choices are involved) are simplistic efforts. God is vastly above us in every way. Faith is kind of hard work because of that.

God’s immensity guarantees we cannot worship rashly. We can’t reduce walking with God down to “4 steps” or a three letter acronym. We also can’t lash out at His sovereign love when it clashes with our pre-conceived notions of what we think we should get from God. We pray, but God is in heaven, in control of everything, and we simply are not. We should never think of prayer as our means of getting God to give us what we want.

Real prayer that is mature will indeed ask of God. It may ask bold things in faith. Jesus encouraged that. But it will always align itself under the Lord’s own prayer that teaches His disciples not to be hasty: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Those few words, put to our heart’s requests can keep us from being rash or hasty with God.

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

getting justice in Jesus


Many seek the face of a ruler,
but it is from the Lord that a man gets justice.
Proverbs 29:26

Life is unfair
when people in power don’t care
they seek power for themselves
ignoring the human hell
sin makes among us
Oh, how we need Jesus!

We treat each other mean
with hearts so unclean
it’s a jungle of pain
seeking personal gain
the struggle destroys us
Oh, how we need Jesus!

Jesus suffered under Pilate
knowing what injustice meant
He was despised and hated
but accepted what was fated
He suffered and died for us
Oh, how we need Jesus!

Now Jesus reigns as King
and His praise we will sing
as we cry out for justice
finding relief only in Jesus
tears wiped away from us
Oh, how we need Jesus!

Monday, June 11, 2018

The calendar is not God.


Do not boast about tomorrow,
for you do not know what a day may bring.
Proverbs 27:1

I am a planner. Calendars and agendas are the tools I use to build my life, organize the chaos, get stuff done, and ultimately find some satisfaction in my labor and in my down time. This is not necessarily a bad thing unless I turn the tool into a functional idol. And unfortunately I do at times. When all my calendars, clocks, printouts, and plans fail to deliver satisfaction, it is generally because I have expected from my planning what only God can do. Many is the time that a plan for an hour, a day, a week, and even a year goes completely off track. I cannot know what a day will bring to me. It may be “spot on” my schedule. It could go awry.

Mature Christian insight has taught me to flex my schedules and plan with parameters. I’ve learned to pray as I scroll through my calendar and notes for each day. Every day I have in this life is first lived to bring glory and praise to my Creator as I hope to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ in my life and to others in what I say and in what I do. Each day is lived to love God and love people. The agenda must always flow first from this driving value and hope. And when God is the director of my day, and not my iCal lists and notes, I am truly content to serve Him first.

Lord,
May each calendar notification that pops up on my phone, computer, or in my memory today remind me that my life is in the control of You, Who knows tomorrow when I never will. May I leave each event, meeting, task, and “to do list” in Your control and enjoy life for Your glory!
Amen

Friday, June 8, 2018

Slow down on the “like” button.


A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
but only in expressing his opinion.
Proverbs 18:2

It seems to me that the way in which social media is shaping us to quickly press a button to express an opinion about someone else’s statement, photo, or experience is forming us into the kinds of fools this proverb warns us against. We are becoming a world of opinionated followers of our own tastes who force our brand on the world. And again... we are becoming a world of opinionated followers of our own tastes at the expense of true diversity. That is not a good thing. We could be actually losing the ability to think. We get dumber with every “retweet”, “like”, “follow” and added digital “friend”.

Slowing down my opinion would be a good thing. Not quickly throwing my thoughts onto someone else’s statements or posted content would be a wise application of the principles in this proverb. The irony of blogging this and having a link to this post in my facebook feed is not being lost on me this morning! But maybe this thought could get considered by more than just me... The communication advantage in a connected world is great.... and also very dangerous. It is why I must discipline myself to stop and think faster than the second or two my eye falls on an instagram feed.

So then, ancient wisdom from millennia past gathered by Hebrew poetry lovers and condensed into the book of Proverbs now informs my 21st century connectedness. And I will follow this wise advice in order to slow down, understand, and spare the world my rash opinions! Opinion is not greater than understanding! Wisdom is better than cleverness. Substance is more important than image. Spiritual depth and the power of Christ is more glorious than a million “likes”. Following Jesus is greater than having followers. 

Thursday, June 7, 2018

listen to reproof


The ear that listens to life-giving reproof
will dwell among the wise.
Whoever ignores instruction despises himself,
but he who listens to reproof gains intelligence.
Proverbs 15:31-32

How I need to listen more! The longer I live, and the more people I get to know on this earth, the more I need to shut up and listen. God has placed around me good people whose insights into my life can be used to make me wiser and better. He is very gracious to bring me opportunity to receive corrective insights from the perspectives of other people. It is a joy to know this kind of growth opportunity. And as long as I keep my selfish pride from interfering, I can know the growth that comes from insightful reproof.

This proverb encourages me to listen and pay heed to these insights as an important tool for personal growth. It is also a form of self-care to process and receive reproof. I’m promised to be smarter with the wise application of these insights. This is why God designed me to live in community. He uses this community to help me to “dwell among the wise” and gain life intelligence.

Lord,
Help me to listen more, to trust what You are doing with the people You’ve placed in my life to speak to my heart and bring growth and healthy change. Forgive my sinful refusals to consider life-giving reproof. Help me to dwell with the wise, to care for myself by learning from what other people point out in me, and to follow in obedience the things that should change in order to live in Your wisdom.
Amen

Wednesday, June 6, 2018

words & wounds

There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts,
but the tongue of the wise brings healing.
Proverbs 12:18

Relationships are built with words and actions, and it is often words that can ruin what was built. Speaking rashly, with whatever natural instant motivation driving what is said, is a sure-fire way to leave a path of wounded people in the wake of our conversations. Our sinful flesh will wound with words. Defensiveness, broken thinking and emotions, selfishness, and sinful reactions will all turn our rash words into sword thrusts. We will go beyond mere self-defense and swing the sword with a kill shot when given the chance. We jab at hearts with our words.

Better words however are found in the wisdom of God’s Word. The gospel can and must transform our tongues. We can be agents of change and healing with our words when we let God’s truth sanctify and renew our minds, giving us healing words to say. But this does not come in a rash way with impulsive gusts of words. It takes deliberate submission to the Lordship of Christ, the leading of the Holy Spirit, and the commitment to knowing the Word of God to do so. We have to repent of our impulsiveness and commit to submission to God. But we can speak words of healing if we will do so.

Lord,
I begin this morning looking at Your Word, so that you can fill my mind with Your truth. And as I think on it right now, would You use that truth to prune away selfish, sinful motivations from my speech and actions today? I want to speak Your healing words. I want Your redeeming work to give me a wise heart and tongue as I speak today.
Amen

Tuesday, June 5, 2018

Swiftly Run


He sends out his command to the earth;
his word runs swiftly.
Psalm 147:15

A new dawn rises
and in the east
Your Word has commanded
my new day begins

As light shines
into the window
I have been handed
a gift for all men

Your Word runs swiftly
like the light across these hills
always accomplishing
as Your desire fulfills

I have a chance
to obey Your command
to rise with this light
and live in good news

I too am Yours to control
chosen by You to be used
to shine gospel bright
and sin’s darkness diffuse

Swiftly runs Your word
into my own heart
always completing
what good thing You start

Monday, June 4, 2018

hold on


Keep hold of instruction; do not let go;
guard her, for she is your life.
Proverbs 4:13

Wisdom is personified in this passage starting in Proverbs 4:6 as a beautiful and desirable nobly lady, whom every young man should prize and value. She is protected at all costs and she rewards those who love and protect her. She is what every young heart should seek. The wisdom of the Lord provides a beautiful “mate for life” that brings her suitor honor, joy, respect, and life. Her riches bless those who trust in wisdom’s truth.

But just like a marriage, staying with wisdom for life is real work. It involves commitment. It avoids taking shortcuts or giving in to the temptation to find an easy way through life. There are other “lovers” tempting us. Wisdom asks us to commit to hard work and to life learning, even from our mistakes, so that we can make better choices that we would left to “the easy way”. We must hold on to instruction and we must guard wisdom with every shred of self-defense we have. She comes under attack from all sides. We must protect God’s truth in our hearts in this way.

So when any cheap, easy, and profane way of this world comes to challenge the wisdom of God, I will guard my heart and protect wisdom’s virtue. I refuse to think what is popular or to be pressured from any source other than God’s Word. I will value wisdom above any earthly experience or treasure. I will hold on to God’s truth and not let go! I will guard the beauty and strength of Lady Wisdom as she guards my life.

Friday, June 1, 2018

three good reasons to hope in God

Blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord his God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them,
who keeps faith forever;
who executes justice for the oppressed,
who gives food to the hungry.
Psalm 146:5-7a

The promised blessing for those who hope in God given in this passage is based upon three undeniable truths about God. We can place our confident faith in Him because of these three facts. First, God is Creator. He made all that there is in the universe. It all works perfectly by His design. We are helped and provided for vastly in His wisdom for the most part because the heavens and earth all function as He made them. We trust our Creator.

Secondly, we can hope in God because He is our Keeper. Specifically, He is a covenant keeper. Israel has known this the most of any people on earth. And the promises God made to Abram, to David, to the Israelite people — all of them are still being kept by Him. How much more can we rely confidently on the New Covenant promises in Jesus?! We can trust God, our covenant keeper.

Finally, God can be trusted because He cares. In the cases cited in this psalm, God cares for justice, bringing it to the oppressed. He cares for the hungry by feeding them. God cares for us and provides all we need in His Son, Jesus Christ. We can hope in the Lord. The Lord cares for us.