Lamentations

The roads to Zion mourn,
   for no one comes to her appointed festivals.
All her gateways are desolate,
   her priests groan,
her young women grieve,
   and she is in bitter anguish.

 Her foes have become her masters;
   her enemies are at ease.
The LORD has brought her grief
   because of her many sins.
Her children have gone into exile,
   captive before the foe. – Lamentations 1:4-5

Today’s Reading: Lamentations 1-2; Hebrews 10:1-18

Some people look down upon folks who read the Bible straight through, though maybe that is because many of us throw that fact in their face.

Let’s not be arrogant and judgmental folks…

But one of the powerful things about reading it in order is that it is in the order that it is in for a reason. Reading Lamentations after Jeremiah is a perfect example of this.

In Jeremiah, he spends almost the entire book telling the people how they have fallen short. They have mistreated each other, they have fallen away from God, and they have turned to lives of decadence. Then we see toward the end how the people respond to Jeremiah. They loathe him for being the bearer of bad news. Over and over again he predicts their fall. And each time they put him down; sometimes more forcefully than others.

And then the hammer comes down in the form of Babylon. Babylon does everything that Jeremiah predicted. He has been proven right in the worst possible way.

Now the people are lamenting. Wow… it’s just so heavy.

There’s nothing like knowing with 100% certainty not only that you are wrong, but also knowing exactly what you did to get yourself into this predicament. It is humbling in a most powerful way.

But the good thing is that the story is not over. Yes, there is a time for lamenting. It is healthy for us to allow ourselves the time and space to cry out and mourn the things in our lives that have caused us pain. Actually, this is one of the things that I love about Lamentations. For all of you super tough folks who are afraid to cry you can see that the Bible devotes an entire book to it. There is no weakness in expressing our emotions.

But after that time of crying is a time of rebuilding. Just like when Nehemiah and Ezra worked to bring the people back to Jerusalem and rebuilt the temple during the reign of Persia, we always have a second chance to get back up on our feet and start over.

Rebirth is available to us every single day. It is up to us to go after those opportunities and do the work to rebuild what has been destroyed. 

Playing Your Cards

“‘We would have healed Babylon,
   but she cannot be healed;
let us leave her and each go to our own land,
   for her judgment reaches to the skies,
   it rises as high as the heavens.’ – Jeremiah 51

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 51-52; Hebrews 9

Life is a lot like the game of poker at times. The best we can do is play the cards we are dealt.

We have different things that come into our lives. Sometimes these cards are good and worthy of holding on to and betting on. Other times they are ok. They have potential, and depending on the situation they may be worth holding on to, to see how they pan out. But other times what we get is garbage. The earlier we decide to fold those hands the better off we are in the long run.

Of course we cannot fold our cards in all of the situations in our lives. We cannot give back or family or our genetics. No matter what we think about where we come from, it is in fact where we come from.

But there is so much about life that we can choose to walk away from, to let die, rather than putting energy into it hoping that it will spring to life and bear fruit.

This is why we prune things. In order to grow most efficiently we must cut away that which is holding back life. We have to rid ourselves of people, places and situations that are taking more from us than they are giving.

This theme has come up time and time again in our reading and I don’t think it is an accident. I think the repetition is a necessary reminder because it is often hard to cut away those things that once gave us life.

Have you noticed that there are some things in your life that need to be cut away? 

Knowing God

This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
   after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
   and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
   and they will be my people. 

No longer will they teach their neighbor,
   or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord,’
because they will all know me,
   from the least of them to the greatest.
For I will forgive their wickedness
   and will remember their sins no more.” – Hebrews 8:10-12

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 50: Hebrews 8

Knowing God. That’s what it is all about.

A Sense of Urgency

“A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the LORD’s work!
   A curse on anyone who keeps their sword from bloodshed! – Jeremiah 48:10

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 48-49; Hebrews 7

When I was a little boy my only chore at my Dad’s house was to take out the trash. My Dad always said that women shouldn’t have to touch garbage if there is a man around. So once I got big enough to lift the trash bag out of the can then I became the little refuse man.

Unfortunately I was a little forgetful fellow as well.

Kung Fu Blessings

Why will your warriors be laid low? They cannot stand, for the Lord will push them down. – Jeremiah 46:15

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 46-47; Hebrews 6

Ummm… so it’s pretty easy to see what happens when you go against God.

You get pushed down.

Verses like this are funny to me.

Obedience with our Talents

We have much to say about this, but it is hard to make it clear to you because you no longer try to understand. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God’s word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. – Hebrews 5: 11-14

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 43-45; Hebrews 5

All of this obedience talk reminded me of the parable of the talents.

I know you remember that one. It is the one about the master who leaves town and gives five bags of gold to one servant, two bags of gold to a second servant, and one bag of gold to the third servant. The first servant invests the gold and doubles his profit. When the master returns he has ten bags of gold. The second servant does the same and produces four bags of gold. The third one is afraid because the master is demanding. He buries his bag of gold because he fears he might lose it if he risks using it.

Many of us are like that third servant.

Courageous Obedience

 

He said to them, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition, says: ‘If you stay in this land, I will build you up and not tear you down; I will plant you and not uproot you, for I have relented concerning the disaster I have inflicted on you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear. Do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you and will save you and deliver you from his hands. I will show you compassion so that he will have compassion on you and restore you to your land.’ – Jeremiah 42:9-12

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 40-42; Hebrews 4

Sometimes obedience isn’t an easy thing. Sure, it sounds great when we think about the things that God tells us when it comes to pursuing our dreams. It is awesome to think about how our obedience can lead to us reaping rewards that we have always dreamed about.

But what if those same tasks that God has given us cause us to confront things that we don’t want to see?

Obedience is Freedom

King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “I am afraid of the Jews who have gone over to the Babylonians, for the Babylonians may hand me over to them and they will mistreat me.”

“They will not hand you over,” Jeremiah replied. “Obey the LORD by doing what I tell you. Then it will go well with you, and your life will be spared. – Jeremiah 38: 19-20

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 37-39; Hebrews 3

Obedience is the path to freedom.

We Cannot Silence the Truth

Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe’s knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes. Even though Elnathan, Delaiah and Gemariah urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. – Jeremiah 36:23-25

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 34-36; Hebrews 2

The King in Jeremiah’s time received some bad news from Jeremiah. A scroll was presented to him that predicted that his regime would be overthrown by the Babylonians and the whole nation would be taken over. He decided to ignore it and burned the scroll bit by bit as the words were read to him.

The audacity!

Write Your Own Redemption Story

“‘Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. – Jeremiah 33: 6-8

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 32-33; Hebrews 1

We love to see stories of redemption. Have you ever read an article about a person who, after having been down on their luck, received wonderful opportunities? There is something magical about it. I think that deep down inside we want to believe in the happy endings that redemptive stories bring into our lives.

Generational Curses

 “The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will plant the kingdoms of Israel and Judah with the offspring of people and of animals. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD. “In those days people will no longer say,

   ‘The parents have eaten sour grapes,
   and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’

Instead, everyone will die for their own sin; whoever eats sour grapes—their own teeth will be set on edge. - Jeremiah 31:27-30

Today’s Reading: Jeremiah 30-31; Philemon

I’m tired of hearing people talk about generational curses. Have you ever heard the term? Well, I hear it everyone once in a while in Christian circles.