Day 228

Jun 16: Jeremiah 30-43

Theology leads to doxology. The more knowledge we have of God, the more we want to praise and worship him. This has been tugging at my heart the past week and the more I dwell on it, the more I see how true it is.

Because we have a God that is perfect and good, when we come to know more of his being, we will naturally want to praise him more. Essentially, this means that we are limited in our ability to worship God, when we have lacking knowledge of him. An analogy I thought of that kind of illustrates this is our speech. We are limited in our speech by the vocabulary we know. We can't speak words we do not know and hence we can only go so far in our speech because of that. Likewise, if we only know 10% of God, we can only worship up to that 10% we know of him. However, if we know say 75% of our God, we have that much more knowledge and basis to praise him from. We'll never know God to the fullest extent, we'll never know 100% of him, but we should strive to know all of his goodness in order to exalt his name as much as possible. What that also means is that God, through the holy spirit, is a never ending giver of knowledge. I read somewhere that the knowledge of God is like a treasure chest with no bottom to it. There is no limit to the amount of knowledge God can release to us through the Word and Spirit if we are continually seeking. How amazing is that?

Jeremiah 33:3 - "Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know" The first word there is CALL. How can we find something if we're not looking for it? I pray that I may seek out more knowledge and understanding of God every day, so that I can praise and worship my creator better than I did the day before.

Day 219

Jun 7: Jeremiah 12-14

In chapter 12, Jeremiah gets pretty angry and upset at his people and society:

vs 2b "You are always on their lips but far from their hearts. 3 Yet you know me, O Lord; you see me and test my thoughts about you. Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter!"

God wisely answers; vs 5 "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan?"

What's going on in this passage? Jeremiah is just straight up complaining. Although his motives for complaining are most likely out of holy anger for the evil doings of his fellow people, he is looking for a quick solution, he is looking for God to just wipe these people out.

Our generation definitely relates to this. In a society filled with technological advancements, we're so used to having things done quickly that we have no perseverance or grit. We burn out easily and give up easily, not seeing things through to the end.

As Christians, this poses big problems on our ministries and our walk with God in general. We may stumble often, quit our ministries, give up on relationships, maybe even leave the church. Instead of relying on our own strengths though, we must rely on God to fill us. We shouldn't hold back or be fearful of burn out or exhaustion in serving because it is exactly in those times that God will take control and show us why He is so sovereign. Do we doubt that God will fill us when we are serving his kingdom wholeheartedly? Do we doubt that he'd leave us hanging, exhausted and wiped out for serving him?

In 1 Kings: 18-19, Elijah is busy serving God, putting on the spectacle at Mount Carmel, showing up all the false prophets of false gods as God brings fire down on the water drenched altar that Elijah set up. After this, Elijah runs away as Jezebel hears of the news and is out for his life. Elijah was really afraid and comes upon a broom tree "and prayed that he might die. I have had enough, Lord, he said. Take my life" What does God do then for the exhausted and burnt out Elijah? He sends an angel and feeds him twice and "strengthened by that food, [Elijah] traveled forty days and forty nights."

God's provision for Elijah here is pretty astounding. Elijah goes from complete exhaustion and despair, to being able to travel forty days and forty nights in a matter of an afternoon. How great is God's power in our lives? What do we have to fear? When we plug into the eternal power source that we have in God, we can serve wholeheartedly without a worry in the world.

Day 214

Jun 2: Jeremiah 6-8

A lot of the chapters I've read of late have been somewhat depressing and dark. An example of this is Isaiah 24:3 "The earth will be completely laid waste and totally plundered. The Lord has spoken this word." Also in Jeremiah 8:13 God states, "I will take away their harvest, declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine, there will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them." The pattern is consistent, God's people continually turn their back on Him, and God keeps telling them to repent through his prophets. Jeremiah in particular confronts the people for having false religions and as a result predicts the curses that will be put on them from breaking God's commandments.

Although a lot of the chapters have been gloomy and discouraging, the message of the Gospel should be the thing we are focusing on and we should be encouraged instead. God loved us so much that he already had a rescue plan in place for us in Jesus. Isaiah first prophesies of Jesus in chapter 7:14, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel." His name means, God with us. How much more encouragement do we need to fix our eyes on God as He has sent His only son to save us? Instead of neglecting God's voice in our lives as the Israelites did, we should read the Word, learn from their mistakes and our own mistakes, and know that God is with us in everything we do. We don't need any more proof or assurances because we have the cross and we are already redeemed through it. I think reading about the failings and shortcomings of the Israelites through the major and minor prophets will be rough, but reading about Jesus and how he saved us in the new testament will be that much sweeter when I get to it.