Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Jewels from Jeremiah part 3

"Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord...
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is."
(Jeremiah 17:5, 7)

I love this contrast. We have a choice. We can either choose to trust in ourselves or to trust in the Lord. One person is cursed; the other blessed. O may it not ever be said that our hearts depart from the Lord by trusting in ourselves! Only God alone is worthy of our trust!

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"Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise." (Jeremiah 17:14)

God is the Healer. God is the Savior. God is my Praise!

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"Sing unto the Lord, praise ye the Lord: for He hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of the evildoers." (Jeremiah 20:13)

There are many similar verses to this one all throughout Scripture and every time I read one, I am blessed by God's heart for the poor. Especially after being in Bolivia and seeing so many poor and oppressed people, and hearing so many sad stories about our little children's backgrounds and the evil they experienced, verses like these give me great hope that God still knows and still cares. Shall the Judge of all the earth not do right?

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"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is His Name whereby He shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5-6)

What a powerful description of our Lord Jesus Christ!

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"Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the Lord. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord." (Jeremiah 23:4)

Yes, He does fill heaven and earth! In fact, the universe cannot contain Him! How great is our God! We would do well to remember that His eyes are in every place beholding the evil and the good. Be sure your sin will find you out. We cannot hide from God!

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"Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land...and I will give them an heart to know me, that I am the Lord..." (Jeremiah 24:5-7)

I love the reminder in this prophetic verse about Judah that God's chastening is always for the good of His people. The Israelites were taken into captivity as the consequence for their sin against God, but this consequence was for their good in order to bring them to a point of repentance and restoration with the Lord. So it is with chastening and correction in our lives. I also love to always see God's longing for His people to know Him. He is such a personal, relationship-oriented God! How privileged we are to know Him because of His grace!

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"And ye shall seek Me and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)

Even though this promise was written specifically for the Jews following their period of captivity in Babylon, I believe that the principle behind it applies today as well. Let us seek the Lord with all our hearts! He is worthy.


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