In Love With God - lesson 7

In Love With God - lesson 7

The only thing that I want for this semester 

is for us to be in love with and on fire for God

               The Lord gives gifts that no earthly king can give. 

He can promise true preservation and safety that cannot be undone.

     Thus says the Lord, “Do not deceive yourselves, saying, ‘The Chaldeans will surely go away from us,’ for they will not go. For even if you had defeated the entire army of Chaldeans who were fighting against you, and there were only wounded men left among them, each man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.” - Jeremiah 37:9-10

     Go and speak to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am about to bring My words on this city for disaster and not for prosperity; and they will take place before you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men you dread. For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,” declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 39:16-18

     Here are two things decreed by God that are actually impossible to break. The first is that God’s judgement could not be stopped by men, even if it looked like they were beating back God’s word by defeating the army He sent against them. God promised that even wounded and bedridden men would complete the job if no one else was available. The second is that if God desires to bless a man, no one can stop the blessing even in the midst of God’s judgement.

     These two points are incredible because no earthly king could make statements like this! No earthly king could say that an army will not fail no matter what, or that a man could be perfectly preserved in the midst of that same land being wiped out. Our God decreed that a man would be preserved as a blessing because he had taken pity on Jeremiah and rescued him from death. (Jeremiah 38)

     As we seek to draw close to our God, it is good to understand that He always keeps His word. It is so important to stand firmly with Him. My heart literally rejoiced when reading how God blessed Ebed-melech! “and you shall not be given into the hand of the men you dread. For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,” declares the Lord.” 

     This is an encouragement to make the Lord the center of our lives. His words actually cannot fail for He is not a man but God! He is the Creator of All! Who else is like Him? Who else could you ever entrust yourself to who could give you a safer protection or more sure words of comfort? As you take this day to get closer to the Lord, think on these things. You will bless His heart as you marvel at His faithfulness! He continually offers compassion to all who turn to Him. And if we turn back from our old lives He will make us radically new and unrecognizable from who we were and even from who we were a few days ago!

     This is my prayer.  Lord make me more like You today than I was yesterday and more like you tomorrow than I was today! I don’t want to walk towards you! I want to run! Make me more like You than I ever have been before!

-Seth

              A question for anyone who would like to take time to think on these thing.

_   and they will take place before you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men you dread. For I will certainly rescue you, and you will not fall by the sword; but you will have your own life as booty, because you have trusted in Me,” declares the Lord. - Jeremiah 39:16-18

Read this statement a few times. Who or what is it that you dread? I think this statement has a lot of application for us. We have things deep in us that we don’t realize are the things we dread and prevent us from moving forward in the Lord. They seem to remain unnamed mysteries but are the very things that direct our steps and our thoughts each day. God has promised deliverance from these things and if we knew we had deliverance we would have peace wouldn’t we?  Write out some of things that you think of which are affecting all your decisions.