234 - "I Have A Hole in My Heart" Jeremiah 29-31

 Two people have told me in my lifetime that I have a hole in my heart.

I still to this day wonder what they saw in me, in my words. Was it deep sadness and grief? Both were counselors.  When I read Jeremiah 30:12, I wonder:  "Your wound is incurable, your injury beyond healing.  There is no one to plead your cause...your allies have forgotten about you."  They forgot about Joseph both in his demise and then again in his glory.  Why cry for a pain with no cure?  God promises in Jer 30:21: "I will bring you near and you will come close to Me.  You will be my people and I will be your God.  In a world with so many religions, so many directions, that's it---He became my God.  See, the storm of the Lord, a driving wind swirling down on heads of those who oppose me.  A fierce God will not stop until He fully accomplishes the purposes of His Heart.  In days to come, you will understand this.  Jeremiah 30:23-24. You found favor in the wilderness.  "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.  I will build you up again.  Again!  And I will remember no more and never forget you, as long as this sun above gives light and the moon and stars are fixed by night and the seas are stirred up to roar----that's how long. Forever.

Am I more serious about finding God and wanting Him more than anything else?  In Jeremiah 28, Jeremiah told prophet Hananiah that God never sent him.  "You've talked the country into believing a pack of lies!"   You claim to be sent...I'll send you right off the face of the earth.  God did.   Jeremiah 29: 9 - 11 talks about a bunch of liars preaching lies and claiming God sent them.  "I never sent them."  God's Decree!  This is God's word on the subject.  "As soon as Babylon's 70 years are up, I'll show up and take care of you and bring you back home.  I know what I'm doing.  I have it all planned out---plans to take care of you, not abandon you, plans to give you the future you hope for.  When you call on Me, when you come and pray to Me, I'll listen.  When you come looking for Me, you'll find Me.  Yes, when you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed."  God's Decreee:  "I'll turn things around for you."  His definition of good is different than mine.  Consciousness of sin can draw me closer to God.  The nearness of God is my good not things on this earth making it a good life.  

PHOTO:  A Grandmother's love for her first grandchild ever. God knows the plans He has for you, Ezekiel. To turn things around for you. For His Glory. You have to find Him and want Him and I pray always that you want Him more than anything else in life. I love you so much. You will never know how much.

233 - “ The Gospel Doesn’t Come From Keyboards” Jeremiah 26-28

  I

And, he didn't mince his mission.  

Jeremiah set his face like a flint.

Belted out every word of prophesy.

And the officials of Judah respond:

“This man deserves the sentence of death, because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”  Jeremiah 26:9.

Jeremiah knew.

Sent by the Lord God Himself.

So, mend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of God.

And it is the same for us this day.

I hear a Gospel of what God can do for us coming from keyboards of words and songs.

We must announce what God requires of us.  Repentance.  Surrender.  Dependence.  Trust.

And He will be to you the God of boundless love wrapping Himself around your story.

But on the terms of the Potter, not the clay.

Jeremiah received a sentence of death and still proclaimed:

"But as for me, behold, I am in your hands." Jer 26:14.

Because He knew that underneath were the arms of a Strong Loving Present God,

Who was accomplishing His Purposes through the rending of hearts not garments. 

PHOTO:  It's the ceiling of a place I visit in Austin that boasts the most visitors. The Capitol building. The acoustics are phenom.  And I can't imagine the trumpets and trinkets and singers and sound that raised the roof in Glory!  And that's what we will have for the rest of our lives~

232 - “The Lord Will Own Those Who Are His, In All Conditions” Jeremiah 23-25

 My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. Jer 24:6. No other words!

We don't know what this day will bring.  The eyes of Omniscience does.  He sees already before the dawn of the day.  His Good Intentions are always for our good.  It is the suffering of this day that will turn our eyes, our hands, our hearts, convicted by our sins and surrendered to a Good God.  Humbled by His Hand.  Protected by His Eyes.  This day will teach us to pray.

Wean me from this world and what people think of me.  May we all return to You this moment.  Bless us Lord.  Take care of us today.  Deliver us from this little trouble we face.  Like Daniel in the furnace.  We now sit in our very own furnace of affliction.  May our eyes meet the Eyes of Providence today.  Always.  

"The Lord will own those who are His, in all conditions."  M. Henry

PHOTO: Quarries Lake where I ponder. God owns me tonight in this condition!!!!!!!!!!

231 - "God Announces His Words To Me" Jeremiah 19-22

              

And the humble honest Jeremiah proceeds: O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived;

You have overcome me and prevailed.
I have become a laughingstock all day long;
Everyone mocks me.
For each time I speak, I cry aloud; 

I proclaim violence and destruction,

Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted
In reproach and derision all day long.
But if I say, “I will not remember Him
Or speak anymore in His name,”
Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire
Shut up in my bones;
And I am weary of holding it in,
And I cannot endure it.

Jeremiah 20:7-9

Something is going on in his heart in the midst of mess.
Jeremiah has opened his cause to God.  Jer 20:12.
His problems are committed to God!

...But the Lord is with me like a dread champion.

Jeremiah's friends hoped for his fall---what kind of friends are they?
But.  God has this.

What if it pleases God to leave me where I am?

Jeremiah 18:2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,  “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Behold, like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, Jeremiah 20:7-10

Why do I think things have to be a certain way?
I mean, God brought together Hosea and a wife of ill repute.
I mean, God gave calamities to Joseph and Job, one right after another.
Why do I think I will escape the uncomfortable in this life?
Can God not do with me as He wills.  On the shelf.  On the pedestal.
It's not for me to decide.

PHOTO: Heritage Ranch. Couldn't wait to stand on the course and say: You know!

230 - "God Is A Burning Fire Shut Up in My Bones" Jeremiah 15-18

        

         

"O Lord, you know;
    remember me and visit me,
    and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.
In your forbearance take me not away;
    know that for your sake I bear reproach.
Your words were found, and I ate them,
    and your words became to me a joy
    and the delight of my heart,"
Jeremiah 15: 16-17

Two small words contain an ocean of joy! The best thing we can do for ourselves is get into the Word of God. 

Father, you know! Nothing escapes your eyes and ears. Help us this day to find You in the Word. 

PHOTO: Heritage Ranch. Couldn't wait to stand on the course and say: You know! the Potter remake this clay into another vessel.

Jeremiah 18:2 “Arise and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will announce My words to you.” Then I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, making something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter; so he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying,  “Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. 

Why do I think things have to be a certain way?
I mean, God brought together Hosea and a wife of ill repute.
I mean, God gave calamities to Joseph and Job, one right after another.
Why do I think I will escape the uncomfortable in this life?
Can God not do with me as He wills.  On the shelf.  On the pedestal.
It's not for me to decide.

PHOTO:  A burning fire in Palm Springs.  Oh, this verse so speaks to me.  Where is that burning fire in my heart I have once known?  I open my cause to You, O God!

229 - "Is My Confidence in God or in Man?" Jeremiah 11-14

                                         

This is a very sad time in our lives.  "It's precisely our consciousness of sin that can lead us nearer to God."  Closer, Our God, bring us closer as we deal with our own stuff.  So aware of the presence of a Good God in the midst of some confusion over here.  We don't understand but we trust.  We are in the dark night of the soul and pray we hold tight and remain faithful.   

 

Why are we acting like tourists?

Jeremiah 14:7 Drought...We know we're guilty. We've lived bad lives—but do something, God. We've betrayed God, Hope of Israel.  Our only Hope...14:9 - God, you are, in fact, here, here with us! You know who we are—you named us! Don't leave us in the lurch. 
Does God always listen when we pray?Jeremiah 14:11 God said to me, "Don't pray that everything will turn out all right for this people. When they skip their meals in order to pray, I won't listen to a thing they say. When they redouble their prayers, bringing all kinds of offerings from their herds and crops, I'll not accept them....their preachers are liars telling them that everything is going to be okay.  Oh my!  God's eyes pour out tears for the people while the preachers go about business as usual as though nothing happened. Don't break faith with us, God.

  Jer 14:8
8 You who are the hope of our days
    Savior in times of distress,
why are you like a stranger in my midst
    like a traveler who stays only a night?

9 Why are you like a man taken by surprise,
    like a warrior powerless to save?

You are among us, Lord,
    and we bear your name;
    do not forsake us. Oh God!

PHOTO: Duomo de Milano, Italy

228 - "There Is A Balm in Gilead" Jeremiah 7-10

There are people who have no idea how they come across or what they are really doing to you. I am sure this happens to me every day. They are so lost in themselves.  Their sins trail behind them--- I Timothy 5:24.  For all those people in your life leaving a trail of sadness, stand up for them at their crossroads and ask for them the right paths of life.  Jeremiah 6:16.  There is a balm in Gilead.  Jeremiah 8:22.  There is a balm in your city to redress your grievances.  We have to submit to the care offered by God.  We have to submit to the cure offered by God. Redress me in my own trail of "misses" as sin is missing the mark.  The blood of Christ is the balm in Gilead.  We will remain in need not for want of the balm but for admittance of our need and submission to His cure.  Throws me back to my cancer days.  I had to submit to the cure to eradicate the cancer---it wasn't what I wanted but what was needed to move forward.  I didn't think Christ was what I wanted because I thought it was a religion to follow----and I already was.  But when we admit and submit and ask for the balm, it is more than anyone in the universe knows.  He offers an intimate relationship with Himself.  God gives us Himself and that's the dearest grandest offer of anything.  

PHOTO:  A trail. Our sins trail behind us. 

227 - "They Don't Even Know How to Blush" Jeremiah 4-6

This brand-new prophet, this child king---
they have inherited a people "greedy for unjust gain."
They embrace a mess of a kingdom. From the least to the greatest.
These righteous leaders couldn't make a dent in the evil bent of their people.  

This kingdom:
"They heal wounds lightly saying, "Peace, Peace." Jeremiah 6:14.

Do we do the same today glossing and minimizing pain saying, "It's all good." And it may not be so. And, yes, I do know that God is always doing good. But slapping a trite phrase on grief and pain and loss---well, that's not good.

This kingdom:
They have no shame over their sins,
they don't even know how to blush. Jer 6:15.

And it is the Lord, Who says:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls. Jer 6:16.

"Oh that men would be wise for their souls! Ask for the old paths; the way of godliness and righteousness has always been the way God has owned and blessed. Ask for the old paths set forth by the written word of God." Matthew Henry

Oh Father, give us Wisdom this day and the Grace to see the paths You have put in front of us by this written Word we hold. Solomon just prayed for it: Wisdom from Above. We humbly stop and surrender and ask for those old paths worn and creased and wrinkled and crafted by Your Beautiful Word. Counsel us this day, Oh God! We need You so!

PHOTO:  Jerusalem.  We walked this path.  Many followers have.  But it's the Written Word, the Living Word, Who they encountered on all these paths that we make supplication, that we seek, that we step into.  

226 - “I Know You” Jeremiah 1-3

 

A youthful prince & a novice prophet join Kingdom forces and things grow worse.
Josiah was 21 and trying to turn around his followers from the high places.
While God was calling a young Jeremiah to speak, prophesy and reform.
Both young men met the Voice of God in unison, in fear and trembling.
And Jeremiah hears God say to him:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, OH! That makes me cry!!!

and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” Jeremiah 1:3
Not just a prophet to his people, but to the nations!

And Jeremiah tenderly trembles:
“Ah, Lord God!

I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.” 

But the Lord said to me,
“Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’;
for to all to whom I send you, you shall go,
and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Jeremiah 1:6-7.

Whatever it is God is saying to you this day.
Go in weakness. 
Speak in dependence.

“Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.
And I am watching over my word to perform it.” Jeremiah 1:16.
God fits each of us to His Calling and watches over all.

But you, dress yourself for work.  Jeremiah 1:17

Dear Father, there are days when I believe I could have done better.  I could have taken more initiative.  I could have...the list goes on.  The truth is You are always working to bring about good.  I must lay down the high places in my mind of where I think I should be.  Direct me this day to speak Your Word.  Watch over Your Word to perform it today. 

We anticipate the Great Day. I am one year closer, this day, in Ancipation of that Great Day.

PHOTO:  Standing at this ocean wondering about my future.  Dressing myself for work today. 

225 - "My Worst Problem is Me" Isaiah 64-66

                                 

The prophet Isaiah has disturbed us all and stirred such good things in our hearts.  What is one thought from the book of Isaiah that you walk away with?  For me, it is the unholiness that runs right through me.  Isaiah 30:11 ~ I have been confronted with the Holy One and I have so much hope! My ears have been opened and I'm so very grateful in the midst of my mess.  "No matter what is happening to you, your worst problem is in you.  And that problem is not how badly you feel, it is how poorly you love.  Your failure to love Me above all else and to love others at any cost to yourself defines your unholiness.  When you recognize your unholiness and own it without excuse, your ears will be opened to hear My words of comfort and hope.  And those words will set you on the narrow road to relating with holy love.  There is no other kind."  66 LL.

Isaiah 64:4 "From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear,
no eye has seen a God besides you,
Who acts for those who wait for Him."
We wait for no man.
We wait for our God.
The Potter Who has worked us well to this place.
You will not stop with This Work of Your Hands, our Father. Isa 64:8
Your hands are spread out to us.
May we let go of all our devices.  Isa 65:2

These people so wanted God to manifest Himself like He did in the days of Moses and David and Elijah.  They beg him to do what He used to do. 
As I look back on my life and I am a little older,
I find myself begging for Grace undeserved.
Matthew Henry wrote:
"They need not fear being disappointed of it---for it is sure,
or disappointed in it, for it is sufficient. 
The very Sure Presence of our God.
The very Sufficient Grace from our God.
Our hope is in Him.
Our joy is in Him.
Wrapped up in what our God will do in us and for us and through us.
Such Mystery that we cannot even comprehend though we grasp the Grace.

God speaks his freeness and forwardness in doing us good.
Oh, my soul!
"See what communion there is between a gracious God and a gracious soul." M.Henry.                               

God's Decree ~  There is something I'm looking for: a person simple and plain, reverently responsive to what I say. But, your acts of worship are acts of sin: ... Well, I choose to expose your nonsense and let you realize your worst fears.  But listen to what God has to say to you who reverently respond to his Word: "Your own families hate you and turn you out because of me. They taunt you, 'Let us see God's glory! If God's so great, why aren't you happy?'   

"Now the once whispered word peals like the voice of many waters and mighty thunderings over the whole church of God." Ellicott

PHOTO: unfiltered,,,undone,,,the quarries