Feeding Flames that Destroy - October 31 Readings: Jeremiah 10–12, 1 Timothy 4, Psalm 119:89–96, Proverbs 26:20–21

Links to October 31 Readings: Jeremiah 10–12, 1 Timothy 4, Psalm 119:89–96, Proverbs 26:20–21

Nothing like a good campfire in the chilled fall air, is there? A group of friends and family sitting around the crackling fire talking and roasting marshmallows to make smores. Makes for a great night. Of course, if you want to keep the fun going, you have to constantly add wood to the fire. The logs burn away and turn to dust, and if you don't feed the fire, it goes out.

Solomon told us that the same thing happens with gossip and quarrels. Look at the vivid pictures he draws in Proverbs 26:20-21.

For lack of wood the fire goes out,     and where there is no whisperer, quarreling ceases.As charcoal to hot embers and wood to fire,     so is a quarrelsome man for kindling strife.

He differentiates between two options on how to respond to quarrels. We all get upset, have spats, and argue. That quarreling is part of our fleshly nature and the Spirit works to replace it with love, patience and kindness. But it is still a reality in our lives. But how we respond to those quarrels is the key.

When a quarrel blazes to life, there is a simple solution. Don't feed it. The fuel for a fire is wood. The fuel for a quarrel is gossip. When we involve others in the quarrel, when we spread rumors, gossip, and slander concerning the issue, when we take sides, we add fuel to the fire. A small flame can then become a conflagration that destroys families, divides churches and hurts people. That's what happens when you let gossip fuel the fire.

Better to just let it go, let it die. The Spirit of God can give the redeemed the power to do that, to turn our hurts and griefs over to him instead of spreading them around with gossip and slander. Blessed are the peacemakers, Jesus said. A large part of peacemaking is simply not to share gossip and fuel the fires of anger.

Father, help me to be a peacemaker, not one who feed fires with my tongue. May the Spirit control my tongue and may it praise you and bless the Body of Christ. 

Seduced by Lying Liars - October 30 Readings: Jeremiah 7–9, 1 Timothy 3, Psalm 119:81–88, Proverbs 26:17–19

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I am weary beyond words and headed to bed after being up for most of the last 48 hours, with the exception of a few brief naps on the long flight from Tel Aviv to Newark.

As you have read the first 9 chapters of Jeremiah, you may have seen some themes repeated in the messages that God gave to the prophet. It would be good for us to identify four of these themes and call them to our remembrance.

The first two are clearly delineated in Jeremiah 9:13-14.

The Lord said, “It is because they abandoned My instruction that I set in front of them and did not obey My voice or walk according to it. Instead, they followed the stubbornness of their hearts and followed after the Baals as their fathers taught them.”

The people have done three unimaginable things here.

1) They abandoned the teaching and instruction of the Lord and refused to obey him.

They had the Ten Suggestions and viewed God's Word as optional to life. They chose not to walk according to the ways of the Lord.

2) Instead, they followed their own stubborn hearts. 

"Do what your heart tells you to do." "If it comes from inside you, it can't be wrong." We hear messages like that on a daily basis. But God's Word makes it clear that these are lies from hell. In Proverbs 3 we are told that a wise man "does NOT lean on his own understanding." Here, relying on your own heart is a significant step in the path of walking away from God.

3) They followed after Baals. 

Idolatry. It was the first thing commanded against in the Commandments and it seemed to be the thing that angered God the most. He was compassionate with those who failed, but those who abandoned him to follow after false gods, those who committed spiritual adultery, were dealt with in harsh terms.

Of course, today we no longer do anything as uncouth as build our own idols. But do not be deceived, we have them nonetheless. Americans are as idolatrous as any nation has ever been. Money. Power. Popularity. Pleasure. Self. We put so many things ahead of God.

4) They listened to false teachers who told them God didn't care. 

Look back at Jeremiah 8:11.

They have treated superficially the brokenness of My dear people, claiming, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace.

Behind every errant saint there is a false prophet telling him that God doesn't care about his sin. God loves you just the way you are (absolutely true). His love is not based on your merit or righteousness (Amen! Hallelujah). You are accepted in Christ (Glory be!)  So it's not that big of a deal whether you walk in righteousness, live holy lives, resist sin or seek God with a whole heart (Lie straight from the pit of hell!).  

Throughout the Old Testament, the false prophets preached "Peace, peace" when there is no peace. God required repentance and a return to him. The prophets said the people were a-okay with God whether they repented or not. They lied. 

Father, I thank you that I am secure in Christ. But help me to obey your word not follow my own understanding. Tear down the idols of my heart and help me to listen to your truth not the liars' lies. 

A Perfect Mediator - October 29 Readings: Jeremiah 5–6, 1 Timothy 2, Psalm 119:73–80, Proverbs 26:15–16

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This morning (October 27 - when I am writing this) I stood on the ancient steps of the Temple and thought about the sacrifices that went on there day after day after day. According to Hebrews 10, those sacrifices revealed the fundamental flaw in the system - they could remind people of their sin and their need for salvation but could not provide a permanent solution for them.

God sent Jesus as that permanent, "once for all" solution to our sin problem. 1 Timothy 2:5-6 says,

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

We have a mediator, One who gave himself for us and for our sins, to make peace with God and to make us fit to dwell inGod's presence forever. There was no flaw in this sacrifice. One sacrifice paid the entire price for all the sins of all those who believe in Christ. Once and for all the way was opened for us.

Tomorrow, we will begin our last day here in Israel at the Garden Tomb, a possible site for Calvary itself and a tomb like Jesus would have been laid in for three nights. It will remind me that the price has been paid and  IT IS FINISHED.

Thank you Lord for sending your Son as my mediator, who paid my ransom that I might live. 

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Presumptious Folly - October 28 Readings: Jeremiah 3-4, 2 Thessalonians 3, 1 Timothy 1, Psalm 119:65–72, Proverbs 26:12–14

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"I can't believe you did that."

I've heard that phrase more than once, especially in my earlier years when I tended to do crazy things for attention and fun. In Jeremiah 3, he expresses his utter amazement at the foolish behavior of his chosen people.

Israel was in sin. Deep sin. Abiding sin. Idolatrous sin. Year after year they drifted farther from God, became more like the nations around them and less pleasing to the God who had redeemed them from the Egyptians, given them the land and blessed them richly. They ignored his laws and embraced the idols he had warned them against. He sent his prophets to warn them to change their ways. Some of them they just ignored. Others they silenced in various forms.

And Jeremiah, speaking for God, was absolutely amazed at their brazen sin. They were sure that God was on their side, that their status as the chosen people meant that no matter how they lived, God would protect them and bless them. In verses 4 and 5, their view is expressed.

'My father, you are the friend of my youth-will he be angry forever, will he be indignant to the end?' 

We are God's favorites, they thought. He's not going to really judge us, like the prophets have warned.  He's our buddy and no matter how we live, he will take up for us.

But God just reiterated his word, in verse 14. "Return." Time and again he called them to repent of their sin and return to loyalty to him. Repent. Return. Renew your passion and fidelity to the God of Israel.

But, as verse 5 says,

Behold , you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could."

They spoke of God as their friend and assumed he would never be angry at them, but they continued to live in sin without any reagrd to what pleased God.

Sometimes, we forget the grace of God and think that God loves us because of how great we are and saved us because of our good works. But the Bible makes it clear that no one is righteous and that none of us is worthy of God's love and forgiveness. We must never forget the grace of God.

But it is equally evil to forget the holiness of God and to assume thht because we are saved by grace we can live any way we please. Like Israel, we will love the blessing of God's intimacy and his favor over our lives when we embrace sin and flaunt God's will. We are created by God's grace to live for his pleasure. The pleasure of God ought to be the highest passion of any believer.

I am thankful, Lord, for your grace that saves me and sustains me. But may I never use that grace as an excuse to live in sin. May I learn from the failures of Israel to live daily for the pleasure of the one who bought me by his grace. 

Wells and Cisterns - October 27 Readings: Jeremiah 1-2, 2 Thessalonians 2, Psalm 119:57–64, Proverbs 26:10–11

Links to October 27 Readings: Jeremiah 1-2, 2 Thessalonians 2,  Psalm 119:57–64, ProverbsqAGH 26:10–11

Today, (actually, October 24 - I am doing these devotionals in advance because of my trip to Israel) we visited two important places in the Jezreel Valley area of Israel. First, we visited the spring where Gideon took 10,000 men to drink and God selected 300 of them to be his army. In the middle of this desert land, there is a spring that bubbles out of the ground. Right now, it is just a trickle. In the winter, when there is more rain in Israel, it has more water coming out.

We also saw a cistern dug into the hillside in Nazareth, one that likely dates to the time of Christ, at what is called the Nazareth Village - which replicates the world of Nazareth in the time of Jesus. A cistern is a deep hole in the ground designed to capture, purify and hold water.

When people live in a place like Israel, water is a most important commodity. No one can live without water but it is scarce and precious in the Holy Land. People need water to live, so they either live near springs or the dig deep cisterns. Cisterns do okay as long as there is rain, but in dry times, a spring is so much better.

Jeremiah 1-2 not only records God's call on Jeremiah's life, but also his complaint against the people of Israel. In Jeremiah 2, he laments (speaking for and under the guidance of God) that the people have done an unthinkable thing. Look at verse 13, where he identifies the evil they have done.

13 For My people have committed a double evil:They have abandoned Me,the fountain of living water,and dug cisterns for themselves,cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

Israel has done two terrible things. First, they have abandoned the well, the spring of living water that would constantly sustain them and satisfy their thirst. Then, the went out and tried to replace the living water of God with their own idolatrous cisterns - but these cisterns were broken and held no water.

God is the source of living water - life, hope, joy, peace, forgiveness, salvation. He is the only source and has provided these things to use through Jesus Christ and his work on the cross. What follow it is when we fail to seek the living water he gives and we seek the cisterns of this world that attempt to provide us water, but cannot. Pleasure. Money. Power. Self. Knowledge. So many things offer life and hope to us, but they are cracked cisterns and can never satisfy.

Father, may I drink deeply of the living water that flows only from your Son, and may I never mimic the sin of the Israelites in seeking the water of life from anyone else.

God Wins - October 26 Readings: Isaiah 63–66, 2 Thessalonians 1, Psalm 119:53–56, Proverbs 26:7–9

Links to October 26 Readings: Isaiah 63–66, 2 Thessalonians 1, Psalm 119:53–56, Proverbs26:7–9

History is a tragic story. God created this world as a paradise. It was filled with beauty, natural wonders we cannot even imagine. It was a place of true joy and pleasure, meant for a man and woman to enjoy each other and to raise a family in peace. And best of all, God was there. He walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the Garden. That was the world as God intended.

But we came along and messed everything up. The first human pair rejected the God who made them and who placed them in a beautiful world. They chose the path of darkness instead of light, of destruction rather than glory.

We rejected God, but he did not reject us. He could have destroyed this world or he perhaps just turned us over to our own devices, to suffer the consequences of our sin. But that is not what God did. He went to work to reverse the curse of sin and to restore the beauty of his creation.

That is what the millennium is, when Christ rules this world bodily for a thousand years. It is described in Isaiah 65.

“For I will create a new heaven and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind.Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight." Isaiah 65:17-18

After he comes again in glory, Jesus will renew this world. The times of sin and suffering will be forgotten as God creates a new world for his people to enjoy. 

As sin's curse is done away with, long life returns.

In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the youth will die at a hundred years, and the one who misses a hundred years will be cursed. 65:20

Labor will no longer be cursed as it was after the fall, but life will be blessed by God in every way. 

They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants. 65:23

Nature will be restored. Natural disasters and dangers will be done away with. 

The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 65:25

Herbivorous lions? Things will be very different. Wolves and lambs feeding together, safely!

The most important and wonderful aspect of this millennial reign is that God's nearness and intimacy will be restored. The wall of separation between God and man erected by our sin will have been torn down. 

Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear.

The millennium is God's victory in world history. His original design, his glorious intent for this world, for nature, for humanity will be restored. We may have messed up the world that God created, but his power is so great he can recreate it. What we break, he fixes. That is how amazing our God is. 

Our God is greater than our sin. In the grand scheme of world history, God wins.

Father, I rejoice that no matter how bad things get today, I can be confident in your ultimate victory over sin - mine and this world's.