Good Wednesday morning! Today is my first day of working at the distribution center in almost 10 years. No, not a job change, just a cute little program the company calls "workshare". My attitude about the program is not the best, to put it mildly. I will let you know what the Lord has in store for me through this trial. Speaking of trials, today I started reading in Jeremiah. Now here is a follower of God who did not enjoy prosperity in his life. Jeremiah also started his ministry by telling God that he was too young. Sometimes God doesn't let us get away with excuses like that, and He didn't with Jeremiah. As a result, we have one of the great prophetic books of the Bible. Jeremiah saw many of the prophecies that God spoke through him come true in his lifetime. That probably was not a reward as Jeremiah's prophecies spoke of death and destruction for Judah. Jeremiah watched as the great and noble in the land of Judah were led away as naked captives to the far land of Babylon. Imagine the terror of those captives and their wailing. No doubt many of them remembered which deity they should have been worshipping then! However, sometimes it is too late to call to the Lord. The Judeans had to endure 70 years of exile before they could return home, and obviously many never saw their homeland again.
Today we enjoy direct access to God. We do not have to wait for a priest to give an atonement offering, or sit outside the Holy of Holies. When forgiveness is needed, Jesus has already paid the price, and we simply must repent and ask. We do not have to endure a 70 year exile, but we do need to ask forgiveness regularly and pray for our country. Many of the sins pointed out by Jeremiah to Judah have modern equivalents in America. How long, I wonder, before a prophet appears here and says "repent or suffer the consequences!"?
Wrap the Holy Spirit around your heart today, and have a great Christmas! :-)
Bucky
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