Qualifications for Mercy

{Jeremiah 44}

It’s a scary thing to have God set His face against you. More than scary… It’s absolutely frightening.

Utter destruction, utter desolation was to be their just reward. Not a cheery prospect.

Yet one small glimmer of hope was still offered.

To those who escaped the sword and returned to Judah would be extended mercy. 

Mercy again? Yes… My God delights to show mercy. There are qualifications though.

“Shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.”*

My mind instantly jumps to Revelation. It’s a similar expression.

“Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”**

Two simple things. In essence they sum up the entire plan of salvation. They are an indicator of our spiritual vitality.

When final destruction imperils the world, I want to be found eligible for mercy.

* Exodus 20:6

** Revelation 14:12

Broken Promises

{Jeremiah 42 & 43}

A handful remains­. The destitute, the impoverished, the rejected.

They are pleading for guidance, asking Jeremiah to beseech God on their behalf.

They chorus in unison, “Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God.” 

My mind instantly goes back to a previous group of people. Wanderers in a wilderness. It’s a familiar line.

“All that the LORD hath spoken we will do.” 

Another futile promise quickly broken. Good intentions. Yet even the best of intentions have no power in themselves. Only the strength of Christ behind them can give power to fulfill.

Jeremiah conveys God’s instruction merely to be immediately reproached as construing the words of the Lord. Their promise, only 10 days old, is broken, and they will reap the consequences of disobedience.

Their foolish choice is hard to breeze-over. Yet when I pause to ponder, I realize that I have often been just as foolish.

I beg for God’s guidance and tell Him I will follow whatever He says, yet when His revealed will differs from my perceived ideas, I sometimes struggle to accept. It all boils down to my commitment though. The best of intentions will fail, but if I avail myself of His power, I have no option of failure.

More Victory

{Jeremiah 41}

I struggle to find a lesson within this chapter of bloodshed and warfare. It is rather gruesome.

But then I get to thinking… 

What if I fought the figures of sin in my life as viciously as Ishmael fought the supporters of Gedaliah? 

What if I was not satisfied until every one of my sinful enemies was vanquished and buried beneath the ground? 

What if I didn’t consider defeat as an option?

I don’t know. My Commander has been teaching me battle tactics, but I think I need to step up the intensity. 

More blood. More sweat. More prayer. More tears. 

And all this for more victory.

Among Few

{Jeremiah 40}

The choice was offered to the prophet. 

Would he prefer to remain with the poorest of the poor that even the king of Babylon spurned? Or would he decide to accompany the captain to Babylon where he would be generously cared for?

Jeremiah chose the path of privation, of hardship, of adversity. Why?

Because status and wealth on earth has no effect upon God’s estimate of your value. The orphan child or penniless widow are held in equal esteem with the kings of nations. Nay, perhaps more. Because the hearts of poverty are often receptive hearts. 

And so Jeremiah remains among the few. Because here he knows his hearers will be more open-minded.

Never despise the poor, the few. It may just be where God is calling you.

Mercy Twice-Over

{Jeremiah 39}

After almost two years of seige, Jerusalem fell into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, proving that the countless prophecies of Jeremiah could not be ignored. Although Zedekiah had listened to the counsel of the Lord, he had neglected to follow His commands. Now he was to pay the consequences—bitter consequences.

Yet in the midst of terrible slaughter and captivity, God still shows mercy. Still…

My mind is baffled by such unquenchable Love. My heart is drawn by His compassion. This is the God I adore.

Mercy twice-over. 

A simple act of kindness by a foreign eunuch. 

Ebedmelech, a Jewish stranger, is rewarded with life—life temporal and life eternal—because he placed his trust in Him. God takes notice of the littlest acts of love.

A life of resolute obedience to the voice of God.

Jeremiah, the Hebrew seer, who has been insulted and despised for the cause of God, receives incredible favor from a heathen king. Liberty and safety was granted him. Imagine being told that whatever you say, the captain has been commanded to obey. God never forgets His servants.

Mercy twice-over. Two men rewarded for faithfulness. 

One God who always works all things together for good to them that love Him. Always…

God Always Has Friends

{Jeremiah 38}

They were completely false charges, and the king knew it. But he was too weak in character to resist the princes. So he feigned agreement with them, and gave the prophet into their hands for them to do whatever they pleased.

Jeremiah was thrown into a dark, damp, smelly, miry cistern. Not a pleasant place for any individual, much less God’s prophet.

The faithful prophet patiently and unswervingly clung to his God whom he knew would not fail him. Whatever God deemed fit for him to endure, Jeremiah would endure it with joy. But God had other plans.

In the court of kind Zedekiah was an Ethiopian eunuch. This man was a friend of God. And God laid upon his heart to petition on behalf of His prophet. Request granted, Ebedmelech proceeded to arrange for Jeremiah’s rescue. Ropes would be necessary to extract him from the cistern, but the raw ropes would not hurt his friend. No, with a tender heart the eunuch provided old soft rags for Jeremiah to use in order to bring him up with comfort.

God always has friends.

Regardless of your status, your age, your ethnicity, God wants you to be His friend. He wants to use you to bless the lives of others. And kindness given is always repaid in greater measures.

Will you be a friend of God?

False Accusations

{Jeremiah 37}

I turn page after page reading the fascinating accounts of undaunted individuals of the reformation; I trace the lives of countless faithful missionaries giving their all, even their lives, for the advancement of the gospel; I examine the servants of God through the ages, and I determine that the whole history of God’s messengers wears an almost unbroken line of sacrifice, of hardship, of false accusations, of misunderstandings. 

Jeremiah is no exception.

The devil is no ignorant bystander. He has had over six thousand years of practice to refine his tactics. He twists the minds of men into believing truth is error and error is truth, and most of them don’t even realize what has happened.

Yet when false accusations are shouted in our faces, we have a choice to make. And it all depends on the habits we have previous cultivated in our lives. If we have fostered the meekness, grace and humility of our Savior in little trials, they will also be manifest in the most difficult times.

It all depends on our surrender now.

Of Rolls and Rulers

{Jeremiah 36}

Yet another chance, another token of mercy, another gift of grace, another opportunity for forgivenness. How many times can God show His longsuffering? I am filled with awe and amazement at such a God. Humanly, I know I couldn’t bear with such blunt defiance of laws and love. But He delights to show mercy…

It was a roll this time, a scroll containing all that God had declared to Jeremiah, yet another strategy to try to arouse the little bit of piety that might be residing in some hearts. When the king heard, he was driven into satanic fury, cutting the roll into pieces and throwing it into the fire.

But there were a few who were still seeking, a few whose hearts were still open. They pled with the king not to burn the scroll, but his heart was so hardened that he would not listen to them. His life was a sad tale of continued disregard of God’s law.

In fact, the king was not content to just destroy the roll; he determined to destroy Baruch and Jeremiah too. And suddenly we see the hand of God saying, “Here, but no further.” I love this phrase…

“But the Lord hid them.”

And no action of the king could quench the flame kindled in the hearts of these men. They wrote yet another scroll; this one was even deeper and more complete than the last. The enemy can never prevail.

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This is not just a story from ages past. It is going to happen again, soon. Yes, we will have persecution, but the hand of God will be there saying, “Here, but no further.” Nothing the devil can do will quench our fire.

Nothing.