Jonah 2:1-10 – All forms of earthly disruption (storms of life, like we are currently in) are primarily spiritual disruptions born in the spiritual realm. They are, as Dr. Tony Evans calls them, Divine Disruptions. To make sense of these disruptions without addressing the issue spiritually makes no sense…the point IS spiritual. Same for Jonah. It wasn’t until after he fled, endured a violent storm, was plummeted into the deep almost dead, and swallowed by a “giant fish”, and sat there inside of the fish for three days and nights did he finally PRAY. Jonah 2:1, “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God…” This is our human condition. This is our pride. This is our skewed belief that we will somehow out-wit the God who commands the sea and land. This reflects how we greatly we view ourselves and how small we view God. Jonah finally relents to God’s will and authority in his prayer and he states, “But I will offer sacrifices to you with songs of praise, and I will fulfill all my vows, for my salvation comes from the LORD alone.” IMMEDIATELY Jonah is spit onto the shore. When we finally relent God’s response is immediate. God wasn’t just desiring to redeem Nineveh, He wanted to redeem the wayward heart of Jonah. God wants this from us too. In the process of God resolving our divine disruption He’s resolving heart issues in His people. God waists NOTHING. Everything is transformative. God doesn’t yell or condemn Jonah…He simply spits him out. He is so long-suffering. Grace is always at the front end of His behavior. God is holding us, His people, right now in the belly of the fish…in our chaos until our will is tamed and His will is received by us. He will not relent. He is God. This is His plan and it will come to pass. What should we do? Easy: 1. Pray. 2. Offer praise. 3. Commit our hearts to God’s will and not our own. Everything we might run to…God commands, created, and owns…to not align ourselves under His will and care is stubbornness. Jonah is a mirror of how much our heart can hate a people group…it can make us rebel and run from God, take us out of God’s will, cause spiritual disruptions, and bring us close to death before we choose to love like God loves. Just because we are His people doesn’t mean that we love like He does…only a heart continually laid out before Him will have the ability to do that.
QTVOTD: Strive for righteousness but cling to the perfection of Jesus…
“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.
QTVOTD: Who doesn’t want to be a tree by a stream?
“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!
QTVOTD: God restores glory to His name…
“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.
QTVOTD: God’s promise…
“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.
QTVOTD: The weight of discipline…
“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.
QTVOTD: My heart is laid open before God…
“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!
QTVOTD: Destroy strongholds..take captive…
“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.
Marianne’s Notes: Be careful of judging…
The more insane the world gets the more true, steady, and solid God is. I can’t help but see God’s utter divine providence in every new cast. However, if I am spending more time reading or watching or listening to the world and it’s commentary of our times then I’ve grossly missed the point…I am a CHRIST follower; not a political follower or a particular minister’s follower…a CHRIST follower. I need to saturate myself in what God’s word says about my sin, my heart, my pride, and ask Him to align my wayward heart to His so that I can stand for the things He stands for. Alone. God has cranked the turn key of my wick and that fire is growing ever brighter towards obedience, allegiance, and faith than ever before. James 4:11-12, “Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against a brother or judges them speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?”
Christian, yes, you in the mirror, don’t slander other believers! What is the point of that? For what gain? Typically, a personal one…a self-righteous one. I want to judge another believer for their failure or sin so that mine isn’t so apparent. As long as we are judging others the finger isn’t pointing at us. When we place ourselves in position of judge we are elevating ourselves to God’s place. He created the law; He created the judgments against it and He alone will execute a ruling. We do NOT know the heart nor the place that each brother or sister is in their sanctification. What we CAN hold one another accountable to is coming alongside one another and spurring them (us) on towards Christ. Instead of judgment we should become a coach, a cheerleader, mentor, or teacher to help each other have the deepest, closest, most holy relationship with God that we can have this side of heaven. When we confront other believers our goal should be that of a desire to bring one another closer to Jesus not diminish or devalue each other. This truth is SO applicable right now…let’s come together to grow, to increase our desire for more of Jesus…deeper, fuller, and richer than we have ever experienced before!
Marianne’s Notes: Fighting to stay…
I’m fighting to stay in the presence of God…I’m willfully choosing to push ever farther into what’s uncomfortable, unchartered, and beyond me right now. Why? Because it’s not uncomfortable, uncharted, or beyond God. So my growth is deemed necessary by Him and I want to grow deeper. Last year God began a work in my heart; He started planting the seeds for growth that I’m now beginning to see the scale of. (Although I’m CONFIDENT His scale is far greater than I am imagining!) The seeds He began sowing were for the “marginalized”. Ben and I have been discussing that theme over the past year…how to stand up for, provide for, listen to, speak over…the marginalized. These are all just thoughts, tips of the icebergs, but they are there…little seedlings starting to sprout. BLM, COVID, and our current status. I share this only because it continues to play into all my quiet times…including today: James 4: 8-10, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you doubleminded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will life you up.” There is a flow here, a few verses back remind us to: 1. Submit to God. 2. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 3. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. 4. Cleanse your hands. 5. Purify your hearts. 6. Lament, mourn, and weep. 7. Humble yourselves. 8. God will lift you up.
Nothing of value can happen in my heart until and unless I submit to God; completely. Where what He calls sin, I call sin…where what He esteems, I esteem…where His justice, is my justice…where His form of service, is my form of service. Then I am to resist, fight, and claw myself away from the devil understanding that he has power but not ultimate power. I cannot allow myself to be enticed, impressed, or delusional about him or his offers because I have ONE goal and that is to trust and obey God. I am to run, instead to God…dive deep into His word, chase after Him as I would gold. I must carve out time, ample time, to sit before Him and His throne: to read, listen, pray, and lament. Why? Because from the OT to the NT, God ALWAYS draws near when we draw near; always. Once I’m there I need to cleanse my hands and purify my heart…confess, ask for forgiveness, call out my sin, by name and repent. The natural next best step is to lament, mourn, and weep…for myself, for our world, for restoration, and for the destruction of sin. As a result God is lift up to His rightful place and I am put low into mine and my heart is humbled. This process is what is required of me as a Christ follower…to continually repeat this process in order to align my heart to His. He will go before me-that, I can trust.