Author: Ben Bourland

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? “I the LORD search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”” Jeremiah 17:9-10 -> me: I was only able to get through 3 verses today.  These verses are best summed up with the ‘Meaning’ written in my Tyndale Commentary -> ‘The sinful ways of individuals and the people as a whole will lead to disaster, because they have forgotten the Lord. Whatever is hidden in people’s hearts is not hidden from God. He will reveal the truth about every human being. This is true of the nation and also of individuals. The choice between God and the idols, truth and deceit, is ultimately a choice which will result in blessing or curse.’  When I live my life with the understanding that God sees the inner sanctum of my heart, mind, and thoughts, I am vigilant about crucifying my sin at every turn I get.  As a sinner I strive to live an upright and righteous life, but I do this clinging to the perfection of my Savior Jesus Christ.

“Blessed is the man who trusts IN the LORD, whose trust IS the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not  anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7-8 -> me: What an amazing set of verses to run into today in Jeremiah.  My life verses are Psalm 1:1-3 and so these verses resonated with me so well!  Today my reading was Jeremiah 17:1-8.  First God uses imagery to explain how embedded the sin of Judah is. He says that their sin is written on the tablets of their hearts with an iron stylus with a flint tip.  There is so much here – 1) the sin is deep: iron was very heavy and drove itself deep into the rock. 2) sin catches fire: the flint tip would spark and flame when struck and dug into the stone of their hearts.  3) tablets of sin had replaced tablets of the law on their heart.  Israel’s greatest sin was turning to other earthly sources for protection, happiness, and strength.  Israel turned to Assyria for help instead of God, they trusted in their own intellect instead of leaning into God’s wisdom and purpose.  God says that people who forsake Him are like bushes in the desert; even in the rain it will not survive and the person who lives in the desert will have no support because it is void of God’s hand.  BUT!!!  Then we come to verses 7 and 8!  Who doesn’t want to be a tree planted by a stream, tapped into living water, where they are always full of God’s grace, where there is no fear of a year of drought, and because of the consistent living water always bearing fruit!

“Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD.” Jeremiah 16:21 -> me: Today I went through the whole chapter of Jeremiah 16.  This is another chapter where we see the protection of God over Jeremiah.  He gives Jeremiah instructions for how to live in the land during this time so that he does not get exposed to the emotional horror that is about to befall the Jews.  He tells Jeremiah not to marry or have children because they will die of horrible diseases.  He tells him not to enter a house where there is a funeral meal because He has withdrawn His blessing, love, and pity.  He finally tells him not to enter a house where there is festive eating and drinking because He plans to bring to end and silence all sounds of joy and gladness.  God tells Jeremiah that there will likely be 3 questions he is asked and then follows with 2 answers – Q1) Why has the Lord declared such disaster on us? Q2) What wrong have we done? Q3) What sin have we committed against the Lord our God?  A1) Because your fathers forsook Me and followed other gods and served and worshipped them.  A2) Because you have behaved more wickedly than your fathers.  You are each following the stubbornness of your evil hearts rather than following Me.  God follows this up by saying – “Because of these things – I will show you no favor.”  Yikes.  In verses 14 and 15 there is a ray of hope in that God will at some point restore them out of bondage and the children of Israel will no longer talk about the God who brought them out of Egypt but the God who brought them out of the land of the North (Babylon).  The chapter ends with today’s QT verse.  God will receive and confirm the glory due His name.

“Therefore thus says the LORD: “If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.” Jeremiah 15:19 -> me: Passage today was Jeremiah 15:10-22.  All I can say is wow!  I spent a good portion of the day dwelling on and then writing up a whole devotional focused on verses 19-22.  Sooooo good! I will post that devotional once I can get it transcribed from my notebook.  🙂  My main takeaway from today was that God reaffirms His call on Jeremiah’s life.  Jeremiah laments about his fear of God leaving him but God brings him comfort; not by solving his problems but by reiterating His calling and protection over him.  God reminds Jeremiah that He will not leave Jeremiah’s side.  When you have a calling on your life by the One True God (we all do if we are genuine believers), we have God’s promise that He is right there with us. He may not solve our problems or get us out of the sticky situation we are in, but He does promise to give us the strength to persevere to the end.

“You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you— I am weary of relenting.” Jeremiah 15:6 -> me: My reading today was Jeremiah 15:1-9…Here we see an Old Testament example of church discipline played out.  When the Jews continued in their rejection of the Lord, continued their backsliding, and refused to change their ways; they are released to an existence without the intervening hand of God.  He even says “Send them from My presence, Let them go!”.  This scares me for those that continue in habitual sin where church discipline is required.  The removal of God’s hand from your life allows the evil one an open door to further deceive and destroy.  Super scary.  Jeremiah does speak of hope for the Jews but only in the context of recognizing sin and guilt.  My life application takeaway from today is to keep this ‘removal of God’s hand’ in mind when the church is pushed to exercise church discipline.  The weight church leadership bears in the execution of this process is heavy (the entire process is structured to bring the wayward soul back into reconciliation with God and the church body) is heavy and should be done with reverence and prayer seeking first, then executing God’s will according to His word.

“We acknowledge our wickedness, O LORD, and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against you. Do not spurn us, for your name’s sake; do not dishonor your glorious throne; remember and do not break your covenant with us. Are there any among the false gods of the nations that can bring rain? Or can the heavens give showers? Are you not he, O LORD our God? We set our hope on you, for you do all these things.” Jeremiah 14:20-22 [ESV] -> me: Through my passage today – Judah (through Jeremiah) makes their pleas heard to the Lord.  They were asking things like “why are You like a stranger in the land?” and “are You like a traveler who only stays for a night?”.  God’s response sears right through their cries; He reminds them that their wickedness and worship of false gods has shown Him that they no longer see Him as their Sovereign Savior.  God discerns the heart.  Jeremiah did his best to speak on behalf of his people but the Lord will not be moved by empty/shallow petitions.  In the QT verses today – Jeremiah uses a weird combination of flattery and challenge in his ask for God not to ruin His own name by punishing His people.  My God will not be mocked, I need to be sure of my heart condition whenever I come before my King.  When my motives are based on the truths of God’s word, He is faithful to guide!

“For though we walk (live) in the flesh, we are not carrying on our warfare according to the flesh and using mere human weapons.  For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood], but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ (the Messiah, the Anointed One),” 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 -> me: Today I was drawn to this passage as a reminder of Whose I am and the power that God gives me when I submit to and am obedient to Him.  Tyndale’s commentary on this passage discussed the military terms that Paul used here and their paraphrasing of verse five is “The arguments Paul destroys are the ‘strongholds’ in which people fortify themselves against the invasion of the knowledge of God (the gospel).”  This is so right on when it comes to our current situation in our country.  We all have these intellectual strongholds, but when I submit myself to God and His Word, then His gospel and Holy Spirit give me the ability to not only to demolish false arguments but also to bring people’s (and my own) thoughts under the lordship of Christ.

“Righteous are you, O LORD, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?  Why do all who are treacherous thrive?” Jeremiah 12:1 -> me: I love this courageous, yet cautious approach to asking the Lord something I have contemplated so many times.  Why does God allow the wicked and evil people of this world carry on so long without a recourse?  I so appreciate the relationship Jeremiah had with the Lord God Almighty that he could question God in this way.  I look around me even today and hold some of the same questions in my heart.  However, we have not talked about God’s answer yet -> in response to Jeremiah, God  says in verse 5: ‘If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?  And if in a safe land you are so trusting, what will you do in the thicket of the Jordan?’  Essentially what the Lord is saying is buck up and deal – it will only get worse.  God never really answers Jeremiah’s question directly and I think it is because the answer is too complicated.  God’s ways and purposes are met through His plan.  In this world where His plan is executed, His work and outcomes will be achieved because He uses use many situations, good people, and bad people for His purposes.  In the end the evil and wicked will meet their reward…unless they find the life saving blood of Jesus Christ.  All I have to do is remember the person of Saul of Tarsus and what evil he had enacted on Christian believers before the Lord Jesus grabbed him out of his sandals on the road to Damascus.  What I can trust is -> is that God is in control.  His purposes are being enacted through all of the worlds current situations, leaders, and evil elements.  TRUSTING God and resting in His Sovereign and Perfect will is all I need to do.

“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” Luke 15:4 -> me: Marianne and I have been internalizing the effects of centuries of oppression and hurt on those in the black community and what we can do to make change happen.  I want to point you Marianne’s post (the one just before this one) for her thoughts on this topic.  She has captured her own heart in such a beautiful way.  As we were talking today, she was talking about this verse which is quoting Jesus to His disciples.  In our minds, those who are oppressed are like the one that Jesus would leave the ninety nine (who are fine and not in trouble) to go save the one.   My heart hurts for anyone in this position and there is no way that this white man is ever going to be able to understand what my black brother or sister in Christ has had to endure in their life-times.  What I can do is stand up for them, I can question my own unconscious bias, and I can speak up against implied racism when I see it.  It is time we seek out, focus on, and help the one.  Final thought – God knows the number of hairs on a person’s head, that person infinitely matters to Him.  Jesus would stop, separate Himself from the throngs, and single out thrown away people who mattered nothing to the baa’ing sheep around them, but that person who didn’t matter to anyone else, mattered the most to Jesus.  Not only that, He knows them, their heart, and their sin, but He loves them more than they themselves will ever understand.  As a man of God who is in fellowship with Jesus, am called to love this way.  Now, is the time to act and show this love.

“Come, O children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD. What man is there who desires life and loves many days, that he may see good?  Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking deceit. Turn away from evil and do good; seek peace and pursue it.” Psalms 34:11-14 [ESV] -> me: Last night (while the girls were watching a show in the other room) Marianne and sat in the office and watch the various news outlets cover the protests that had become riots and looting.  My heart is heavy for the family of George Floyd who not only have to deal with the death of their loved one over and over again as the media plays the video, but also to see the violence brought on by a few who have an agenda that is not aligned with their plight.  We found ourselves wondering what we can do and this passage has helped me put feet to my helplessness.  Let’s start with the middle of this passage -> Everyone wants a good life and many days in it.  The rest of the passage tells us how to attain it.  1) Fear of the Lord: The person who disregards the safety of another human being or respect for property, does not know or has lost the fear of God.  2) Watch what you say and guard your heart.  James (in James 2:26) tells us that when we let our mouths run afoul, we have deceived our heart.  3) Repent!  Turning away from evil is doing a 180 degree turn from whatever it was that you were doing that is sinful.  4) Do good!  Doing good brings peace.  5) Not only should we seek peace and be we should run after it.  This is a total turn from what isn’t peace!  So, I can’t tell what you should do specifically other than ‘Fear God’, ‘Guard your mouth’, ‘Repent of your sin’, ‘Do things for others’, and finally ‘Pursue peace’!  What better way to pursue peace than to bring others into the knowledge of Jesus and God’s gift through Him!