“If God should stretch out the golden scepter and say to him, ‘Ask, and it shall be given you—up to half the kingdom,’ he would say, ‘Lord, give me a pure heart! Let my heart have this inscription, Holiness to the Lord. Let my heart be Your temple for You to dwell in. Lord, what would I do in heaven with this unholy heart? What converse could I have with You?’ A gracious soul is so in love with purity that he prizes a pure heart above all blessings.”

- Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

“What breaks God’s heart and what honors him ? Study the gospels and see what made Jesus angry or sad, and what gave him delight. That will tell you what needs to be thrown out and what is worthy of putting on.”

- David Nasser, from A Call To Die, p. 105.

“She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse.” – Mark 5:26 (NIV)

The story in Mark 5 of “The Dead Girl and a Sick Woman” is one of my favorites in the Gospels. The sick woman here is described as someone “who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years” (Mark 5:25) and apparently had exhausted her money and probably her energy in attempts to be cured of her disease. I can imagine her trudging to her mirror, day after day, and looking at her reflection and wondering when relief for her disease and her suffering would ever come. We’re not told specifically if she had advance notice that Jesus would be coming through her area. But if she was in fact told He was coming, I can also imagine her looking in that mirror in the morning of the day she was to be healed, and maybe, finally, seeing a hint of a smile to go along with her tears. What great faith she had, to think only that “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” (Mark 5:28). Her faith of course was rewarded with physical healing, and with a wonderful pronouncement from Jesus Himself – “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.”

Many of us search for a cure for what is ailing us, and many (like myself) spend years looking for it in the wrong places. I used to read many self-help books and motivational CDs and tapes, with titles like “Live Your Dreams” and “Awaken The Giant Within” – all in an effort to help my own self-esteem and worth. There are folks who exhort us to just “Believe in yourself !” and all will be well.

For argument’s sake, let’s go down that path for a moment. Take that motto “believe in yourself” and size it up with what the Bible tells us:

• “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” – Jeremiah 17:9 (ESV)
• “The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” – Genesis 6:5 (ESV)
• “All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” – Romans 3:12 (ESV)
• “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.” – Mark 7:21-22 (ESV)

That’s quite a list. So to “believe in ourselves” means we must affirm what the Bible says in the above verses and in many other places. How does that look ? Does it seem like a “cure” for what ails us can be found from within ? As Albert Mohler once said, “Most believe that what their problem is, is something that has happened to them – and their solution is going to be found within. In other words, they believe they have an alien problem that is to be resolved with an inner solution….when the Gospel says that what we have is an inner problem, and the only solution is an alien righteousness.”

Friends, the answer, the cure to what ails us is not inside of us. After we have gone through “the care of many doctors” and gurus and self-help coaches, there is only one place to turn – to the Great Physician Himself, Jesus Christ. If we go to Him, and fully acknowledge by faith that our cure can only be found in His shed blood at the Cross of Calvary, we too can experience the healing of the sick woman in Mark 5. His cure though is for our ultimate disease, the sickness of sin.

“I reached out
I just reached out
for the hem of His garment
and everything changed.”
- Bethany Dillon

“As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, ‘Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city.’” - Genesis 19:15 (ESV)

A few days ago, I started what will now be my 4th journey through the Bible. I’ve done it differently each time, and this year I’m planning on alternating Old Testament and New Testament books (Genesis, then Mark, then Exodus, etc.), while reading a Proverb or Psalm every morning as well. I find that I focus better when I’m concentrating on just one book at a time, although I see the value in plans that have you in different areas of Scripture every day.

This morning I read Genesis 17-19 and Proverbs 5. The chapters in Genesis cover God’s covenant with Abraham and His promise of a son in Isaac to Abraham and Sarah. We also see the depravity in Sodom and Abraham’s plea with God to spare its residents. There was one verse that grabbed me from Genesis 19 in regards to Lot’s conduct as the situation in Sodom unravels:

“But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.” – Gen. 19:16 (ESV)

Lot and his wife apparently shared the same misgivings, as she turned back herself and turned into a pillar of salt. But that word “lingered” in the above verse got to me. How often does that describe my own condition ! We all have our pet sins and things that we just know are contrary to God’s Word…yet we let them linger in our lives, maybe as some kind of safety net, afraid to cast them away for good. We’re also told in the above verse in regards to Lot that the Lord was “merciful to him”. We should never lose sight of that. God is in fact patient with us, but the opportunity for mercy will not last forever. Paul asks us in Romans, “Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?” (Rom 2:4, ESV). We should rejoice in the fact that, in Jesus, we are set “outside the city” of sin and thank God for His mercy towards us.

This was my prayer this morning after reading Genesis 17-19:

“Heavenly Father, remind me again today that nothing is too hard for you (Gen 18:14). You can make old women conceive who are barren, and you can work in sinners like myself to change them into the likeness of Your Son. Thank you for your covenant and your faithfulness. Help me not to linger at the impending doom as Lot did. Keep me in the way of Your Word and remember its warnings, as well as its promises. The vileness of sin is on full display here in Genesis 19. I am sorry for the sin I engage in daily Father. Help me to turn from it today and not look back, as Lot’s wife did.

I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.”

“At the close of one year and the crisp edge of another, resolve that you will let Jesus take the center seat in your heart and life – loving others through you, serving others through you, exuding His righteousness through your mortal body, all for the praise of His name.”

- John MacArthur, from Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. 2, p. 374

“The challenge, really, is how to bridge the gap between an ancient biblical text and a present-day life situation. How do we attempt to bridge that divide ?” – Michael R. Emlet

The above question is from Dr. Emlet’s new book CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet. If we think about it, it’s one of the most important questions we can ask when reading our Bibles. As Dr. Emlet notes, however, too often we drift towards a familiar pattern.

There are two categories of passages in our Bibles that Dr. Emlet refers to in his book. These are “ditch” passages and “canyon” passages. The ditch passages are those that are extremely familiar to us and seem to directly relate to a situation or problem in our lives. These can include Psalm 23 (fear), Psalm 51 (repentance) and Philippians 4:6 (anxiety). We return to these over and over as sources of comfort. Others can go into the canyon category and don’t at first glance seem to be passages we’d first turn to. These include Obadiah, Exodus 25-31 and 35-40, and 1 Chronicles 1-9. The application of these canyon passages take some work.

What Dr. Emlet explains though, is that if we don’t take the time to do the work on these types of passages, we wind up with an “abridged” Bible. He discusses the marketing of special Bibles that have the New Testament packaged with Psalms and Proverbs. The publishers of these special editions are making a “value judgment” according to Emlet. “Why not sell the New Testament with Leviticus and Esther ?” asks Emlet. As proof of this, Emlet asks us to look at our own Bibles and the areas that appear “dog-eared”. Chances are they’re not the OT sections of genealogies and lists. They’re instead the areas where we find texts that we relate to our lives most quickly and easily.

I think this is something we need to be cautious of. Many of us can recite verses from those “ditch” passages and turn to these in our time of need. There’s really nothing wrong with that. But stepping over a ditch is much easier than stepping over a canyon. We need to flex our spiritual muscles a bit more with those more difficult texts. Keeping the storyline of the entire Bible in view is critical for us. Our growth as Christians depends in good measure on this.

“Understanding both the Story of God and the stories of the people we serve is necessary to help others embrace the transformation the Bible envisions for God’s people”
- Dr. Michael R. Emlet

As the year draws to a close and my Bible reading plan for this year nears its end, I’ve started thinking about how I’m going to journey through God’s Word in 2010. For those thinking along those lines as well, I’d suggest picking up a copy of a new book by Michael R. Emlet called CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet.

Dr. Emlet has geared the book towards those in professional ministry, but there is a lot here for laypeople like myself. He talks about the dangers of using an “abridged” Bible, the “Ditch vs. Canyon” phenomenon, and gives several case studies. The main focus of Dr. Emlet’s book, as he explains it, is to take a “redemptive-historical” view of the Bible as a whole. “It is an approach that takes the narrative (storied) nature of the Bible seriously in order to make wise connections with the narratives of our lives,” says Dr. Emlet.

I think there’s too much to cover from this book in just one blog post, so I’m going to try to tackle this over several posts. More to come…

“Show me men of this kind anywhere, and I know what they are. I know not that they and I may agree in all particulars—but I see in them the handiwork of the King of kings, and I ask no more. I know not whence they came, and where they found their religion—but I know where they are going, and that is enough for me. They are the children of my Father in heaven. They are part of His ‘wheat’.”

- J.C. Ryle, from Wheat or Chaff ?

“Purity must not only be woven into the heart, but engraved upon the life ! Grace is most beautiful when it shines abroad with its golden beams. The clock has not only its motion within, but the hand moves outside upon the dial. Just so, pureness of heart shows itself upon the dial of the life.”

- Thomas Watson (1620-1686)

“Too many Christian people today have been very anxious that everybody recognize they are as different as chalk from cheese in matters of doctrine, but they apparently are eager to impress upon the world that they are not a bit different in matters of practice.”

- Alan Redpath, from Victorious Christian Service: Studies in the Book of Nehemiah, p. 115

“It is our heaven to lay many weights and burdens upon Christ. Let him find much employment in his calling with you; for he is such a Friend as delighteth to be burdened with suits and employments; and the more homely ye be with him, the more welcome.”

- Samuel Rutherford, from The Loveliness of Christ, p. 22

“Without him all things external call for my condemnation;
in him they minister to my comfort,
and are to be enjoyed with thanksgiving.
Praise be to thee for grace,
and for the unspeakable gift of Jesus.”

-from ‘The Valley of Vision’

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Over the next several days, many of us will reflect on what we have to be thankful for. Although I’m forgetting much more than I am remembering here, these are some of Your blessings that come to mind on this day:

• Salvation – as Paul explained, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” What can we possibly say to that ? “Thank you” ? But I am eternally thankful Father.
• My wife – I have been greatly blessed with a wonderful, caring, selfless and giving wife. I take more than I give to her sadly. Thank you Father for bringing Amy into my life.
• My family – Many will spend Thanksgiving Day alone. I’m thankful that I will have the opportunity to see family and friends over the next several days and enjoy time together with them.
• My job – last year the company I work for was sold and most of my co-workers were let go. I’ve been fortunate to have my employment extended throughout this year and now into 2010. Many are still looking for work. Many are unable to work due to illness or family circumstances. Many are struggling financially. I’m thankful for Your provision now and always.
• My health – Every day many struggle with aches, pains, disability and other medical issues. Those of us who are healthy should remember what a gift it is each day to see, hear, taste, touch and smell, to walk around freely, to drive, to play and exercise, and to do the things we need to do every day. We take it for granted as a given that these things are ours each day.
• Freedom to worship – We have great freedoms in this country. Many Christians around the world however are persecuted for their faith. How often we forget Father what a privilege it is to wake up on Sunday morning and travel freely to our local church or to gather freely with other believers and friends.
• Wealth beyond belief – Many of us in America have a false notion of what it means to be truly wealthy, and many of us do not realize how wealthy we really are in this country. So we “struggle” with whether or not to buy that new car or big-screen TV. For some families, however, the decisions are much more difficult each day and much more critical: where is our next meal or clean water going to come from ? At this time of year, those decisions also expand: how can we buy gifts for our children ? Many of us will ask “why me ?” when the smallest trouble or irritation comes our way, yet few of us will ask “why me ?” while wondering why God has blessed us with what in reality is wealth beyond belief.
• My Bible – Many of us have 5, 10 or even 15 Bibles in our home. We have countless translations, different styles, shapes, and sizes. Yet many do not have even one Bible translated into their own language. How grateful we should be for the gift of the Word of God each and every day !

Dear Father in Heaven, as you can see in this feeble prayer I’ve forgotten much and remembered little here. But I am truly thankful for these and all of Your blessings each day – our daily bread. I am blessed beyond belief Father. Please give strength and healing to those who are hurting today and provide for them. Let us carry a true spirit of thankfulness as we enter into the season that celebrates the birth of Your Son.

Thank you Father. I love you and pray these things in Jesus’ name.

Amen.

Congratulations to Russ from Humanitas Remedium, who is the winner of the book giveaway. I also want to thank everyone who took the time to visit and comment with your own book recommendations. My bookshelves are still pretty full, but I’ll keep an eye out for the books you suggested and add them to my list down the road.

Thanks again everyone !

I recently won a book giveaway from the good folks at Devotional Christian and due to the large volume of books they sent me, I have to make some room on my bookshelves to fit them all (plus I already owned two of the books they sent me). So I’ve decided to do a book giveaway of my own here. I’ll keep it open until this Thursday, November 19 at 11:00 pm EST. To enter, just leave a comment below with the title of a Christian book that’s really had an impact on you and why. I’ll be mailing the books via UPS Ground and can only send to the continental U.S.A.

Here are the books included in the giveaway:

1) Jonathan Edwards: Representative Selections- edited by Clarence H. Faust and Thomas H. Johnson
2) The Attributes of God – A.W. Pink
3) Prayer – John Bunyan
4) The Holy Spirit – John Owen
5) Revolution in World Missions – K.P. Yohannan
6) Daily Readings from the Life of Christ, Vol. I – John MacArthur
7) The King Has Come – James Montgomery Boice
8 ) How to Find God in the Bible: A Personal Plan for the Encounter of Your Life – Woodrow Kroll
9) A Faith Worth Sharing – C. John Miller
10) Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die – John Piper
11) The Night of Weeping and the Morning of Joy – Horatius Bonar
12) Our God Is Awesome – Tony Evans
13) Truth & Power: The Place of Scripture in the Christian Life – J.I. Packer
14) The Heart of the Bible – John MacArthur
15) Taste and See – John Piper
16) In Christ Alone – Sinclair Ferguson

In addition, I’ll throw in some sample issues of Tabletalk magazine, some tracts and sermons from J.C. Ryle and others, and a couple of pocket-sized books from Greg Laurie and John Piper.

I’ll draw the winner at random and will email him or her for their shipping address on Friday, November 20.

“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” - John 14:1 (ESV)

Next time you’re flipping through the newspaper or a magazine, take a look at how many “claims” you find in them. We see all kinds of claims each day from all sorts of products, devices, and even people – “reduces the risk of …by 50 percent”, “will increase your earning power by 75%”, and on and on. Many of these claims are worth investigating, as they may help us make sound health decisions or lead us in investing wisely for ourselves and our families. Even so, we spend an awful lot of time focusing on these claims and the impact they will have on our lives.

This week I was listening to a sermon from Tim Keller that was titled “Who Is This Jesus ?”. Dr. Keller took these examples a step further and asked his audience what they would do if they received a letter stating that they were entitled to a large inheritance ? Or on the other hand, what would they do if they received a stern letter from the I.R.S. claiming they now owed $400,000 in back taxes ? Regardless of how improbable you feel each of these letters might be, wouldn’t you at least investigate them ? Wouldn’t you at least make a phone call to find out instead of outright ignoring them ?

In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes some tremendous and monumental claims to those around Him:

• “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12
• “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” - John 8:58
• “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” – John 10:11
• “I and the Father are one.” – John 10:30

And of course, many others…

I think what Dr. Keller was getting at is that people will investigate all sorts of claims that may affect their lives – some worthwhile, some not – but Jesus makes claims that bear the greatest possible impact of all. And yet many spend no time at all looking into them. Many feel no need to, many simply don’t feel they have the time. But when you consider “the magnitude of the claim”, as Dr. Keller says, that Jesus brings, you really need to put everything else on hold and find out if He is really who He claims to be !

In the short time I’ve been a Christian, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with family members about Jesus and have tried to answer questions they have had. But after a while, I realize that the best thing to do is just keep pointing them to Jesus Himself. “Don’t take my word for it,” I tell them. “Read the Gospels for yourself and see.” I feel that anyone who comes to God and is a true seeker can count on God revealing Himself, if they are sincere about it. I also feel a bit of sadness and frustration about it, knowing that family and friends will investigate and pursue other claims that they are bombarded with each day, and not devote the same time to studying the claims of Jesus Himself.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The magnitude of the claim of Jesus – is there really anything else that compares ?

“Now when you have Christ as the foundation and chief blessing of your salvation, then the other part follows: that you take him as your example, giving yourself in service to your neighbor just as you see that Christ has given himself for you. See, there faith and love move forward, God’s commandment is fulfilled, and a person is happy and fearless to do and to suffer all things.”

- Martin Luther, from Basic Theological Writings, p. 95

I normally would not post a quote this long, but I read this in Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening the other night and have been thinking about his words since. I printed the quote out also to put on the fridge so I don’t forget. This is one to think about:

“Dear friend, are you already saved? Then keep not back from union with the Lord’s people. Neglect not the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. You may be of a timid disposition, but you must strive against it, lest it lead you into disobedience. There is a sweet promise made to those who confess Christ-by no means miss it, lest you come under the condemnation of those who deny him.

If you have talents keep not back from using them. Hoard not your wealth, waste not your time; let not your abilities rust or your influence be unused. Jesus kept not back, imitate him by being foremost in self-denials and self-sacrifices. Keep not back from close communion with God, from boldly appropriating covenant blessings, from advancing in the divine life, from prying into the precious mysteries of the love of Christ. Neither, beloved friend, be guilty of keeping others back by your coldness, harshness, or suspicions.

For Jesus’ sake go forward yourself, and encourage others to do the like. Hell and the leaguered bands of superstition and infidelity are forward to the fight. O soldiers of the cross, keep not back.”

Check out a great giveaway from Devotional Christian (you can see the full list of 22 titles at their site):

To celebrate the relaunch of Devotional Christian, we are doing a special giveaway for bloggers & church websites. Just write a new post about our site (or add a link to your church website). Then enter your information here. I will use random.org to select the winner on Sunday 8 November 2009. We will ship the following 22 books directly to you.

Emily from A Sacrifice of Praise is one of the contributors to Devotional Christian and also writes a great blog of her own. Check these sites out today !

“You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:14-15 (ESV)

This month I’ve been camped out in the Gospel of John and just finished it tonight. I’ve been thinking for the last few days about the above verses from John 15 and how little I’ve truly grasped the implications of what they really mean. Jesus here is explaining something wonderful to His disciples. We can now call on Him as a Friend, as well as Lord and Savior. There is no problem too small or too large for Him to handle, nothing that’s too private to share with Him. We can lean on Him in good times and bad. And whatever front we put up for others – in church, in the office, within our families – is wide open before Him. This in reality should be a great joy to us. He has granted us all a great privilege !

In many cases, though, what happens when the bad times hit or good times come that are worth celebrating ? Is it possible that we feel that friends and family understand us better – in person or online – and so we head straight to them first to share our news ? And Jesus instead is left to the side and becomes an alternate contact – you know, in case no one else is around ?

This has been written to myself primarily, as I feel that in these cases, Jesus sometimes gets whatever energy I have left over in my day, rather than my best. There are times that I can’t wait to tell others of my great news (or even the bad) rather than going to Him first – my Rock and my Redeemer. How strange that is….

Don’t get me wrong – I love sharing my news with friends and family. I also enjoy the interactions I have with others online and have been blessed by the wisdom of so many “friends” out in cyberspace (blogs, Twitter, etc.). Iron sharpens iron, as someone once said This is just more of a confession that Jesus so often does not get my best as the true Friend that He is.

These verses from John have hammered that home.

What do you think of when you hear the term “idol” ? The TV show ‘American Idol’ ? The golden calf that Moses was horrified to find in the book of Exodus ? In his new book, Greg Dutcher sets out to explain exactly what idols really are and why they are so harmful to who we are in Christ. He is the Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, MD and the book is titled You Are the Treasure That I Seek…But There’s a Lot of Cool Stuff Out There, Lord and from that title on, Pastor Greg helps us see idolatry for what it really is.

R.C. Sproul said once that, “The only reason the gospel comes to me as good news is because I’ve already heard the bad news !” Pastor Greg takes a similar stance as he opens his book with the underlying cause of why we are so prone to idolatry: “What is true of the human body proves true of the human spirit as well. Despite a healthy outward appearance, our hearts are slowly dying as a spiritual sickness works to bring about our demise” (p.23). That sickness began in Genesis 3 and is fully detailed in Romans 1:22-23 – “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” And it is that exchange that brings about what Pastor Greg calls the “idolatry syndrome”. In short, this syndrome occurs when we prize anything over the glory of God. What we’re left with is one inadequate substitute for God after another.

Pastor Greg gives some examples of how we can test this in our own lives. Do we drag ourselves through the day just by knowing that we can come home and down a pint of ice cream while watching TV all night ? In my own case I know I’ve been guilty of it, particularly at this time of year – looking forward to the weekend just so I can settle in for hours to watch football. Are those things our true treasures ? Then we are placing our trust in something else to sustain us rather than God. And this is a key argument of the book – idolatry doesn’t necessarily show itself as a golden calf or a wooden statue. It’s often much more subtle than that. Pastor Greg calls it a “stealthy hunter”. We’re then more prone to think that our exchange is far less evil, since food or TV or football doesn’t sound as blatant as bowing to a statue. But compare what we have exchanged to what Christ exchanged for us at the cross, as Paul explains in Philippians 2:5-8:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

How much more foolish does our daily exchange for lesser things look in light of these verses from Philippians ?

Pastor Greg is a gifted writer and does a wonderful job of showing idolatry syndrome for what it really is, and what it costs us each day that we are filled with it. I love that his book is packed with Scripture references and he takes great pains to continually show the reader the beauty that idols can never provide, which is found only in Christ. I also like that he spends a good deal of time focusing on the Cross. He also gives us practical ways to fight off this syndrome each day, by using prayers from saints of the past and present and quotations from other authors and church fathers as well. Recommendations of books that will help us cherish Christ are given in an appendix, and his “case studies” at the end of the book are terrific.

I hope this is the first in a long line of books from Pastor Greg. If you’re convinced you already have a good handle on what idolatry really is, you might want to think again and pick up this book. I recommend it highly.

“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” - John 6:60 (ESV)

John chapter 6 gives us one of the great “I am” statements of Jesus in this gospel – “I am the bread of life” (v. 35). It is during this section that the disciples are listening to Jesus describe what that all means. Many are troubled by what He is saying here and realize that being a disciple of Jesus demands a lot more from them then they perhaps had bargained for. Jesus gave His disciples another discourse on this in Luke’s gospel - “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (14:28). We start to see some disciples drift away at this point in John’s gospel – in verse 66, John tells us, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” I think there is a tendency (on my part anyway) to look at these wayward disciples as cowardly at this point. I feel myself judging them and wondering how they could wander away and do such a thing.

But doesn’t this happen in more subtle ways in our own lives ? In Luke 6, Jesus gives us a string of commands that we don’t often find easy to swallow. What if we don’t get the proper thanks for a job well done or feel slighted by a friend’s lack of generosity ? Jesus tells us in Luke 6:35 to “lend, expecting nothing in return”. And as hard as it can be for us to believe at times, not everyone likes us Isn’t easier just to write those folks off and focus more on our own personal fan clubs ? “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28). At some point, the whole counsel of God becomes something less than what it should be. The easier commands ? Sure, we can follow those, no problem. But these statements in Luke 6 ? After letting these sink in for a while, we can hear the voice inside our head saying the very same words we heard from the disciples – “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it ?”

The wayward disciples in John 6 probably would have sympathized with Thomas Jefferson – the President once created a Bible of his own that was a cut-and-paste from the Gospels, to one that was more suitable to his liking. We need to be careful we don’t do the same. The hard sayings, the “easy” sayings – all of these are commands from our Lord.

We’d do well to listen closely.

“For the sake of your name do not despise us;
do not dishonor your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us
and do not break it.”

- Jeremiah 14:21 (NIV)

Reading through Jeremiah today and thinking about two verses in chapter 14. Jeremiah is praying to God on behalf of his fellow countrymen and women and twice in this chapter (verses 7 & 21), he uses the phrase “for the sake of your name”…

Lately I’ve been struggling with how lacking my own prayer life can be at times. Jeremiah’s plea here that God’s Name would be glorified is something that I realize I don’t focus on enough…that a family member would be cured of sickness so that glory would be given to Him as the ultimate Healer…that friends’ needs would be taken cared of so that others would see that God is the ultimate Provider…and on and on. A great mystery to me is why I struggle so much in prayer when there are so many wonderful examples and models of it in the very pages of the Bible. Jeremiah’s examples here in chapter 14 add another layer that I had glossed over in the past, but have reminded me of what being earnest in prayer really looks like.

A good reminder from a great prophet today.

“For the shepherds are stupid
and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.”
- Jeremiah 10:21 (ESV)

I’m reading in Jeremiah and the Gospel of John this month and have been thinking for a bit today about what we find in chapter 10 of each book – the subject of shepherding. The verse above illustrates the state of the ruling class at the time Jeremiah was a prophet. The group of kings and leaders that had been at the head of Israel and Judah since the end of Solomon’s reign and the beginning of the divided kingdom read like a handbook of how not to shepherd a group of people. Is it any wonder that the people find themselves in the state they’re in as Jeremiah pronounces the message he’s been given from God ?

Now contrast this group of shepherds with The Good Shepherd:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” – John 10:11

Jesus also reminds us in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” He came to fulfill what centuries of lackluster and mostly evil leadership never could. That leadership ultimately left their flock scattered. Not so with Jesus.

He is our Good Shepherd. We are His sheep. Follow His lead today and put your trust under His care.

“The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.” - Jeremiah 1:1-2 (ESV)

Today in my Bible reading plan we begin the book of Jeremiah. I don’t know many people have a “favorite” prophet, but if I had to pick just one, it would be Jeremiah. There is such depth to his character, and we can all relate to his reluctance as God reveals His will for Jeremiah’s life. As I read the first two chapters this morning and some of the introductory material on this book online and in some commentaries, I thought for a bit about what makes this prophet so distinct in God’s revelation to us in His Word.

Think of how the last book of the Old Testament begins – “The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.” (Mal 1:1). That verse is essentially the extent of what we know about this minor prophet. Contrast that with Jeremiah, who is probably the most character-developed prophet we have. In Jeremiah 1, we are told about his divine calling, even before he was born in verse 5:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

We know that Jeremiah began his ministry fairly young and throughout this book we get an inside view of his emotions and trials and tribulations, moreso than any of the other great prophets. We see how he wished to avoid God’s call. What was going through his mind when he was told the message he was to bring to those around him ? That message was not reassuring in the least, as we see in chapter 2, verse 22:

“Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
declares the Lord God.

I can imagine Jeremiah thinking, “You’ve brought me up to tell these people this ?” Of course we remember that Moses, nearly a thousand years earlier, reacted in a similar fashion when God spoke to him initially. But as we see throughout the book, Jeremiah is faithful to God’s calling.

Something that’s always intrigued me about Jeremiah is this note from the NIV Study Bible: “Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible, containing more words than any other book.” I find this fascinating – longer than the Psalms, any of the Gospels, longer than the story of Creation and the Fall in Genesis and the deliverance from Egypt in Exodus, even longer than the great prophet Isaiah. Plus the book demands a lot of concentration from us in that it’s not presented in chronological form. Why is this ? Is there a particular reason that God has made this book this way ? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it’s just something I’ve noted.

Just some random thoughts as I begin this great book. It’s yet another reminder to me how inexhaustible the Word of God is. Each day we can rejoice in the work God has done in those saints of old and reflect on how He will do the same for us if we stay in the way He has called us to.

“Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, ‘The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my days.’” - Isaiah 39:8 (ESV)

I’ve been in the great book of Isaiah for most of this month and decided to pause for a bit on the chapters concerning Hezekiah. This king was known as one of the “good” ones, as there were so few during the time of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In chapter 37 of Isaiah, Hezekiah has just heard the words spoken against God (and him) by the messenger of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. To his credit, Hezekiah takes this to God immediately in prayer (Isaiah 37:14). God responds to Hezekiah’s prayer (and Sennacherib’s defiance), as the Assyrian people are mauled and Sennacherib himself is killed by his own sons. In the next chapter, we see Hezekiah brings himself before God again in prayer, as he is ill to the point of death. God responds again by adding 15 years to his life. But for some reason, Hezekiah’s good judgment begins to fail him….

You would have thought that Hezekiah would have been especially on his guard after the first message from the messengers of Sennacherib. But when messengers from the king of Babylon come to pay him a visit, he welcomes them and gives them the grand tour. This was naturally alarming to Isaiah, who warned Hezekiah that down the road, everyone he knew and everything he counted as possessions would be carried off to Babylon. At this point, considering his history, I would have expected Hezekiah to humble himself before God in prayer again. Instead, he apparently shrugged his shoulders and said, “There will be peace and security in my days” or rather, “Better them than me, I got mine”.

I think there is a lesson here for all of us. As Hezekiah was once surrounded by enemies and illness, we too were once surrounded by the power of this world and the illness of sin. God was gracious to deliver Hezekiah because he had a “right spirit within” (Psalm 51:10) at first but then Hezekiah quickly developed amnesia. His mistake here is a reminder of how much grace God has extended to us, and also to those we love as brothers and sisters in God’s family.

How can we not respond with humble adoration and worship ?