Day 233: Jeremiah 10, 11 and 12

Do not learn the ways of the nations. (Jeremiah 10:2)

When my son Ben was about 4 years old (now 19), he witnessed a small girl launch a tantrum to assert her will over her parents. I could see the wheels turning in his little head: Brilliant! He tried it a couple times but found out it wouldn't work with us... not usually anyway.

On more than one occasion I have counseled my children: Be a good influence on your friends; don't let them be a bad influence on you.

Perhaps a similar sentiment can be found in God's heart for his people Judah as communicated through the prophet Jeremiah. The indictment is that Judah has been persuaded to walk in the ways of its neighbors and follow their gods.

It is a dangerous thing to brush shoulders with those who do not hold our values and beliefs. We are called to be the salt of the earth, but salt must come into contact with food to season or preserve it (Matthew 5:13). As Christ's ambassadors we have to ask ourselves, Am I rubbing off on society - or is society rubbing off on me? How can we live in the real world without getting sucked in?

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind? (Romans 12:2)

How can we be a good influence on society without society being a bad influence on us?

Day 232: Jeremiah 7, 8 and 9

The whole house of Israel is uncircumcised in heart. (Jeremiah 9:26)

The message delivered to Judah is an indictment of its arrogance and stubbornness. Even animals know to whom they are accountable for the seasons and their sustenance (8:7). But of Judah it is said the people are too stiffnecked to know they are beaten (7:26), following the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts (7:24).

According to Rabbi Abraham Heschel, God's anger is always measured and for a purpose. There is no divine anger for anger's sake. Its meaning is . . . instrumental: to bring about repentance; its purpose and consummation is its own disappearance. [1]

The point is that people should have the good sense when confronted by God's anger or discipline to change their ways. But a lesson we can take from Jeremiah is that too often we doggedly march to our own destruction when a simple change of course would make all the difference. We may be lost, but we're making good time.

Physical circumcision was supposed to be a symbol of the inward circumcision of the heart - resulting in submission of the whole person to the sovereignty of God.

When you try to be the boss, how's that work out for you?

[1] Abraham Heschel. The Prophets (New York: Harper and Row, 1962), 286.

Day 231: Jeremiah 4, 5 and 6

Prophets and priests alike, all practice deceit. They dress the wounds of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. (Jeremiah 6:13,14)

A hundred years earlier the grandparents of these same people were convinced the Assyrian army was going to overrun the city. Panic was running rampant, but Isaiah told them to hold fast - that God would deliver them. And God came through. Isaiah's reassurance and the eventual outcome of those events were congruent with the prevailing Zion theology. Yahweh is the greatest God; he lives in the temple; the temple is in Jerusalem. Therefore, Jerusalem is invincible.

Now it was Jeremiah's unenviable task to convince the people that Jerusalem would in fact be destroyed by the Babylonians - the new superpower on the block. He was speaking in opposition to not only Zion theology, but also to the established priesthood and the politically correct temple prophets who said, Don't worry; be happy.

At the root of Jerusalem's troubles was a very real problem - its rejection of the first commandment and its treatment of the poor. Religious leaders refused to acknowledge the gravity of the nation's sinfulness. While they were saying, These societal wounds aren't serious; let's apply a clean Band-aid and cover up the ugliness, Jeremiah was warning that Judah needed surgery... and that surgery was going to be performed by the Babylonian army.

Denial never healed anything. Are you ready for real healing?

Day 230: Jeremiah 1, 2 and 3

My people have done two evils: They have turned away from me, the spring of living water. And they have dug their own wells. (NCV, Jeremiah 2:13)

I've never dug a well, but I have dug trenches for footers and water lines. It's hot, dirty work. Put yourself in Jeremiah's place. It's a hot, dry day. You offer someone a pitcher of pure, refreshing water, but rather than accept your life-saving, thirst-quenching gift, they raise their hands in the international symbol for Stop, and declare, No, I'm going to dig my own well. Not only will the work be exhausting, but the muddy water they're going to get (if any) is hours, maybe days away. And the taste won't even compare. Sure, it might keep them alive, but that's about all.

Who would make that choice? We do. Why is it when God freely offers us his best, we go digging for something inferior?

We're like hemoglobin. (How's that for a left turn?) Did you know that if the hemoglobin in our red blood cells is given the choice, it prefers to bond with carbon monoxide rather than oxygen? That means that if hemoglobin has a vacant seat, and both an oxygen molecule and a carbon monoxide molecule are waiting on the curb, the hemoglobin will pick up the carbon monoxide almost every time. It seems to make the hemoglobin happy... and then we die.

Will you dig for muddy water this week, or accept Christ's gift of living water?

Day 229: Isaiah 64, 65 and 66

We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

Submitting to the hands of the potter is a matter of trust. The Bait of Satan author John Bevere writes: When you know God would never do anything to harm . . . you, and whatever He does or does not do in your life is in your best interest, then you will give yourself freely to Him. [1] Only then can we trust him to work out the best for us and in us.

The question is: Do we trust God? Do we believe he has our best interests at heart? If so, then we can give ourselves to our Potter, trusting that what he forms in us will be better than what we could come up with left to our own devices.

In the course of Isaiah's writings Jerusalem has been threatened by Assyria and delivered from that threat, but not delivered from destruction at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar a hundred years later. Exiled to Babylon, the people waited 70 years for their deliverance. Once that deliverance came and the population was restored to Jerusalem, Isaiah helped them move beyond the past as they looked once again to the future.

Let us be reminded one last time that Isaiah speaks to restoration beyond judgment. We can always trust God because not even failure... not even death is final.

What's God doing in your life this week?

[1] John Bevere. The Bait of Satan (Lake Mary, FL: Charisma House, 1997), 105.

Day 228: Isaiah 61, 62 and 63

For as the soil makes the sprout come up and a garden causes seeds to grow, so the Sovereign Lord will make righteousness and praise spring up before all nations. (Isaiah 61:11)

The prophet paints a beautiful picture of God's redemptive plan for humanity. As natural as the growth of a new plant will be the growth of his kingdom (righteousness, peace and joy - Romans 14:17) overflowing the nations. And how will God's righteousness spread to the nations? Through conquest? Through domination?

By preaching good news to the poor, by binding up the brokenhearted, by proclaiming freedom for the captives, by releasing those prisoners held in darkness, and by proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor (61:1,2).

Just as holiness is part of God's DNA, and our birthright as his children - Be holy because I, the Lord your God, am holy (Leviticus 19:2) - so also the kingdom of God inches its way across the landscape and into the hearts of God's children - Your kingdom come, your will be done (Matthew 6:10).

And the best part is that God allows us to participate in his plan to bring righteousness and praise to the world - ...and you will be my witnesses (Acts 1:8). It's more about who we are than about what we say. We are God's workmanship (Ephesians 2:10) through whom he chooses to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

How will you share the good news of God's favor this week?

Day 227: Isaiah 58, 59 and 60

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen? (Isaiah 58:5)

The final eleven chapters of Isaiah bring us once again into a new setting and focus. Whereas chapters 1-39 dealt with the Assyrian threat (late 8th century BC), and chapters 40-55 were situated in Babylon awaiting God's deliverance (ca. 540 BC), chapters 56-66 find the exiles back in Jerusalem, working out life in community (ca. 520 BC). [1]

In Mark 12:30-31, when Jesus was challenged as to the most important commandment, his familiar response was: Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength [2] . . . [and] Love your neighbor as yourself. [3]

Centuries before Jesus walked the dusty roads of Palestine, these commands were the sticking point between God and his people. The prophets repeatedly took Israel and Judah to task over precisely these issues: breaking the first commandment (loving someone or something more than God), and injustice toward weaker neighbors (loving self more than others).

Then the prophet outlines a proper fast: ...to loose the chains of injustice . . . to set the oppressed free . . . to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter . . . and . . . to clothe him (58:6,7).

It seems we still struggle with the same things.

How do you offer a fast that is pleasing to God?

[1] Walter Brueggemann. An Introduction to the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2003), 170.

[2] Deuteronomy 6:5; Exodus 20:3

[3] Leviticus 19:18