The Simple Life

Say this to them: This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: Every jar should be filled with wine. Then they will respond to you, 'Don't we know that every jar should be filled with wine?' And you will say to them: This is what the Lord says: I am about to fill all who live in this land — the kings who reign for David on his throne, the priests, the prophets and all the residents of Jerusalem — with drunkenness. I will smash them against each other, fathers and sons alike" — this is the Lord's declaration. "I will allow no mercy, pity, or compassion to keep Me from destroying them." Jeremiah  13:12-14  (HCSB)   This is an interesting use of "wine." God basically tells the people to cast off restraint, indulge in "wine," and see the results. Alcohol has a way of taking over one's thinking, allowing a person to let their "inhibitions" be displayed. When reality no longer checks our inhibitions, disaster awaits.   Often...

If they will diligently learn the ways of My people — to swear by My name, 'As Yahweh lives,' just as they taught My people to swear by Baal — they will be built up among My people. However, if they will not obey, then I will uproot and destroy that nation." This is the Lord's declaration. Jeremiah  12:16-17  (HCSB)   There are principles and methods. Methods are used to teach principles and will change with age, experience, culture, and so on. The principles never change. Effective teachers understand this and never "adjust" the principle, while always challenging the method.   The principle in this passage is clear. A nation that has, for whatever reason, abandoned God will wish it had not. However, God wants to communicate this principle; it is up to Him, and whether or not we listen will be irrelevant to the fact that abandonment equals disaster.   God does not change. His Word does not change. People change, and Satan loves to take advantage of our abili...

If you have raced with runners and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, what will you do in the thickets of the Jordan? Jeremiah 12:5 (HCSB)   Some are worn out in the ordinary of life so that when the extraordinary occurs, they have little to no strength with which to face it. The struggles in life are real. The winds of change, sadness, and stress are often blowing and can quickly reach tornado-like levels.   Standing ground in the face of tremendous winds is not the goal; forward progress is. God alone can tame the wild winds; walking in His wake allows us to maintain steady progress, regardless of the external pressures. If you become weary in the ordinary, you will never have the strength to maintain, much less excel, when the exceptional happens.   Satan does not care how he destroys us. He is patient, not wanting any to succeed. Our goal must be proximity to our God and Father, for there is no chance for the Ev...

Therefore, here is what the Lord says concerning the people of Anathoth who want to take your life. They warn, "You must not prophesy in the name of Yahweh, or you will certainly die at our hand." Jeremiah 11:21 (HCSB)   "There is the story of a conversation between the burgomaster in Hamburg and holy Dr. Ducken when he first began to preach. The burgomaster said to him, "Do you see that little finger, sir? While I can move that little finger, I will put the Baptists down." Mr. Ducken said, "With all respect to your little finger, Mr. Burgomaster, I would ask you another question. Do you see that arm?" "No, I do not see it." "Just so," said Mr. Ducken, "but I do; and while that great arm moves, you cannot put us down, and if it comes to a conflict between your little finger and that great arm, I know how it will end." It was my great joy to see the burgomaster sitting in the chapel at Hamburg, among the audience that list...

"As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster." Jeremiah 11:14 (HCSB)   "It is futile to pray for those who have deliberately cast off the covenant of Jehovah and made a covenant with His adversary. Prayer cannot save, nothing can save, the impenitent; and there is a state of mind, in which one's own prayer is turned into sin; the state of mind in which a man prays, merely to appease God, and escape the fire, but without a thought of forsaking sin, without the faintest aspiration after holiness. There is a degree of guilt upon which sentence is already passed, which is "unto death," and for which prayer is interdicted alike by the prophet of the new and of the old covenant." ( C. J. Ball, M. A. )   We cannot substitute obedience with prayer. We need to be intimate with God and obedient to Him, and then our communication wit...

"As for you, do not pray for these people. Do not raise up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not be listening when they call out to Me at the time of their disaster." Jeremiah 11:14 (HCSB)   If someone said "Do not pray for these people" in today's churches, they would be cast out as a heretic. As I read these words, I am surprised that my response is one of "hesitation" in wanting to believe what I just read.   Yet, it makes perfect sense in that those who choose to ignore God have no hope, and even the prayers of God's people are wasted since these people are ignoring the only answer to their problem.   Often, prayer is not the answer; obedience is.   Sometimes we elevate our own importance by thinking that our prayers would supersede God's plans, and that prayer is some superpower we possess.   https://www.podbean.com/relate365

“For I strongly warned your ancestors when I brought them out of the land of Egypt until today, warning them time and time again, 'Obey My voice.' Yet they would not obey or pay attention; each one followed the stubbornness of his evil heart. So I brought on them all the curses of this covenant, because they had not done what I commanded them to do." The Lord said to me, "A conspiracy has been discovered among the men of Judah and the residents of Jerusalem. They have returned to the sins of their ancestors who refused to obey My words and have followed other gods to worship them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah broke My covenant I made with their ancestors." Jeremiah 11:7-10 (HCSB)   God asks me to obey Him. I can do that. It would be tough if He asked me to be perfect before He extended His mercy and grace. I am thankful He did not ask me to do something I could not do, or that is even overly difficult to do. He just asks me to obey Him. https://www....

For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord; therefore they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. Jeremiah 10:21 (ESV Strong's)   The word "stupid" is used a few times in the book of Jeremiah. It is not a word used to compliment, and it is not used lightly. Those who do not inquire of the Lord when the Lord is there, available, and willing to be inquired of, are, well, "stupid."   The original word has to do with being consumed by fire or being consumed by "eating." This brings new meaning to the phrase "What's eating you?" The answer in this case would be the following: "My ignorance of God."   It is not difficult to inquire of the Lord. Much of what He would say is already given to us in the Scriptures, so to inquire, we need to read and heed. We are often in a position where we are inquiring of the world, its systems, those who surround us, and with whom we agree.   To ignore God and be influen...

There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might. Who would not fear you, O King of the nations? For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you. They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz. They are the work of the craftsman and of the hands of the goldsmith; their clothing is violet and purple; they are all the work of skilled men. But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King. At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation. Jeremiah 10:6-10 (ESV)   If you are disappointed with God, you do not know Him. If you are angry with God, you do not know Him. If you are disobedient to God, you do not know Him.   The key to a meaningful life is knowing God, and if you know Him, you love Him.  https://www.podbean.com/relate365

Hear the word that the Lord speaks to you, O house of Israel. Thus says the Lord: "Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman." Jeremiah 10:1-3 (ESV)   The way of a nation may not be the way of God, and a wise person knows the difference. We can hear the national pundits, but we should listen to the Scriptures. We can abide by the laws of our land while realizing that the governing bodies are not supreme. We can respectfully disagree when the laws of the land oppose the laws of God.   The great danger begins to erupt when the lines of authority are blurred. These lines are clearly drawn by those who know God and His Word and habitually use it as a measuring stick for all information.   The Supreme Court has never really been supreme.  God is supreme.   https:/...

Thus says the Lord: "Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord." Jeremiah 9:23-24 (ESV)   We spend money trying to become wise, strong, and prosperous, yet the most essential things in life do not correlate with that. We like to "boast" of what we have become because of what we possess, even though the Scriptures clearly teach that our life is not measured by the things we possess.   Somewhere along life's journey, we have been duped into thinking that education, strength, and riches are the measuring sticks of life, when they are not.   Those who live as they were created are those who know, understand, and delight in God, for that is what we were made to do. The rich an...

They bend their tongue like a bow; falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, declares the Lord. Let everyone beware of his neighbor, and put no trust in any brother, for every brother is a deceiver, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. Everyone deceives his neighbor, and no one speaks the truth; they have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit, they refuse to know me, declares the Lord. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do, because of my people?" Jeremiah 9:3-7 (ESV)   There is great danger in a society built on lies. Lying is the native language of Satan, and those who become accustomed to deceit have no hope. One day, everybody will stand before God and give an account for their lives. For some, this will be the first time they d...

"How can you say, 'We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us'? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.” Jeremiah 8:8 (ESV)   "The tendency to the lukewarmness of spiritual life is in us all. Take a bar of iron out of the furnace on a winter day, and lay it down in the air, and there is nothing more wanted. Leave it there, and very soon the white heat will change into livid dullness, and then there will come a scale over it, and in a short time it will be as cold as the frosty atmosphere around it. And so there is always a refrigerating process acting upon us which needs to be counteracted by continual contact with the fiery furnace of spiritual warmth, or else we are cooled down to the degree of cold around us." (Biblical Illustrator)   Twisting the Word of God to say what we want it to say destroys people. Those who listen to self-centered, self-proclaiming teachers https://www.podbean.com/relate365

"You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle. Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the Lord.’” Jeremiah 8:4-7 (ESV)   These people did not turn from God because they were under pressure to reject Him. They were not turning from God because God was withdrawing from them. They were rejecting God due to neglect, due to their own choices.   In our sinful world, tragedy will always abound, but woe to the one whose tragedy is self-inflicted, for they have no one to blame and no on...

"You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord: When men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit; they refuse to return. I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, 'What have I done?' Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle. Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtledove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming, but my people know not the rules of the Lord.'" Jeremiah 8:4-7 (ESV)   Backsliding affects us as it arrests the progress of the soul, darkens its prospects, curtails its liberty, and destroys its usefulness. Backsliding affects others: it encourages the religious sceptic, staggers the anxious inquirer, and embarrasses the friends of truth. There is no counsel for the weary where there is no truth.   When each person doe...