Jer 10:6-7
Lord, there is no one like you!
For you are great, and your name is full of power.
7 Who would not fear you, O King of nations?
That title belongs to you alone!
Among all the wise people of the earth
and in all the kingdoms of the world,
there is no one like you.
“Who is like the Lord, my God!?” We sing this in worship and exclaim it with our lips because it is true. There is no other god. And notice that Jeremiah pushes the greatness of our God and the power of His name. Paul proclaims that only God, our God, “is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than all we ask of think!”. There can only be one God. That is what makes Him God. There can only be one way, God’s way, and that is in and through the work of Jesus Christ! We join together to sing “There’s none like You, oh Holy Lord, there’s none like you among all the nations. Who’d not fear you, for it’s your due, oh Lord, there’s none like You, Oh Holy Lord!” Jeremiah believed it! I believe it! How about you? Do you live your life embracing this truth everyday? We honor and worship, the One, the Only True God. There is no other! Praise be His Holy Name!
Jer 10:1-5
Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O Israel! 2 This is what the Lord says:
“Do not act like the other nations,
who try to read their future in the stars.
Do not be afraid of their predictions,
even though other nations are terrified by them.
3 Their ways are futile and foolish.
They cut down a tree, and a craftsman carves an idol.
4 They decorate it with gold and silver
and then fasten it securely with hammer and nails
so it won’t fall over.
5 Their gods are like
helpless scarecrows in a cucumber field!
They cannot speak,
and they need to be carried because they cannot walk.
Do not be afraid of such gods,
for they can neither harm you nor do you any good.”
It is amazing how many people who claim to be followers of Christ take the time everyday to read the astrological predictions in there newspapers or who have fortune tellers read their palms. Do you realize that those who do these things are rejecting the Sovreignty of God? It is equally amazing how many people know whether or not they are a ‘gemini’ or a ‘libra’ but cannot converse intelligibly about the scriptures. We do not serve a deaf and dumb god made with hands and built up in our minds to be something they are not. We serve the Sovreign God of the universe! You sin, just like Isreal, each and every time you turn to another source for direction. Astrology is not a harmless science that is cute to read. It is a serious pursuit of a false God. Stick to the real thing and bow this day and everyday before the God of heaven and earth, including the stars. There is no room for Star Gazing in christianity!
Jer 9:25-26
25 “A time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will punish all those who are circumcised in body but not in spirit— 26 the Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, the people who live in the desert in remote places, and yes, even the people of Judah. And like all these pagan nations, the people of Israel also have uncircumcised hearts.”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
There is an important concept being shared in these passages that we might miss if we get caught up in the judgement type imagery. It’s the “why” that is important here that teaches us what it is that God looks at in each and every one of us. He does not look at what we do outwardly. We can go through all the right moves outwardly and remain unmoved in our heart of hearts. The Lord defines the difference between being circumcised ( an outward evidence of personal faith) and being circumcised in the spirit. What He looks for in each of us is a heart that truly longs for the things of God not the outward acts that we seek to define ourselves by doing. It is right that Israel was said to have “uncircumcised hearts”. They did some of the outward things that pointed to a faith in God, but they were not motivated by a heart that yearned to walk with Him. Remember, it’s not your outward actions that impress God, it’s your heart!
Jer 9:23-24
23 This is what the Lord says:
“Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom,
or the powerful boast in their power,
or the rich boast in their riches.
24 But those who wish to boast
should boast in this alone:
that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord
who demonstrates unfailing love
and who brings justice and righteousness to the earth,
and that I delight in these things.
I, the Lord, have spoken!
Well, it’s that time of the four year cycle again and the air waves are filled with the claims of our Presidential candidates. You will hear them point out the weaknesses of the other guy and boast about their personal strengths that make them worthy of your vote. But in this passage all of those wranglings and boastings are little more than air. God is not looking for people who are convinced in their own minds that they are worthy. He is looking for those who boast in one thing and one thing alone. Can you imagine a Presidential candidate suggesting that the reason you vote for him is that he knows who God is, understands that God is Sovereign and has demonstrated a love for God all his or her life? WOW! That would get my vote! But more importantly, that person would get God’s vote. If I were candidate for the President of the United States, that is the one vote I would truly want above all others. What about you?
Jer 9:17-22
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts,
“Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come;
And send for the wailing women, that they may come!
18 “Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us,
That our eyes may shed tears
And our eyelids flow with water.
19 “For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion,
‘ How are we ruined!
We are put to great shame,
For we have left the land,
Because they have cast down our dwellings.’”
20 Now hear the word of the Lord, O you women,
And let your ear receive the word of His mouth;
Teach your daughters wailing,
And everyone her neighbor a dirge.
21 For death has come up through our windows;
It has entered our palaces
To cut off the children from the streets,
The young men from the town squares.
22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord,
‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field,
And like the sheaf after the reaper,
But no one will gather them.’”
In this culture the women were the ones who took up the dirges at funerals and wailed loudly over the loss of the loved ones. Still to this day when you see the lamenting over the death of a loved one in the Middle East, the women wail as if to punctuate the great loss. In this passage the Lord is inviting the women of Israel to take up their position of wailing for the great loss that is going to take place. It is a punctuation mark on the wrath of God turned against His people. This is no small matter and should not be treated as such. Yet, that is exactly how Jeremiah’s message was being taken. It was not being taken seriously nor was it impacting the lives of the people it was being spoken to! The question it raises for me is this; “How seriously do we take the word of God?” “Is it impacting you as you read it, and you apply it to your lives?”
Jer 9:7-16
7 Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:”See, I will melt them down in a crucibleand test them like metal.What else can I do with my people? 8 For their tongues shoot lies like poisoned arrows.They speak friendly words to their neighborswhile scheming in their heart to kill them.9 Should I not punish them for this?” says the Lord.”Should I not avenge myself against such a nation?”
10 I will weep for the mountainsand wail for the wilderness pastures.For they are desolate and empty of life;the lowing of cattle is heard no more;the birds and wild animals have all fled.
11 “I will make Jerusalem into a heap of ruins,” says the Lord.”It will be a place haunted by jackals.The towns of Judah will be ghost towns,with no one living in them.”
12 Who is wise enough to understand all this? Who has been instructed by the Lord and can explain it to others? Why has the land been so ruined that no one dares to travel through it?
13 The Lord replies, “This has happened because my people have abandoned my instructions; they have refused to obey what I said. 14 Instead, they have stubbornly followed their own desires and worshiped the images of Baal, as their ancestors taught them. 15 So now, this is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says: Look! I will feed them with bitterness and give them poison to drink. 16 I will scatter them around the world, in places they and their ancestors never heard of, and even there I will chase them with the sword until I have destroyed them completely.”
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
We do not always struggle and suffer as a result of our sin. However, there is a lot of Scripture that supports the idea that great difficulty is sometimes the result of great sin in our lives. Job’s friends tried to tell him that God had brought the difficulties he was facing as a result of some great sin in his life. He could not point to any such sin and so he rightly rejected that notion in this case. But, it does not mean that sometimes, what we go through, is not a direct result of what we have done. God always has a purpose in our pain whether it is self inflicted, brought on as a result of others sin, or just God’s desire to keep us relying on His grace. Israel was about to be decimated because of their great sin. There is no secret here and we must never dismiss the idea that some of what we go through in life that is painful and very difficult on us or our families may in fact be the result of our own personal sinful behavior. Not always, but surely a lot more than we are willing to admit. However, no matter what the reason is for our pain, it always has a purifying action on those who would be God’s people! Israel would be carried off to captivity, their cities decimated and left uninhabitable. Yet, through the difficulty of exile, they would come back to God. I don’t know what you are going through, nor why it is happening to you. It could be your sin or it could be the result of the sins of others. But one thing is for sure. Let God be at work in it for your good!
Jer 9:3-6
3 “My people bend their tongues like bows
to shoot out lies.
They refuse to stand up for the truth.
They only go from bad to worse.
They do not know me,”
says the Lord.
4 “Beware of your neighbor!
Don’t even trust your brother!
For brother takes advantage of brother,
and friend slanders friend.
5 They all fool and defraud each other;
no one tells the truth.
With practiced tongues they tell lies;
they wear themselves out with all their sinning.
6 They pile lie upon lie
and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,”
says the Lord.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
We are in the midst of a political season that may prove crucial to our country’s future as a free nation. What is so interesting to me about this campaign for our country’s leadership is the absolute certainty on both sides who will be the best president. Both sides become guilty of a deceptive brand of truth where a little truth is mixed in with a great deal of manipulation to get you to think negatively about the opposite candidate. But any tiny distortion, whether it is mixed with truth or not, is a lie! If we begin to accept distortions and manipulations as true, we will be pushing the idea that a little white lie is okay for the higher good. Ultimately, we will start to believe the white lie! That is what Israel started to do when it came to their own behavior. They started distorting truth about God and then believing the distortions to the degree that they no longer stood up for truth. Some distortions have crept into our worldview as Christians that has also given us pause to stand up for truth. Some have distorted the importance of Scripture raising doubts as to whether or not the truth we hold so dear is really the truth for modern day man! Some have distorted the image of God so as to believe He could never bring judgement because He is such a loving being. The list could go on and on. We must be careful as followers of Jesus not to manipulate truth or shape it to our liking so that we end up not only supporting lies, but pushing lies about the gospel. Jesus said, “I am ….the Truth!” He was not a community organizer. He is Savior!
Jer 9:1-2
9 1 If only my head were a pool of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
I would weep day and night
for all my people who have been slaughtered.
2 Oh, that I could go away and forget my people
and live in a travelers’ shack in the desert.
For they are all adulterers—
a pack of treacherous liars.
Holy Bible, New Living Translation ®, copyright © 1996, 2004 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.
If you reject God and God could forget you and your sin, He would! But He cannot! If God’s constant and continual mourning over the judgement that would come on those who reject Him would make things all better, He would do that, but it won’t change the outcome. “For God so Loved the world…..” God would make it all better if He could, but it always requires your desire to be right with Him before he can. He grieves when you pass up the plan He offers you! God loves us!!! He doesn’t want to loose any of us, but He cannot change the outcomes we choose!
