When things are difficult, bargaining with God seems plausible.What we pledge in affliction can be difficult to follow in affluence. It’s far easier to promise to perform than to actually turn from temptation.
The book of Jeremiah is wrought with warning for the people of Israel to turn. They:
-abandoned the one true God
-worshipped little g gods
-ignored His Word
-stubbornly followed their own desires
-refused to listen to The One who could save them from the pending captivity by foreign nations
In fact, God was so over their myopic frivolity that He says, “I’ll throw you out of this land into foreign lands-there you can worship idols day & night!”
Reading about the Israelites can tempt us to judgement & completely miss that this is also a prophetic mirror for our current culture.Read through this list above & you’ll quickly see the resemblance to what is unfolding today.
It feels hopeless unless we remember that God is The Faithful One, even when we’re not. I believe He’s waiting for the remnant of true believers to rise & turn to His face...fully!
Jeremiah promises that if we return to God that He will restore us so that we can continue to serve Him alone. He promises with warning, “If you speak good words rather than worthless ones, you will be my spokesman. You must influence them; do not let them influence you!”
I invite you to a mirror moment this morning...take a look & see what we resemble? Where we are allowing culture to influence us? Do we appear as sons & daughters of the Most High, or the worldly culture that we keep?
Three times in Psalm 80, the author begs for God to turn US to HIM. We’re the ones that need be taken by the shoulders & turned back to face the Father so that His face & shining grace might save us.
Y’all the hour is here where anyone who knows anything about our faithful Father need return fully. Setting ourselves apart from the shiny, worldly things is essential so we may become tools that cause others to turn.
Turn us again to Yourself, O Lord God of Heavens Armies! Make Your face shine upon us for only then will we be saved. May Your Presence & Word become our hearts delight! Restore us again so we may serve only You!
💡JEREMIAH 14:11-16:15
💡1 THESSALONIANS 2:9-3:13
💡PSALM 80:1-19
💡PROVERBS 25:1-5
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