Category: QuietTimes

“Inquire, I pray you, of the Lord for us, for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon is making war against us. Perhaps the Lord will deal with us according to all His wonderful works, forcing him to withdraw from us.” Jeremiah 21:2 [AMP] This is Zedekiah asking Jeremiah to tell God to ignore all of the rebellion of Judah and yet pull out some of the miracles to shoo away the Babylonians. This sounds like a way that I can be with the Lord. This can be those times in my life where I am not following God closely and pursuing Him but then I stop and ask God to answer a prayer for something I want or need. Feels so foolish, just like the foolishness I see here in Zedekiah’s request. The result here with Judah is that God informs Zedekiah the way that He is going come into the gates of Jerusalem and inflict the inhabitants with a plague with His own hand to soften them up for the Babylonians to take them easily. Super scary…makes me think twice about being flippant with my Christian walk.

“But the LORD is with me as a dreaded warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me.  They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed.  Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.” Jeremiah 20:11 [ESV] -> me: Jeremiah is so overwhelmed with not only what God has asked of him , but also feeling like God put in a position of persecution, mockery, and shame.  He prays this lament to the Lord but then immediately follows it up with declaring Who God is by his side…a dreaded Warrior.  He knows that God will punish those who have scoffed Jeremiah and they will be put to shame when they see the Lord follow through with the destruction He is warning everyone about.  PERSONAL APPLICATION – Even in my lowest moments do I carry a trust of Who God is and what He has promised to do?  Do I reach out to Him with my concerns and sorrows but in the same breath praise Him for Who He is?  Is my faith deep enough to allow me to walk confidently in my conversation with One Who comforts AND defends?  I need to be bold and open in my heartache and petition for myself and others who are persecuted but at the same time have a deep trust that rests in a justice to come for those who are evil.

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all its towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their necks, refusing to hear My words.” Jeremiah 19:15 [AMP] -> me: My reading today was the rest of Jeremiah 18 and all of 19.  This passage primarily consists of God telling Jeremiah to go buy a pot (probably a vessel to hold water) and then take several Priests and elders of the Judah and using the smashing of the pot as an example of what God is going to do to Judah if they don’t repent.  The pot broken so badly that it cannot be reassembled.  What stood out to me through these passages is that God warns and warns and warns…providing every opportunity for repentance; but Judah never responds in humility…they respond defiantly saying “It’s no use, we will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his own evil heart.”  WHAT?  It is so brazen and I can’t imagine the frustration of the Lord with everything He has promised them and delivered them out of.  So what do God do again, warns them….another time.  My takeaway is that this is the character of our God; His patience is unbelievable for the ones He loves.  What punishment one receives should never come as a surprise – all throughout God’s word He warns and the New Testament is no exception — ‘Accept the gift of Salvation through Christ or face God’s wrath’.  I am so thankful for God’s word that shows us not only His patience, but the destructive power of His punishment and wrath – you either accept the promise of his protection or accept His promise of coming judgement.

Today my reading was Jeremiah 18:1-11 and the 3 verses that stood out to me were – “And the vessel he [the Potter] was making of clay was spoiled in the potter’s hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as it seemed good to the potter to do. Then the word of the LORD came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the LORD. Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel.” Jeremiah 18:4-6 [ESV] Bottom line – God can mold us into what he wants at any time. When I am called by God to move in a certain direction, he will equip me for that work.

“And do not carry a burden out of your houses on the Sabbath day or do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy (set apart to the worship of God), as I commanded your fathers. Yet they would not listen and obey or incline their ears; but they stiffened their necks, that they might not hear and might not receive instruction.” Jeremiah 17:22-23 [AMP] -> me: Here the Lord is telling Jeremiah to go stand in the gates of the city of Jerusalem and warn everyone as they come and go, that they must honor the Sabbath by not carrying loads in and out of the city on that day; but to keep the Sabbath day holy….as I commanded your fathers.  What is crazy about this is that what is being said is that the people of Israel have never really kept the Sabbath holy.  The Lord is telling Jeremiah to go tell the people of Judah to start doing this now…think about the uphill battle this would be.  Generations before the current have never respected this day and now Jeremiah is being sent to tell this generation that if they don’t ‘an unquenchable fire will be sent to the gates of Jerusalem that will consume her fortresses’ Jer 17:27.  Doesn’t this feel relevant to today?  Application/Takeaway – just because you have not received swift consequences for disobedience, doesn’t mean the punishment won’t ever come.  Additionally, it is not too late to repent and turn away from something sinful you have been doing for even a long time.  Even though generation after generation has ‘stiffened’ its neck toward God’s commands, He is giving them a chance to change their hearts now.  Keeping the Sabbath as a day set apart for God is a sign of Israel’s commitment to the God who entered into a covenant with them. In the context of Jeremiah, it is not ‘just’ about keeping one commandment; it is about a whole lifestyle in which God is taken seriously. Those who trust in the LORD WILL follow his commandments.

“I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness. You know what came out of my lips; it was before your face. Be not a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.” Jeremiah 17:16-17 [ESV] -> me: Today I am back in Jeremiah after a good stint going through ‘The Pastorals’.  As I was reading this evening, these 2 verses jumped out at me.  Jeremiah was in a tough situation.  God had called him to be the single voice calling out for Judah to repent.  This is a great example of a lament.  It might sound like complaining but what Jeremiah says in verse 17 really brings home what is going on here…he feels like a failure but he laments that he has done everything God has asked him yet the people do not hear or receive what he has said.  Then Jeremiah follows this up with ‘Don’t be a terror to me, for You are my refuge in disaster’.  Jeremiah loves the Lord and leans into Him for his safety but he feels like he is letting the Lord down.  I just love the heart of this because it can be how I feel when a ‘witness opportunity’ goes awry.  God is ‘my’ refuge but I sometimes I feel like a failure in what He has called me to do.  Jeremiah’s prayer to God is an encouragement to stay true and steadfast but also to feel comfortable to tell God how I feel.  This was the case this morning when I led the church in prayer in first service.  I really botched it up and rushed it…but God was faithful to give me the courage in second services and give me His strength to communicate more thoroughly and in a way that allowed the congregation to participate.

Today I spent time going over all of this last weeks QT passages in prayerful consideration of how I would lead the church in prayer tomorrow. Knowing the topic of tomorrow’s sermon will be Joy, the Lord has connected all that I have learned to culminate to today. Themes have been ‘Resting in the hope of eternal life’, ‘being a lover of good’, ‘being self-controlled’, ‘waiting for our blessed hope’, ‘justified by grace’, and ‘good works are excellent and right’.  I have been so thankful for these last 11 days of connection!  Praying the Lord is encouraging you through your own reading times.

“This message is most trustworthy, and concerning these things I want you to insist steadfastly, so that those who have believed in (trusted in, relied on) God may be careful to apply themselves to honorable occupations and to doing good, for such things are [not only] excellent and right [in themselves], but [they are] good and profitable for the people.” Titus 3:8 [AMP] -> me: The ‘concerning these things’ Paul wants Titus to insist on is – being submissive to rulers and authorities, being obedient, ready for any honest work, speaking evil of no one, avoiding quarreling, being gentle, and showing perfect courtesy toward everyone.  So who is Paul telling Titus to say this to?  Christians!!  We can be jerks and Paul has to emphatically tell Titus to teach that followers of Jesus Christ must operate in this way so that when they apply themselves to their work or doing good work for others, there can be no hypocrisy cited.  It just struck me how much sin still has every opportunity take hold in a professing Christian, so we must devote ourselves to living out the values mentioned above.  This is not easy – it takes an active power of the Holy Spirit to help us see these failings so that we can adjust.  That power is activated through a continuous searching of God’s will in our lives through consistent prayer and being in the word of God (psst. Paul also teaches this a ton in his letters).  So, when I look at my own life, measured against these commands; I have work to do. 

“when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7 [ESV] Oh man!  I love these verses!  There is NOTHING we can do or could have done to have Jesus save us…NOTHING. It is through God’s mercy and grace alone we receive our salvation.  What about the ‘washing of regeneration’?  The other way to say this would be ‘cleansing through re-birth’ which points to the new creation we become through salvation.  Then we have ‘renewal of the Holy Spirit’. One points to the act of entering (re-birth), while the other marks the quality of the new life (renovation). Renewal points to the whole process of ‘making new’. Through the work of the Spirit we live on a higher plane than before.  God’s Holy Spirit has been POURED out on us RICHLY…THROUGH Jesus!…and then because we have been JUSTIFIED by His grace, we have HOPE!  The point of this reference to justification is that no-one who is not justified can hope for an inheritance…no matter what we do.  Justification is the only way to eternity with God and that Justification only comes through One Person -> Jesus Christ.

“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.” Titus 2:11-14 [ESV] -> me: Uh whoa…Today, I had the gift of being able to spend time with my cousin talking about the wonderful journey the Lord has had us on. We feel so blessed to not only have each other, but to also have shared experiences of the outpouring of God’s blessing by showing us His glory (so much more on this topic that I don’t enough time to write about here). This passage is what it is all about to be ‘In Fellowship with Christ’.  The wording in these verses is so important.  Let me just call out a couple.  1) GRACE OF GOD has appeared -> Jesus, Jesus is the grace of God that brings Salvation. 2) TRAINING us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions -> this is our sanctification process.  Paul again using athlete themes to communicate his message.  3) WAITING FOR OUR BLESSED HOPE -> this is an anticipatory action, not a sit-back-and-wait message.  4) PURIFY FOR HIMSELF…FOR HIS OWN POSSESSION -> Its all about Him, not us.  We have been bought with a price and we are not our own.  5) ZEALOUS for good works -> fervent, ardent, devout, committed; these are some of the synonyms of zealous.  Good works should be our focus and drive in this present age.