Guest Post by Pastor Ted Stahl “OUCH!”
Today’s Reading – Jeremiah 32 – 34
God said in Jeremiah 33:6 Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.
How are you feeling today? Are you in good spirits? Are you in good health? Are you bothered by evil thoughts? Do your eyes wonder towards things that they shouldn’t?
Judah and Israel were sick. Their sickness was sin: they had turned from the One True Living God to worship little ‘g’ gods made by the hands of man. But God had the cure: they would go into captivity in Babylon for 70 years; then God would bring them back home. It seems that sometimes chastisement is the cure. God chastises those He loves. Some did not want to go thru this: they fought against the captivity, against the Chaldeans, and the results are in verse 5. Even for the Christian, the wages of sin is still death. Hebrews 12: 5-7 say…
Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: (v 6) For whom the Lord loveth he chastenith, and scourage every son whom He receiveth. (v 7) If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
So, how are you feeling today? Are you enduring? Are you drawing closer to God. Are you sinking in despair due to ecconomic woes? Are you trusting God? Romans 14:23 reminds us: “…for whatsoever is not of faith is sin.”
Have faith. The chastening of the Lord is only for a season. Keep serving the Lord. Keep giving Him your tithe, and what you promised to give Him. As with Israel and Judah, our going home is imminent.
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 3 comments.
I find Christian’s today arrogant in believing that if they only “do” more for God they will escape the chastening of the Lord; let’s face it we will never be able to “do” everything perfect as God wants us to. I believe God isn’t happy with any of us, more like we’re happy because we have made ourselves the God of “our world.” Why do we think that we are any different than anybody in the bible, we’re not. We are all filth and dung!!! I’m done with the façade of the church. God loves me despite my short-comings, despite my church attendance, despite how I dress, despite how I speak, despite my thoughts, despite how much I give or don’t give, despite how much I do or don’t do, despite how far away I am from him. I can live with God’s Love; it’s man’s love that I don’t understand? We always say the ground is level at the cross; well most times within Christian circles it feels like the cross is one million miles away.
Thank you Brother Stahl for an encouraging post.
Gary- stay in the race, just stand. There’s not much that could be said in response to your comment, or at least I was at a loss for words in trying to say something encouraging, but I’ll just share this.
Music really speaks to my heart. Many times when something is on my mind, along with scripture, songs will come to mind that serve as an encouragment to me. This week, I’ve had the song “In Christ Alone” stuck in my head. Find it on YouTube or something if you haven’t heard it before but the one verse that I’ve sung to myself over and over this week goes like this:
No power of Hell, no scheme of man
Could ever pluck me from His hand
Til He returns or calls me home
Here in the power of Christ I stand.
I’m in the race Sara; I’m fighting the fight I’m just no longer consumed with how saved christians view me. I drive all over the state of NJ every day and I can honestly say that I have had thousands of conversations with people about the Salvation that Jesus want them to have. Daily I am pricked by the holy spirit to give tracks to people and I always do exactly that reguardless of my dress, actions, church attendeth, giving or my mood because I believe that God’s word will not return void. Pastor Stan used to alwys say this; “things are not always as they appear to be” In the end I will have to answer for everything weather wood, hay, stubble or Gold, silver and precious gems. This isn’t a competition; God gives the increase. I like music also; lately I’m hooked on the Clarks music and the notorious BIG!!!