102 Jeremiah 17:1,3-6 Cursed Social Salvation
JMD Devotional 102 Jeremiah 17:1,3-6 Cursed Social Salvation
THE SIN of Judah is written with a pen or stylus of iron and with the point of a diamond; it is engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars... O [Jerusalem] My mountain in the field, I will give your wealth and all your treasures to the spoil and your high places for sin [as the price of your sin] throughout all your territory. And you, through your own fault, will loosen your hand and discontinue from your heritage which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn throughout the ages. Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
You can hear the pain in our Father's heart over His people abandoning their faith to run after the popular 'gods' of their day. They were strong when they recognized their need for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but later they became proud, worldly sophisticated and arrogant: they could shop around for gods of their own imagination, taste and preference. Instead of trusting in God's compass to lead them to meet their deepest needs; they let their natural appetites and lust navigate. Today, we express our idolatry in different ways; instead of an Asherah pole (a carved wooden pole with exaggerated breasts intended to incite lust) we have entertainment divas; but these and other idols compete with God for our heart. Is our trust more in Wall Street or government or technology or education than in Jehovah? (Have these become 'respectable gods'?) How can anything make this a better world without addressing the utter depravity of the human heart? As Jeremiah has said before, mankind has forsaken the fountain of living water to dig broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Dear God,
How I wish my heart was perfect and that I was blameless of iniquity and idolatry! We know that my life is still a mixture of darkness and light. Please help me to recon myself dead to sin and my old life; wean me from futile appetites. Help me destroy my old pattern of living and let us build on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ an abundant and authentic life centered in You. May You receive glory for your effectual work in me.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
My Poetry
http://saintjamespoetry.blog.com/
(Some) of my Devotionals
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
THE SIN of Judah is written with a pen or stylus of iron and with the point of a diamond; it is engraved on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars... O [Jerusalem] My mountain in the field, I will give your wealth and all your treasures to the spoil and your high places for sin [as the price of your sin] throughout all your territory. And you, through your own fault, will loosen your hand and discontinue from your heritage which I gave you; and I will cause you to serve your enemies in a land which you do not know, for you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn throughout the ages. Thus says the Lord: Cursed [with great evil] is the strong man who trusts in and relies on frail man, making weak [human] flesh his arm, and whose mind and heart turn aside from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub or a person naked and destitute in the desert; and he shall not see any good come, but shall dwell in the parched places in the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land.
You can hear the pain in our Father's heart over His people abandoning their faith to run after the popular 'gods' of their day. They were strong when they recognized their need for the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; but later they became proud, worldly sophisticated and arrogant: they could shop around for gods of their own imagination, taste and preference. Instead of trusting in God's compass to lead them to meet their deepest needs; they let their natural appetites and lust navigate. Today, we express our idolatry in different ways; instead of an Asherah pole (a carved wooden pole with exaggerated breasts intended to incite lust) we have entertainment divas; but these and other idols compete with God for our heart. Is our trust more in Wall Street or government or technology or education than in Jehovah? (Have these become 'respectable gods'?) How can anything make this a better world without addressing the utter depravity of the human heart? As Jeremiah has said before, mankind has forsaken the fountain of living water to dig broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Dear God,
How I wish my heart was perfect and that I was blameless of iniquity and idolatry! We know that my life is still a mixture of darkness and light. Please help me to recon myself dead to sin and my old life; wean me from futile appetites. Help me destroy my old pattern of living and let us build on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ an abundant and authentic life centered in You. May You receive glory for your effectual work in me.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
My Poetry
http://saintjamespoetry.blog.com/
(Some) of my Devotionals
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
posted by James M. Dinsmore at 9:08 AM
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