Jeremiah 1 - No Excuses

Moving on to a new book... Today, we begin reading Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was not exactly enthusiastic about being called as prophet of the LORD. After all, prophets can become pretty unpopular, pretty fast, and you have to make sure you're not making stuff up out of your own head. If you're called to proclaim God's Word, it better be God's Word you are proclaiming and not your own desires. It's really not a good idea to be running around saying "Thus says the LORD," if the LORD doesn't say it.

Jeremiah's response to the LORD calling him as a prophet was: “Alas, Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.” (Jer 1:6 NIV) Sound familiar? How many excuses can we create to not go and do what God would have us do? To not say what God would have us say? To not be what God would have us be? How many excuses have we made not to answer the call of God?

 

The Lord's responded to Jeremiah: “"Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the Lord." (Jer 1:7-8)

 

Don't bother the LORD with excuses. He knows you and He knows the truth. Answering God's call is not always easy, as Jeremiah and multitudes of prophets, would attest. Not everyone is going to like what they hear and you will find a few more enemies along the way. But, God is with you. He will put His words in your mouth. He will rescue you.

 

Have a blessed day... sharing the Good News of the Kingdom through Jesus Christ with the world around you.

 

God's Peace - Pr. J

 

P.S. By the way, a good place to start in knowing exactly what it is that the LORD says is by reading your Bible or attending worship services so that you might hear it during the reading of the daily lessons.

Psalm 94 - The LORD Sees

Again, the psalmist reminds us that there are no secrets from God.  He who fashioned the ears, hears.  He who formed the eye, sees.  No one can hide the injustice that they do from God.  It can be hidden from man for awhile, but it cannot be hidden from God.

Young people always amaze me.  I was young once (a very long time ago) and I still remember.  For some reason when we are young (and sometimes when we are old) we think that we're going to get away with doing the things we ought not do.  That rarely happens.  There are usually consequences to our negative actions in this world.  Even if others don't see what we do in secret places to harm others, God sees.  "The LORD knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile." (vs 11)  The One who created all things; the One who knows all things; He is the judge of all the earth.

Take care that what you do and say is according to His will - God sees. His judgement will be founded on righteousness, and the upright in heart will follow it. (vs. 15)

God's Peace - Pr. J

Job 29 - Good Old Days

Job longs for the "good old days" when all was well with his life.  In fact, it was better than well.  His life was great.  He was admired, respected, looked up to.   

How many of us long for the "good old days."  I hear it all the time.  It is strange to me, though, that it is not the really elderly who I hear this most from, but more from the middle-aged.  Those who have lived 80 or 90 years have experienced enough life to know that each year will bring change and some of it will not be good.  But, they also know that much of the change to come will be good and they have learned to trust God. 

For some, who reach middle age, it is kind of a shock when we realize that we're not young any more and we want to go back to those days when we were - when everything seemed wonderful - even if, in reality, it was not.  I think, just maybe, the reality of our mortality starts hitting many of us sometime after we hit the age of 50.  We long for the "good old days" because we fear death.  If not death, maybe it's life we fear.  Maybe it's fear of not being young and beautiful, active and full energy to go out and a desire to go out and change the world.  Physically, we often cannot do what we use to do and so we long for the "good old days" when we were young and had hopes of doing great things. 

Now, I'm just surmising.  I'm sure this does not hold true for everyone.  But, it seems, it holds true for Job.  He is sick and tired.  He would be considered, after all, middle aged, as we know the rest of the story and know that he will live to prosper and even raise another family.  His life is not any where near it's end; yet, we find him today longing for the "good old days." 

May God help us to learn to enjoy each day for the gift it is.  The past is the past that has brought us to today.  It has helped make us who we are.  But, would we really want to go back to those "good old days" and learn all those lessons all over again?

God's Peace - Pr. Judy