Read with me day 5 -Priest & Prophets

Jeremiah 5
(go read, I'll wait)

So Israel has sinned and been called to repent.  They have been promised that they will be received if they return.  They have been warned that remaining in sin will be dangerous.  They are not returning.  The prophet searches all of Jerusalem for a single solitary righteous man.  He doesn't find one.  But the prophet is quick to point out that he was only looking at the common people.  So he looks to the rulers, the ones who were educated and should know better.  His disappointment deepens.  Finally he looks to the prophets and priests and discovers :

An astonishing and horrible thing
Has been committed in the land:
The prophets prophesy falsely,
And the priests rule by their own power;
And My people love to have it so.
But what will you do in the end?

Jeremiah 5:30&31 NKJV

The prophets, the people who should be speaking the truth of God, are making it up!  Saying what the people want to hear.  The priests aren't looking to the law of God for direction, but instead look to themselves for authority.  And the people eat it up.  Why?  People don't want to hear about their own sins.  Tell them about someone else's sin, and they love it.  They cheer for justice and fairness.  Until the spotlight turns on them.  It is better for prophets and priests not to speak of such things.  Many today don't want to either.  They'd rather speak of God's love and mercy.  Forgetting that if God has shown you mercy, than he MUST have turned away wrath.

Read with me Day 4 - Or Else

Jeremiah 4
(read away)

So in the last two chapters God has laid out the crimes of the people of Israel.  They turned from him looking for life from other things.  Then God begs His people to turn from their sins and return to Him.  The request is simple, acknowledge the sin and return to God.  It sounds so loving, so comfy.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
    remove the foreskin of your hearts,
    O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
    and burn with none to quench it,
     because of the evil of your deeds.

Jeremiah 4:4 ESV

I'm sorry, what was that about wrath?  I thought God was about love, forgiveness, and salvation.  That's the rub right there:  salvation.  Salvation is only salvation if it is saving you from something.  God was trying to save Israel from the consequences of their sins.  Israel's turning from God has brought devastation down upon them. (See verse 18.)  God would save them from this doom, but they must return to Him.

Are you fleeing from God?  There are consequences to those choices.  Some are for a short time, some are eternal.  Some God would deliver you from, some He would deliver you through, and some He would use to make you grow.  Would you turn to Him?

Reading Day 3 - Jeremiah 3

Jeremiah 3
(Read it here.)

God escalates his charge against Israel & Judah*.  He compares the behavior of His people to a wife who leaves her husband to become a prostitute. Then comes the shocking stuff.  God doesn't dump out wrath on His people.  Instead he calls his people to return to Him.


Go, and proclaim these words toward the north, and say,

“‘Return, faithless Israel,
declares the Lord.
I will not look on you in anger,
    for I am merciful,
declares the Lord;
I will not be angry forever.
Only acknowledge your guilt,
    that you rebelled against the Lord your God
and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree,
    and that you have not obeyed my voice,
declares the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:12-13 ESV

God is calling His wandering lover to come back home to Him.  There is no wrath, no punishment, no earning it.  There is only the open invitation to return. But you don't just walk back in the door and say, "Yo! What's up?"  God does ask one thing, "Only acknowledge your guilt."  Acknowledge the wrong you've done.  Admit that you strayed from God.  Admit that you've sought from other places that which you should have sought from God.  Then ask God to provide for you once more.

Have you strayed from the Lord?  Are you straying now?  Return and admit what you have done.  He will receive you with open arms.

There is such a deep picture painted of what straying from God looks like.  What part struck you?  Have you found another one that fits?



*For those who don't know: these were the two nations of the Jewish people. By this point, Israel had been destroyed by Assyria and its people had been carried off into captivity.

Read with me - Day 2

RIIIGHT! so I did say every day or two... this was more like three, but we can get some momentum going. On to:

Jeremiah 2
(read it here)

This is where God starts explaining to His people Israel what His complaint against them is.  I thought verse 13 summarized it well:

for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water

Jeremiah 2:13 ESV

This charge I find to be true of those I know who reject God, and even myself in my own sins.  Sin at its core is the rejection of God as the source of life.  When you reject God as the source of life, you must try to find life from something else.  So we chase after these other things, trying to squeeze a little life from them. The things we choose vary.  Some follow money. Some chase thrills. Many enslave themselves to food. Some gorge themselves on sex. Others shroud themselves in fantasies. Inevitably, they all fail to give life. We discover that the life we sought flows out of them, much like water from a cracked bucket. These things never could give life at all.
This is every sin:  you reject the river to look for broken buckets.

So there is the warning:  Are you looking to the river for life or are you chasing after empty buckets?

That is what I saw.  How about you?

Read with me-Day 1 Jeremiah

Would you read the bible with me?  I would enjoy it if you would.

Every day (or two) we'll both read a chapter from the book of Jeremiah.  I'll post my thoughts, and maybe you'll share yours.

So let's begin

Jeremiah 1
So I started reading chapter 1 and the first thing that jumped out at me was a complaint from Jeremiah.  "I'm to young to talk to these people!" he whines.  Then we get an answer from God:


Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me,

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms,
to pluck up and to break down,
to destroy and to overthrow,
to build and to plant.”

And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.”

Jeremiah 1:9-12 ESV

God puts His words into Jeremiah's mouth.  There is no power given, no promise of spectacular oratory, just the words of the message.  These words would do the work, and God would make sure of that.  His only job was to speak them.

Do you worry about what to say?  What people will think?  Will it do any good anyway?
Stop!  Those aren't you're worries.  God will watch over those things.  He will give you the words to speak. He will make them work.


That is what I saw.  What did you see?

3 Songs I don't want to hear Sunday Morning

Warning:  The following may be seen as blasphemous and/or unpatriotic.  Internalizing these opinions may result in you getting strange looks or being called names.  Read at your own risk.

Monday is the 4th of July. It is a great holiday.  We celebrate the freedom we enjoy in this great country... and play with explosives.  It is truly an awesome combination.  I thank God for the ability to do both those things, and for the fact I still have all my fingers.  However.... and this is where you may want to leave... there is something I really don't like about the weekend closest to the 4th. In most churches across this land, people will walk into church and sing patriotic songs.

Let me be clear:  I LIKE OUR COUNTRY AND SONGS ABOUT IT.  These songs are wonderful and I enjoy listening to them, especially with fireworks (everything is better with fireworks).  The thing is:  I go to church on Sunday mornings to sing praise to the King of kings, not my country. Play these songs on the 4th, fine.  Play them the Saturday before, fine.  Play them Sunday afternoon, fine.  Play them at your church's summer festival that happens that weekend, fine.  Play them Sunday morning BEFORE church, fine.  Once the worship service has started, STOP!

So now that you've decided that I'm some unpatriotic nut and that you'll never read this blog again, I'll tell you the 3 songs I most dread hearing this coming Sunday.  Each of these is a song that has been sung in a church I was attending on the Sunday near the 4th of July.

1. The National Anthem. Yes, this has happened. We stood up in the middle of the worship set, and sang the Star Spangled Banner.  For one thing this patriotic song doesn't even mention God.  For another, this song isn't even about our country.  It's about deriving hope from the FLAG of our country.  Singing this song on Sunday morning is about as close to idol worship as you can get, without a carven image or goat sacrifice.
2. God Bless America.  Gets points for mentioning the Big Guy in the title and in the song.  Then it asks Him to bless America.  For those reasons, it will probably be the most sung song in church on Sunday.   The problem is that is all it has.  The rest of the song is about how cool America is.  The more I think about it the more the song feels like a demand that God bless America for it's coolness, than a plea for God to bless America that it may remain humble.
3. My Country 'Tis of Thee.  I really do like this song, but it's not about God.  Oh sure, He's mentioned but He's not praised.  There are some requests made of God, but no reverence and no submission.

Now as an extra bonus.  The special music that I fear will be played this Sunday:  God Bless the USA.  This one has even less God in it than God Bless America.  I won't have to sing it, but I'll be sitting there trying to take communion... and my head will explode!

Would some one kindly bring an extra roll of duck tape to church for me this week?  Oh, and a mop.  Thanks.

P.S.  My current church is actually pretty good about this... but slips have occurred.

Being Still

"Be still and know that I am God"

We've heard it a million times, it is used as the definitive call to stop and spend time with God. People use it to tell you to clear off you're busy schedule and make time for the Maker of time.  It is a very commonly quoted piece of scripture, but I bet you can't tell me where it comes from in the Bible.  Anyone? Anyone?  Bueller?  (Sorry, that's almost funny if you've seen the movie.)  It's from Psalm 46:10

 ¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God;
         I will be exalted among the nations,
         I will be exalted in the earth!
          (Psalm 46:10, New King James Version)

I love my smartphone.  It has this app that puts every translation of the bible in English, Spanish, Somali, and several other languages at my finger tips.  It also pops up a verse of the day on my home screen.  Several days ago this verse popped up.  I love this verse, but didn't know that I had only heard a third of it.  Seems in addition to making time for God, you must worship Him and bring others to worship Him.  Wow! That's pretty cool.  So, I need to make time for God, worship Him, and do things that would make others worship Him.  I've grown as a person just by hearing the rest of one verse.  Too cool.

The other cool thing about this bible app on my phone is it will take me from the verse of the day to the whole chapter.  Of course, I clicked right in... and my head exploded.  See, context is an amazing thing.  The material around a particular verse can bring out unforeseen depth (No, not a kiss. Weirdo!) or  flip the meaning.  Needless to say I didn't expect what I found:

 ¹ God is our refuge and strength,
         A very present help in trouble.
 ² Therefore we will not fear,
         Even though the earth be removed,
         And though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
 ³ Though its waters roar and be troubled,
         Though the mountains shake with its swelling.  Selah 
        
 ⁴ There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
         The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.
 ⁵ God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved;
         God shall help her, just at the break of dawn.
 ⁶ The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
         He uttered His voice, the earth melted.
        
 ⁷ The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah 
        
 ⁸ Come, behold the works of the LORD,
         Who has made desolations in the earth.
 ⁹ He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
         He breaks the bow and cuts the spear in two;
         He burns the chariot in the fire.
        
 ¹⁰ Be still, and know that I am God;
         I will be exalted among the nations,
         I will be exalted in the earth!
        
 ¹¹ The LORD of hosts is with us;
         The God of Jacob is our refuge.  Selah
(Psalm 46, New King James Version)

I expected to see verses 1-7.  They add a little depth to being still:  God will protect you, soothe you, be there for you.  Alright! God is so cool!  Verse 8 gets a little weird, cause we're looking at the destruction God has made.  Verse 9 has God making peace.  Win, everybody loves peace.  The problem comes with HOW He makes it.  Peace that comes from everyone realizing how silly war is, starts with people beating their swords into plows.  God is smashing and burning stuff!  This is not the peace of the convinced, it is the peace of the defeated.  God defeats His enemies, and then destroys their ability to fight Him.  Then you get "Be still...."

Be Still, He has defeated you.
Be Still, you can't fight Him.
Be Still, you can't run from Him.
Be Still, and know He is the ruler.

This verse is not about making or doing.  This verse is about surrender.  Surrender to God.  Stop fighting Him.  Stop resisting Him.  Accept Him as your God, because He is; and He will be exalted, whether you recognize Him or not.

How about that for a verse you thought you knew?