Jeremiah 17:19-27 A Starting Place
Believe it or not, God is STILL holding out one more chance for Jerusalem and Judah. A starting place for returning to Him; keeping the Sabath.
Jeremiah just asked God to hurry up and destroy the people so his words wouldn’t look foolish. Instead, God tells him to go out and give Jerusalem one more chance to avoid the destruction of Jerusalem. It isn’t all they need to do to fix what is wrong, but it is a place to start.
“Can you AT LEAST keep the Sabbath day holy?”
God isn’t going for the root problem of false gods. He isn’t even hitting on the issue of idols. He is asking for the tiniest baby step; “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t carry burdens. Don’t work. And don’t conduct business on that day.” In the grand scheme of things, it seems like such a small thing to ask. But choosing to honor this ‘small step’ points to where the hearts of the people are. Do you love God enough to wait one more day? Or to plan ahead so everything is already done for the Sabbath? By choosing to alter their life, a seed has been planted which will eventually become a tree. A tree of life that has grown from the love for God.
Jeremiah is sent to give this choice to EVERYONE who enters ANY of the gates of Jerusalem; not just the leaders. The people could even choose to make this a ‘grass roots’ movement back to the Lord. It is a way to spare their city. The one they have so much pride in. The one that carries God’s name.
“Will you do it for the sake of Jerusalem?”
We know the answer to that. They wouldn’t even take that one small step. This reminds me of myself when I was growing up. In case you haven’t heard yet, I was a VERY stubborn child. One of the things my mother learned early on was to ‘ask for a favor’ instead of ‘demanding’ I do something. My personality might have inclined me to answer God’s request with positive actions, but the stubborn part of me AND Judah would have said something completely different.
“How dare you try and tell me what to do! Don’t even think about trying to put restrictions on me!”
I’m glad to say that I HAVE mellowed in my older days. It’s one thing to ‘prove someone wrong’ about your abilities to function like the rest of the world. But it’s another to go out of your way to ‘thumb your nose’ at someone else’s idea of how you should live your life. I had to learn to listen to ‘good advice’ instead of getting my hackles up.
Judah has this same problem. And it would cost them dearly. Knowing myself, and extrapolating that to them, I can see them doubling their work on the Sabbath.
If they would have listened what would their history look like? Would they have avoided captivity? Without the captivity they wouldn’t have realized how SERIOUS God took this issue. They wouldn’t have learned this lesson so well. Sometimes we NEED to go through the HARD places to be ready to listen to God.
Father God, THANK YOU for mellowing me! Thank You for all the lessons that I have learned over my life; even the HARD ones. Without them, I have no idea where I would be. Thank You for growing Your seed planted in my heart into something wonderful. Into a ‘tree’ I can take shade in. Into a place where I can always find safety. Into a relationship that will endure forever!
Thank You for making me with a ‘stubborn streak’ too. It has been my driving force MANY times. Thank You for refining it into a usable tool instead of a hinderance. I LOVE You Lord and will do ANYTHING for you!
