The resources God has given us to live a thriving life are His Word, Spirit, and People.
Read God’s Word:
Jeremiah 13-16
Act 2: God’s Covenant People
Scene 7: Kings and Prophets: The southern kingdom as God’s people
Background Information: Jeremiah 13-16
Jeremiah performed an acted parable where he buried some underwear for a long time, then returned to retrieve it, ruined and useless. The point of this parable of ruined intimate clothing was that God had selected his people to be in intimate relationship with him. They were to know his love and to make his love known. Instead, they had consistently run after false foreign gods and had forsaken God and rejected his love. Now they would be given what they had demanded; they were to be turned over to these foreign gods. They would be buried for seventy years in Babylon, and they would experience what life was really like when you give yourself fully to idolatry and move out from under the protection of the one true God. They would be ruined by the very thing they had pursued. Can a leopard change his spots? This rhetorical question reveals that Israel had for centuries proved it was addicted to idolatry and was unable to change. We become like the idols we worship, and Israel had become immoral, unjust, and corrupt at every level of society. If they had worshipped the one true God who is full of faithful love, mercy, and justice, they would have become like him. Now, a severe mercy was required in order to turn the nation around. As Jeremiah spoke the harsh truth of God’s coming judgment, the false prophets told the people exactly what they wanted to hear. Jeremiah was abused for speaking the uncomfortable truth, and the false prophets were praised for speaking comforting lies. This was a temporary situation. The false prophets would be exposed in horrifying fashion, while Jeremiah would be vindicated. Saying something is so, or desperately wanting something to be so, doesn’t make it so. We must align ourselves with what God has said. We must embrace the uncomfortable truth when necessary, and we must continually turn in repentance to God. We do this with faith and hope because we have a gospel answer to the question, “Can a leopard change his spots?” No, but God can transform us into something entirely new. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” 2 Corinthians 5:17
Pray:
Praise God for…
Thank God for…
Confess your sins to God
Pray for the incoming college freshmen who begin moving in today. Pray that God would be at work among them. Pray that our church would be faithful to welcome them in.
Ask God for… (what else concerns you?)
Reflect:
Write down one passage of scripture that stood out to you today.
Write down why this passage stood out to you.
Engage Community:
Text or call someone now and tell them…
– What you are praying for.
– What stood out from God’s word today.