My Life - A Prize of War

Reading:  Jeremiah 34 - 39
My Verse:  "For I shall surely save you,
                        and you shall not fall by the sword,
                        but you shall have your life as a prize of war,
                        because you have put your trust in me,
                           declares the LORD"  (Jeremiah 39:16-18).

I find this an intriguing phrase "you shall have your life as a prize of war."  What exactly does it mean, LORD God?  How is my life a prize and how do I live that out, especially at those times when I feel like anything but a "prize?"

In looking at the verses before this You speak of how You will bring punishment on the Israelites as You said You would. The words above are directed at Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian, who rescued Jeremiah from the cistern that he had been thrown into by the Israelite officials who did not like what Jeremiah was saying.  You tell Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian, that because of what he did, and because he trusted You, LORD God, as his savior You would save him from the destruction that would befall all those around him.

Clearly,  life is a prize because of a particular action here - because Ebed-melech believed You as LORD and Savior, "but you shall have your life as a prize of war, because you have put your trust in me."

This is a very specific incident and yet I know that all of scripture is written for my edification - teaching me how to live before You, LORD God.

"For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope" (Romans 15:4).

"All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for instruction, for conviction, for correction, and for training in righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16).

So often life can look  bleak, especially if one watches the news.  It seems so hopeless that people will change, that things can get better.  Often circumstances weigh us down and life feels like such a burden.

And yet, if I put my trust in You, LORD God You will give me my life as a prize.  A prize is a good thing, like a bonus, something of value.  And so my life is a good thing, it is special, it is valuable and worthy.  Because it is valuable and worthy then I must live it to the best of my ability.  I should also enjoy it because it is a good thing.

I like this piece by CS Lewis from The Weight of Glory.  It speaks to how we should view life; as a good thing, as something to be valued and enjoyed.

"If you asked twenty good men today what they thought the highest of the virtues, nineteen of them would reply, Unselfishness.  But if you had asked almost any of the great Christians of old, he would have replied, Love.

You see what has happened?  A negative term has been substituted for a positive, and this is of more than philological importance.  The negative idea of Unselfishness carries with it the suggestion not primarily of securing good things for others, but of going without them ourselves, as if our abstinence and not their happiness  was the important point.  I do not think this is the Christian virtue of Love.

The New Testament has lots to say about self-denial, but not about self-denial as an end in itself.  We are told to deny ourselves and to take up our crosses in order that we may follow Christ; and nearly every description of what we shall ultimately find if we do contains an appeal to desire.  If there lurks in most modern minds the notion that to desire our own good and earnestly to hope for the enjoyment of it is a bad thing, I submit that this notion has crept in from Kant and the Stoics and is no part of the Christian faith.

Indeed if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels it would seem that Our LORD finds our desires not too strong, but too weak.

We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea.  

We are far too easily pleased."

Oh, LORD God, how we mess things up!  We get things so turned around and then we are confused and unsatisfied.  Help me to keep my eyes on You and Your promises.  Because I am Your child You give me my life as a prize, a gift to be enjoyed, to be lived with hope.

"But the LORD takes pleasure in those who fear him,
   in those who hope in His steadfast love" (Psalm 147:11).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

He Sees All That We Do

Reading: Jeremiah 32, 33
My Verse:  "Ah, LORD God! 
                    It is you who have made the heavens and the earth
                         by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm!
                    Nothing is too hard for You!

                   Great in counsel and mighty in deed,
                   Whose eyes are open to all the ways of the children of man,
                        rewarding each one according to his ways 
                          and according to the fruit of his deeds" (Jeremiah 32:17,19).




This is so important for us to grasp!  Nothing is too hard for You, LORD God!  And You are aware of our every moment.  You see all, know all and are everywhere!  If we would simply take that in as truth,  our lives would be full and rich and fulfilling!

Some would look at this verse as invasive, prying, judgmental.  Many see it as "Big Brother Is Watching You!" to catch us when we do wrong.   But that is not Your purpose is it LORD God?  You look over us as a loving parent.  You watch over me to keep me from doing things that would hurt me!  Because You are LOVE You want only what is the very best for me.

Being secretive is not good for us.  Lying, cheating and being manipulative are traits that wear away at one's very soul.  Many studies  show how prevalent lying is in our society.  One study  stated that because it is so prevalent - it is hard to imagine life without it.  And yet, another study  reported on by Allison Komet stated:  "But in a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Depaulo and Deborah A. Kashy, Ph.D., of Texas A&M University, report that frequent liars tend to be manipulative and Machiavellian, not to mention overly concerned with the impression they make on others."

In another study by Anita Kelly, a psychology professor at the University of Notre Dame reported on by health.usnews.com  called "How Lying Affects Your Health" gave some interesting results.  This was a 10-week study where two groups were followed.  One group was told to not tell any lies during the study period, while the other group was to go on as they normally do.  Each week all were subjected to reporting on how many lies they told, taking a lie-detector test, filling out questionnaires on their physical and mental health and the quality of their relationships.

The results were:  "Both groups lied less, but those instructed to tell the truth reaped more health improvements.  "We established very early that purposefully trying not to lie caused people to tell fewer lies," Kelly says.  "When they told more lies, their health went down.  And when they told the truth, it improved."

When we lie our body reacts - hence the lie detector test.  Lying produces stress and stress, especially long term stress causes all kinds of health problems.  One conclusion Kelly made was that lying "can be awfully draining - it takes a lot of negative physical and mental energy to maintain a lie."

You, LORD God created us in Your own image (Genesis 1:27).  Lying is not of You it is of Satan, the father of lies as You call him.  You, LORD God are very clear about what lying is and the source of it.  Lying is a most dreadful thing and not meant for us Your creatures.  When we lie we are doing the work of the father of lies.

"You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.  He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him.  When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies" (John 8:44).

The results of these studies bear out this truth from the Bible.  Being created in Your own image, LORD God, means lying is like a poison to our very being.

Thank You for this.  Help me LORD God to look to You always when I am in crises, when I am tempted to not be truthful.

"Thus says the LORD who made the earth, 
     the LORD who formed it to establish it 
     - the LORD is His name.

 Call to me and I will answer you, 
     and will tell you great and hidden things 
     that you have not known" (Jeremiah 33:2,3).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!

Hope For the Future

Reading:  Jeremiah 31
My Verse:  "There is a hope for your future,
                         declares the LORD, . . . 

                    Is Ephraim my dear son?
                    Is he my darling child?
                    For as often as I speak against him,
                    I do remember him still.

                    "Therefore my heart yearns for him;
                     I will surely have mercy on him,
                         declares the LORD" (Jeremiah 31:17, 20).

How wonderful is this!?  Thank You, LORD God, for your continual assurance of how much You love me and want an intimate relationship with me.  Your mercy is beyond my human ability to fully comprehend.  And that is okay.  I simply need to believe that You, LORD God, give me hope for a future.

I love, LORD God, that You refer to us as Your children and You as our loving father.  You do what any loving parent would do when we engage in wrong behavior - You discipline us.  You do all that is needed to cause us to realize we are wrong and need to be corrected and healed.  You may even seem to turn Your back on us for a time, but that does not mean You have forgotten us!  No, You "remember him still."  Thank You for that.

Not only do You remember us still, You yearn for us!  You yearn for us to come back to You.

"Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that He has made to dwell in us"?  (James 4:5).

Hosea  11 is a most beautiful depiction of this yearning by You, Oh LORD God.

"When Israel was a youth I loved him,
And out of Egypt I called My son,
. . .
Yet it was I who taught Ephraim to walk,
I took them in My arms;
but they did not know that I healed them.
I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love,
And I became to them as one who lifted the yoke from their jaws;
And I bent down and fed them.
. . . 

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?
How can I surrender you, O Israel?
How can I make you like Admah?
How can I treat you like Zebolim?
My heart is turned over within Me,
All my compassions are kindled.
I will not execute my fierce anger;
I will not destroy Ephraim again.
For I am God and not man, the Holy one in your midst,
And I will not come in wrath.

They will walk after the LORD,
He will roar like a lion;
Indeed he will roar

And His sons will come trembling from the west.
they will come trembling like birds from Egypt
And like doves from the land of Assyria;
And I will settle them in their houses, declares the LORD"  -Hosea 11:1-11

There are so many things in our lives that are our "Egypts."  I came across this wonderful writer, Heather David Nelson, who has dedicated herself to serving as a Godly counselor to the many hurting in this world.  She just wrote a book entitled, Unashamed.  She addresses "shame" and all the ways that it keeps us from looking forward with hope and love.  In an article she wrote for Crossway she pointed out 10 things we should know about shame.  One of them stood out as it is one I often experience.

"Shame can feel like a vague sense of unworthiness and insecurity that isn't rooted in either past or present sin. 

   -Shame can be another term for unbelief in God's love for you in Christ.  It's one thing to believe that your sin has been removed from you; it's quite another to believe that there is a divine love that can env er be removed from you.

   Shame acts like a barrier that keeps love from getting through-either God's love or anyone else's love.  It sounds like the recurring doubt, "That may be true for others, but not true for me.""

You only, LORD God, can be our HOPE!  On that I must believe - not believing forfeits hope!   Love this song by Jenny and Tyler  - "My Dear One"

"And now, O LORD, for what do I wait?  
My hope is in you"  (Psalm 39:7).

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!




                     

The LORD God Only Can Cure Us of Our Guilt!

Reading: Jeremiah 30
My Verse:  "For thus says the LORD:
                         Your hurt is incurable,
                          and your wound is grievous.

                    There is none to uphold your cause,
                          no medicine for your wound,
                          no healing for you. . .

                     Why do you cry out over your hurt?
                          Your pain is incurable.
                           Because your guilt is great,
                           because your sins are flagrant,
                           I have done these things to you" (Jeremiah 30:12-15).

Millions of dollars are spent on various counseling therapies for those that live with guilt - guilt they cannot get rid of.  Sadly,  many end up committing suicide because of guilt.  Others simply end up alcoholics or druggies to blunt the pain they live with.  You, LORD God tell us here that this "hurt" is incurable.

It is incurable because it is You that causes our pain.  You tell us "I have hurt you with the wound of an enemy, with the chastisement of a cruel and merciless foe, because of the greatness of your perversity and guilt, because your sins are glaring and innumerable" (Jeremiah 30:14).  Our guilt is our punishment.

Like a loving parent You will not let us go on in our sin without chastisement.  You, LORD God know how devastating "sin" is to our very being, not to mention the hurt and pain we cause others.  And so You bring upon us great guilt and/or physical ailments or catastrophes.  You do whatever it takes to bring us around, make us realize and repent of our wrong behavior.  You do this to save us from ourselves, otherwise we destroy our own selves.

 You cry out to us over and over to let go our selfish desires and selfish ways and turn to You!  All that is required of us is to ask You for forgiveness and You will forgive us and heal us!

"If we confess our sins,
He is faithful and just
   and will forgive us our sins
   and purify us from all unrighteousness" (1 John 1:9).

That is all that is required, that is all we need to do.  Ask for forgiveness and give You all of our heart.

The One Thing Necessary

One thing alone is necessary, one alone
is needful.  And of that singular treasure I bear
witness, and toward it I now encourage you--
and all of this for love of Him to Whom
you offer yourself as a holy, pleasing sacrifice.

What you now hold, may you always and forever hold.
What you do, may you forever do, and never abandon,
but with a quickened and a quickening pace, light step,
and unswerving feet, proceed--surely, full of joy,
and with great speed.

Offer your vows to the Most High in eager pursuit
of that perfection to which the Spirit of the LORD has called you

                                 -Sain Clare of Assisi (c1193-1254)
                                from Love's Immensity - Adaptations and Translations
                                                                         by Scott Cairns

Only You, LORD God, can give us sweet respite from the "hurt" we bring on ourselves.

Ditat Deus - God Enriches!