Today’s
Scripture Reading (May 8, 2017) Jeremiah 44 & 45
Often our response to stress seems to
be self-defeating. We fail a physical and conclude that that diet we have been
half-heartedly following just isn’t working, and then we binge on junk food. We
don’t get that promotion at work, and so we stop trying to do what is necessary
to advance in our careers. A few years ago I was working hard on a paper for a
course that I was taking. I had admittedly taken a few risks with the project. But when the Professor handed the paper back,
I had received a B+ on the work I had submitted and a personal note from the
Professor that the paper didn’t measure
up to the usual standard of my work. I was crushed more by the comment from my
teacher than by the grade I had received.
I considered dropping the course before something switched inside of me reminding
me that I was still passing the course and that dropping the class because of a comment from the professor
was … well, stupid! But sometimes this is our unhealthy reaction to the stress
in our lives.
There is no doubt the Judah was paying
a stiff price for their sin. But the intention was never to drive them away
from God. God was hitting the pause button. He desired
to bring his people back to what was truly
important. God’s plan was to rebuild the nation around him. With no Temple, the
people would have to figure out what it really
meant to worship the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob. Without a Temple, they could
explore what God might have desired when he spoke through Samuel saying, “Does the Lord
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey
is better than sacrifice, and to
heed is better than the fat of rams” (1 Samuel 15:22). But if they were going
to learn anything, they were going to have to re-engage in life and the worship
of their God.
Instead, the
remnant that had been charged with
starting the process of rebuilding over again had run off to Egypt and had entirely abandoned the God of their ancestors in exchange for the practice of burning
incense in front of the gods of Egypt. And with this act of rebellion, they
were leading their families into lives of idolatry and loss. They would never
be the people that God had hoped that they would become.
And the
remnant would have to come from somewhere else. In fact, the remnant would originate
from the very ones who were willing to ask the hard questions about worshipping
God as they sat by the Rivers of Babylon. “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered
Zion. There on the poplars we hung our
harps … How can we sing the songs of the Lord
while in a foreign land” (Psalm 137:1-2,4)? The answer to that question was precisely what God had needed his people to
ask. Giving up was not on the agenda. Following God, even in the wilderness,
was the required response of a remnant
who were going to rebuild the nation of God.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Ezekiel 24
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