Stepping in the Light

“Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon’s princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: But if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon’s princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me. But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.” Jeremiah 38:17-20

When God was punishing His people by giving them into the hands of the Chaldeans, He sent the prophet Jeremiah to Zedekiah, the king in Jerusalem, with the message that he should surrender. Zedekiah told Jeremiah that he was afraid. It was not that Zedekiah was afraid of King Nebuchadnezzar or the specter of living in captivity in Babylon. Zedekiah was afraid that he would be mocked by the Jews who had defected and were fighting for the Chaldean army. Jeremiah assured Zedekiah that wasn’t going to happen, but Zedekiah simply could not overcome this fear. He was afraid to do what God said because he thought that people would make fun of him. “The fear of man bringeth a snare,” (Proverbs 29:25).

“Therefore we ought to give the more earnest heed to the things which we have heard, lest at any time we should let them slip. For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward; How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him; God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?” Hebrews 2:1-4

After salvation, every Christian needs to begin a steady diet of scripture. As we read God’s Word, we learn more about the character and nature of God. We learn about His holiness and our own sinful nature. We learn about the thoughts, motives, and actions that are pleasing to Him and those that displease Him. As we learn more about what God wants in our lives, we are presented with the choice to obey and follow God or to continue to follow our old nature in the ways of the world. With any new activity, we experience a burst of energy at the beginning. After a while, the “new” wears off and we tend to lay the activity aside. The same is true in the spiritual world. At first, the excitement we feel gives us an added boost, and we gladly follow the biblical principles that we are learning. Once the initial excitement subsides, we have a tendency to let our new good habits slip. That is when it takes an earnest effort to continue to follow the Lord and obey His Word.

“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” Jeremiah 33:3

This may be the best known and most often quoted prayer promise in all of scripture. God says that if we will call upon Him, He will answer us. It is comforting to know that God will answer our prayers, but sometimes this promise is misunderstood. Many Christians read this verse and think that God is saying that He will give us exactly what we expect Him to give us no matter what it is. It is easy to look at prayer solely from our perspective. We make a list of things that we think we need and things that we would like to see happen and we ask God for them. We think that in order for God to keep His promise, He must give us what we have imagined and also something that is above and beyond what we imagined. This is how we would define “great and mighty things, which thou knowest not,” and that is where our understanding fails. We are asking God for things that we know, but He wants to give us things that we don’t know. We are asking God for things that we think are great, but He wants to give us “mighty” things that He knows are great. Sometimes we are so focused on the things that we want that we do not realize that He is answering with things that are better for us than we could have ever imagined. Sometimes we fail to call upon Him. It may be because we are busy, distracted, lazy, or even sinful. He is waiting for us to call, and He wants to answer. He wants to give us the great and mighty things that we don’t know about, but we are not ready to receive them until we are willing to call upon Him in prayer.

“If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself.” Philemon 1:17

Evidently, Paul had led Philemon to Christ when he was preaching in Colosse (Colossians 4:9). Years later, as a prisoner in Rome, Paul met Onesimus, one of Philemon’s servants. Onesimus had escaped from his master and fled to Rome. It is clear from this letter that Paul had led Onesimus to Christ as well, though the circumstances of their meeting are not spelled out for us. It is possible that Onesimus sought Paul out to seek his help in dealing with the guilt he felt, or perhaps Onesimus had been imprisoned with Paul because of something he had done once he got to Rome. In either case, Onesimus had accepted Christ, and Paul was sending him back to his master, Philemon, with this letter. Paul asked Philemon to receive Onesimus as if he were the Apostle Paul himself. Paul wanted Philemon to forgive Onesimus for running away and for any other wrongs that he had committed. He asked Philemon to accept him as a brother in Christ rather than as a servant. Paul even promised to pay Philemon back for anything that Onesimus may have taken from him. Paul’s letter to Philemon shows us the importance of forgiveness. It shows us that personal relationships are more important than possessions. Paul shows us that the condition of the heart is more important than the reclaiming of lost possessions or exacting revenge. Christ has forgiven us and received us into the family of God. How can we not forgive others?

“Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Thou hast broken the yokes of wood; but thou shalt make for them yokes of iron.” Jeremiah 28:13

Jeremiah’s message was both unusual and unpopular. God told him to put a yoke (a harness used to hitch an animal to a plow) on his neck and preach to the king and to all the people that they should serve Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. God said that He had chosen Nebuchadnezzar to rule over the nations and that all people should submit to his authority. The people viewed Jeremiah’s message as being unpatriotic. They wanted their religious leaders to talk about how their nation would prosper and be sovereign. A prophet from Gibeon named Hananiah came with a message that God was going to break Nebuchadnezzar’s yoke of bondage off of their necks, and all of the Israelites were going to be free from bondage. He took the yoke off of Jeremiah’s neck and broke it in the presence of the people. Hananiah said that Nebuchadnezzar was going to bring back all of the vessels that he had taken out of the temple. The people liked Hananiah’s message. It gave them feelings of spirituality and national pride. Jeremiah told Hananiah that his message sounded good but that it was not true. He told him that he was causing the people to believe a lie and that it would only make matters worse. Now they would refuse to submit to Nebuchadnezzar, and their bondage would become much more unpleasant. Simply telling people what they want to hear is rarely good for them. God’s message to us is simple, and He expects us to obey His Word.

“For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” Titus 2:11-14

The word peculiar here conveys the idea of being beyond usual, special, one’s own, or belonging exclusively to. After God chose the Israelites as His own people, He gave them many commandments that made it obvious that they were peculiar to Him. They rested on the seventh day of the week. They were not allowed to eat pork or any other unclean meat. They were to wear ribbons of blue on the edges of their garments to remind them of God’s commandments. They were to bind scripture portions on their hands, foreheads, and doorways so that God’s Word was always before them. They were forbidden to intermarry with the people who worshipped other gods. All of these things made it obvious that they belonged to God. If a stranger passed through their land, or if they travelled abroad, it was obvious that they belonged to God. God still wants it to be readily apparent who belongs to Him. He wants us to be a people who are zealous of good works. When people have an opportunity to observe what you do, is it clear to them that you belong to God?

“Unto the pure all things are pure: but unto them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure; but even their mind and conscience is defiled. They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.” Titus 1:15-16

Paul speaks here of people who profess to know God, but their works are not pleasing to Him. It is not uncommon to meet people who would fit into this category. They say that they are Christians, but they do all of the same things that unsaved people do. They do not read the Bible, but they claim to know it. They do not attend church, but they presume to know all about church. They have tried it, they say, but it really did not do that much for them. They don’t need to pray. They weigh their actions and words only against their own thoughts and feelings and not against the teachings of scripture. Paul said that nothing is pure to these people. Their mind and conscience is defiled. They say they know God, but their works deny Him. Their lifestyles are abominable to God. To these people, nothing is pure. But to the pure, all things are pure. There is a distinct difference between these two groups in regard to the way that they view and experience life. Each group respectively gets what it is looking for in life. They each find what they expect to find. The pure are looking for ways to please God. They are evaluating their thoughts and actions with the Word of God in mind. To them, all things are pure.

“Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.” Jeremiah 20:9

Jeremiah had been placed in prison. He had been preaching for a long time, but the people were not heeding his message. He told them that they needed to put away their idols and serve the Lord. He warned them that destruction and defeat were coming if they did not turn back to the Lord. The more Jeremiah preached, the more it seemed that the people were determined to do wrong. Jeremiah had grown weary of preaching to people who were not listening and were not willing to change. Jeremiah decided that he was going to quit preaching. He no longer wanted to deliver God’s message to the Israelites because of their hard hearts. Days went by, and Jeremiah did not preach. He still had God’s message in his heart. He knew that destruction was coming and that the people needed to be warned. He thought every day about God’s Word. When He thought about it, his heart was stirred. He felt like there was a fire in his bones. The burning in his heart increased until he could no longer keep himself from sharing God’s message with the people around him. God’s Word is just as powerful and just as important today as it was in Jeremiah’s day. If we will spend time in His Word every day and meditate on what we have read throughout the day, we will have something in our hearts that we will have to share with others.

“Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words. Then I went down to the potter’s house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.” Jeremiah 18:2-4

God sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house because he wanted Jeremiah to give him an illustration of what He was planning to do with the people of Israel. As the potter worked with the clay, there was a flaw in the clay that ruined the vessel he intended to make. The potter did not throw away that particular lump of clay. Instead, he started over. God wanted Jeremiah to go to the people and preach to them that they were like the clay in His hands. He was free to exercise ownership and control over their lives. He had a vision for what He wanted them to become. He had a plan that would enable Him to make them into what He wanted them to be. He had a purpose that He wanted them to fulfill. He was patient in His approach, so that when they refused to become what He envisioned, He was willing to start over with a new vision and a new purpose because of the investment that He had made in them up to that point. Jeremiah’s message was intended specifically for Israel, but the principles certainly apply to God’s people today. We belong to God. He has a plan for our lives and a purpose for us to fulfill. We must be pliable in His hands and allow Him to work on us and make us into what He wants us to be.

“Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” II Timothy 2:15

Modern construction can be a very complicated process. Workers are involved in drawing plans, obtaining permits, preparing the building site, pouring concrete, framing walls, pulling wires, installing plumbing, etc. Though some of the workers involved may have a general understanding of every phase of the building process, it would be extremely rare to find a person who was an expert in every trade. An expert is a workman who always knows how to handle every situation. He would never be embarrassed because he did not know the answer to a particular problem. Some trades are regulated so that a worker must be licensed or certified in order to work in that trade. As Christians, we are a part of a very specialized building process. There is a stringent approval process for every laborer, and each one is approved by God Himself. He is looking for workers who never need to be ashamed because they do not know the answer to a particular question. Our manual is the Bible. God wants us to know what is in His Word and understand how to apply it to the questions that arise in our daily lives. We are part of the crew that is constructing His church, and we have the responsibility to know how to use His Word to reach the lost and encourage other believers. The more we learn about the Bible, the more confident we will be in using it to help other people.