God patiently calls us toward true heart repentance because He is good.
~ First5.org
~ First5.org
Psalm 145:8 says, "The LORD is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love."
Jeremiah 4:1a (ESV) "If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return."
The nation's preference for idolatry and their promiscuity toward other gods has set their feet on a course bound for destruction. God has given Jeremiah the job to sound the alarm, to send out the warning and to show the people where they are headed.
God sent prophet after prophet to Israel and Judah, warning them of the consequences of their sin. In fact, just in Jeremiah's time, Judah had at least 40 years to repent and heed his warnings before Jerusalem was destroyed by the invasion of Babylon. God gave them numerous opportunities to repent.
Sure, they occasionally said they were sorry, but their actions never changed. They obeyed God by practicing circumcision, which was an outward sign that marked them as the people of God. However, on the inside, their hearts were not any different than the surrounding idolatrous nations. (Jeremiah 4:4) From the beginning, God did not simply desire obedient actions. He wanted a fully changed and surrendered heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
So through the revelation of God, Jeremiah tells the people exactly where their sin is taking them. He details the Babylonian invasion from the north, an event that would eventually unfold just as Jeremiah said it would. (Jeremiah 4:7, 16)
Jeremiah saw that the consequence of their sin would be total destruction, and he uses powerful imagery to describe this. (Jeremiah 4:23-26) It is, in essence, the reverse of creation. The creation story in Genesis 1:2a says "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep …" It was from here that God spoke light and land and plants and birds and man into being. Afterward, He declared it all very good. (Genesis 1:31) Let's compare this to where Jeremiah saw Israel headed. He says, "I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light" (Jeremiah 4:23). He goes on to describe the crumbling of the mountains, the absence of bird and man, and the once fruitful land a desert. God does not call this good. Instead, there is "fierce anger" (Jeremiah 4:26).
Jeremiah saw a glimpse of what life without God looked like, and that sight broke him. (Jeremiah 4:19)
God patiently calls us toward true heart repentance, not because He is an angry God, but because He is good. Sin takes us on a path far from our Creator. Far from everything good and right and how it was meant to be. Let's respect and cherish the warnings that keep us on the right path. Let's repent not simply with words, but with our whole hearts. The gate may be narrow and the way may be hard, but it is the only path that leads to life. (Matthew 7:14)
Joe Battaglia, author of The Politically Incorrect Jesus, said this: "It has been said that righteousness without tears is arrogance. I'm afraid the world has seen too much of our righteousness and not our tears of compassion."
Oh, that I would be more like Jeremiah. I pray I live my life in such a way that it preaches righteousness, but that I might do so with tears of compassion for my fellow man. I want love to be my motivator, never arrogance!
Break Up the Fallow Ground
Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Jeremiah 4:4
Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12
God invited Judah and Jerusalem to return to Him from a hardened condition. Fallow ground is uncultivated farmland, especially ground that was plowed before but has laid dormant for a year or more. It is hard to plow, but no useful crops can be grown until the fallow ground is broken up.
· Fallow ground implies prior fruitfulness.
· Fallow ground needs some hard work to break.
· Fallow ground implies some resistance.
Jeremiah 4:1a (ESV) "If you return, O Israel, declares the LORD, to me you should return."
The nation's preference for idolatry and their promiscuity toward other gods has set their feet on a course bound for destruction. God has given Jeremiah the job to sound the alarm, to send out the warning and to show the people where they are headed.
God sent prophet after prophet to Israel and Judah, warning them of the consequences of their sin. In fact, just in Jeremiah's time, Judah had at least 40 years to repent and heed his warnings before Jerusalem was destroyed by the invasion of Babylon. God gave them numerous opportunities to repent.
Sure, they occasionally said they were sorry, but their actions never changed. They obeyed God by practicing circumcision, which was an outward sign that marked them as the people of God. However, on the inside, their hearts were not any different than the surrounding idolatrous nations. (Jeremiah 4:4) From the beginning, God did not simply desire obedient actions. He wanted a fully changed and surrendered heart. (Deuteronomy 6:5)
So through the revelation of God, Jeremiah tells the people exactly where their sin is taking them. He details the Babylonian invasion from the north, an event that would eventually unfold just as Jeremiah said it would. (Jeremiah 4:7, 16)
Jeremiah saw that the consequence of their sin would be total destruction, and he uses powerful imagery to describe this. (Jeremiah 4:23-26) It is, in essence, the reverse of creation. The creation story in Genesis 1:2a says "The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep …" It was from here that God spoke light and land and plants and birds and man into being. Afterward, He declared it all very good. (Genesis 1:31) Let's compare this to where Jeremiah saw Israel headed. He says, "I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light" (Jeremiah 4:23). He goes on to describe the crumbling of the mountains, the absence of bird and man, and the once fruitful land a desert. God does not call this good. Instead, there is "fierce anger" (Jeremiah 4:26).
Jeremiah saw a glimpse of what life without God looked like, and that sight broke him. (Jeremiah 4:19)
God patiently calls us toward true heart repentance, not because He is an angry God, but because He is good. Sin takes us on a path far from our Creator. Far from everything good and right and how it was meant to be. Let's respect and cherish the warnings that keep us on the right path. Let's repent not simply with words, but with our whole hearts. The gate may be narrow and the way may be hard, but it is the only path that leads to life. (Matthew 7:14)
Joe Battaglia, author of The Politically Incorrect Jesus, said this: "It has been said that righteousness without tears is arrogance. I'm afraid the world has seen too much of our righteousness and not our tears of compassion."
Oh, that I would be more like Jeremiah. I pray I live my life in such a way that it preaches righteousness, but that I might do so with tears of compassion for my fellow man. I want love to be my motivator, never arrogance!
Break Up the Fallow Ground
Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Jeremiah 4:4
Sow righteousness for yourselves, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers his righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12
God invited Judah and Jerusalem to return to Him from a hardened condition. Fallow ground is uncultivated farmland, especially ground that was plowed before but has laid dormant for a year or more. It is hard to plow, but no useful crops can be grown until the fallow ground is broken up.
· Fallow ground implies prior fruitfulness.
· Fallow ground needs some hard work to break.
· Fallow ground implies some resistance.