115 Jeremiah 29 In or Out of God's Program
JMD Devotional 115 Jeremiah 29 In or Out of God's Program
In the book of Jeremiah, there are two 'camps' of God's people; they all are facing punishment from the consequence of national rebellion, via the instrument of God's choosing, the Babylonians. God repeatedly told His people, the Jews, to submit to exile as a purification, and that He would after a time bring them back home and restore their prosperity and spiritual life. But to those who would not accept His discipline, who stubbornly resisted being moved, He warned them that they would perish.
18,19 And I will pursue them with the sword, famine, and pestilence and will give them up to be tossed to and fro and to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, an astonishment, and a terror, a hissing and a reproach among all the nations to which I have driven them, Because they have not listened to and heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them persistently by My servants the prophets; but you [exiles] would not listen [either], says the Lord.
A breath away from God's pronouncement of doom, He breaths peace to the obedient refugees:
10-14 For thus says the Lord, When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you, causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will release you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.
Why do things have to be so bad and why is life so severe? My theory is that your life is exactly what it has to be to redeem and reform your character. If you resist the tools that God has chosen to reshape you; He'll apply a bigger hammer. Bill Gothard uses the example of a child with unresolved issues of accepting authority. The first hammer is the parent, the next is the college professor, then next is their boss and so forth. If you keep running away from the correction, and refuse to take the test, the stakes keep increasing until you accept the process or it breaks you. When it comes to sin, we are like drug addicts who resist treatment; who have to be forced into a treatment program for our own good. Life is God's TOUGH LOVE.
Dear God,
Help me to have the intestinal fortitude to refrain from running away, from dropping out, from wiggling out from under the pressures that you are applying to reshape my character. Help me to recognize your hand in my daily experiences, and not to pull back or retreat from You. Help me to cooperate with Your program of redemption. I acknowledge that You are the expert, You are Sovereign; I submit to your care, blessed be your will and your chosen methods of reforming in my life.
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/
In the book of Jeremiah, there are two 'camps' of God's people; they all are facing punishment from the consequence of national rebellion, via the instrument of God's choosing, the Babylonians. God repeatedly told His people, the Jews, to submit to exile as a purification, and that He would after a time bring them back home and restore their prosperity and spiritual life. But to those who would not accept His discipline, who stubbornly resisted being moved, He warned them that they would perish.
18,19 And I will pursue them with the sword, famine, and pestilence and will give them up to be tossed to and fro and to be a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, an astonishment, and a terror, a hissing and a reproach among all the nations to which I have driven them, Because they have not listened to and heeded My words, says the Lord, which I sent to them persistently by My servants the prophets; but you [exiles] would not listen [either], says the Lord.
A breath away from God's pronouncement of doom, He breaths peace to the obedient refugees:
10-14 For thus says the Lord, When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and keep My good promise to you, causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. Then you will call upon Me, and you will come and pray to Me, and I will hear and heed you. Then you will seek Me, inquire for, and require Me [as a vital necessity] and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will release you from captivity and gather you from all the nations and all the places to which I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.
Why do things have to be so bad and why is life so severe? My theory is that your life is exactly what it has to be to redeem and reform your character. If you resist the tools that God has chosen to reshape you; He'll apply a bigger hammer. Bill Gothard uses the example of a child with unresolved issues of accepting authority. The first hammer is the parent, the next is the college professor, then next is their boss and so forth. If you keep running away from the correction, and refuse to take the test, the stakes keep increasing until you accept the process or it breaks you. When it comes to sin, we are like drug addicts who resist treatment; who have to be forced into a treatment program for our own good. Life is God's TOUGH LOVE.
Dear God,
Help me to have the intestinal fortitude to refrain from running away, from dropping out, from wiggling out from under the pressures that you are applying to reshape my character. Help me to recognize your hand in my daily experiences, and not to pull back or retreat from You. Help me to cooperate with Your program of redemption. I acknowledge that You are the expert, You are Sovereign; I submit to your care, blessed be your will and your chosen methods of reforming in my life.
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 8:11 PM
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