In today's passage I was struck with the faithfulness, obedience and courage of Jeremiah. This man of God obediently preached the same message to this stubborn people for 23 years, even though he was continually rejected or ignored. 23 years!! (Jeremiah 25:3) And this lack of "success" continued for his entire 40 years of ministry!
He was obedient even in the face of death (Jeremiah 26), presumably knowing that this same King Jehoiakim had already put another prophet, Uriah, to death for prophesying the exact same thing! (Jeremiah 26:20-23)
Now this is a role model for us! Obedience to God despite the threat of death, counting the cost and finding it worth it, faithfulness, persistance and courage. Yes, he had moments of doubt and depression (how could you not!), but he soldiered on and remained obedient to the God He trusted in.
And I think that is the key. Do we truly trust God? Do we really trust in His sovereignty? If we really do, than our actions should match up to this trust. Our actions are evidence of our trust, or lack of it!
May our actions prove ourselves faithful.
Tomorrow's passage: Jeremiah 25:15-38, Jeremiah 36, 45-46
5 comments:
So does this passage then mean that though Josiah re-dedicated the nation to God, and that though he, himself, worshipped and served God and destroyed every single idol he could get his hands on, that the people of Judah as a whole, didn't necessarily return to God? Jeremiah seems to say here that he prophesied during the second half of Josiah's reign, but that his words constantly fell on deaf ears. Doesn't that kind of indicate that while the people didn't openly practice idolatry during Josiah's reign, that they weren't really loving God with all their hearts either?
So they had "Sunday Christians" back then already, eh? I see this as a warning even for our generation then. Though we SAY we're Christians, we need to be very sure glorifying God is truly our hearts' desire in everything we do, every day of the week.
Yes, that's what most commentaries I've read have said - that though Josiah himself turned wholeheartedly to God, the people only went through the motions and their change was only skin deep. So, yeah, Sunday Christians - which, according to these passages, are not Christians at all!
That's a pretty scary indictment! You'd think there wouldn't be quite so many then! And it's not like it's only the Old Testament that says it; the New Testament is pretty clear about it, too ~ faith without works is pointless. It's like our mutual friend Nancy Leigh DeMoss has sometimes said, "There are a lot of people who profess to something they do not possess."
Very scary. It shows once again how we just don't even comprehend the absolute holiness of God.
23 years is a LONG time! How discouraging that must have been. What an inspiration to never give up.
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