365 Reflections

For years, Jeremiah preached about the destruction and restoration of Jerusalem. In the chapters before Jeremiah 32, he announced the good news of return, the New Covenant, and God's good plan for the people despite their present turmoil. Now, in Jeremiah 32, the prophet is asked a curious question.  Jeremiah 32:6–8 (ESV) Jeremiah said, “The word of the LORD came to me: 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ 8 Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the LORD, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD. Jeremiah follows through. He buys the field and calls his assistant Baruch to put the deed of purchase in a long-lasting container.  Jeremiah 32:13–15 (ESV)...

To be a preacher of the Word is to be wounded in spirit by those who misuse it. That is the heart of Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23:9 (ESV) Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and because of his holy words. Jeremiah ministered at a time when many false prophets led most of the nation astray. Jeremiah 23:10–11 (ESV) For the land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land mourns, and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up. Their course is evil, and their might is not right. 11 “Both prophet and priest are ungodly; even in my house I have found their evil, declares the LORD. Jeremiah throws down the gauntlet later in the discourse: Jeremiah 23:13–14 (ESV)  In the prophets of Samaria I saw an unsavory thing: they prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. 14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing: they commit adultery and walk in lie...

Jeremiah begins to lament once more in chapter 15.  Jeremiah 15:15 (ESV) O LORD, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach. His first words here are so important. He acknowledges that the Lord knows his struggles. And that's true. The Lord really does know the struggles of those who serve Him. He knows what we do for Him and how we work for Him.  Jeremiah 15:16 (ESV) Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts. The preacher loves the Word of God. The idea of "finding" them speaks to the truths revealed as one meditates over them again and again. You never run out of insights to "find" in the Word of God.  Jeremiah 15:17 (ESV) I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you h...

Jeremiah 15:1 (ESV) Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! Jeremiah 15 marks a dangerous declaration from the Lord. He has handed Judah over to her sins. She will be punished for what she has done in abandoning Him. But the manner of her punishment is self-inflicted. Notice the next verse: Jeremiah 15:2 (ESV) And when they ask you, ‘Where shall we go?’ you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD: “ ‘Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.’ The description here is of inevitable consequences. Judah had chosen the path to pestilence, war, famine, and captivity by abandoning the covenant with Yahweh. The eventual consequences of life without God are her inescapable future. God declares: Jeremiah 15:4 (ESV) And I will make them a horror t...

The first event after Jeremiah's commission is a conversation about visions given to him by God. The Lord asks him two questions. Here is the first.  Jeremiah 1:11–12 (ESV) And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” And I said, “I see an almond branch.” 12 Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over my word to perform it.” A note in my Bible over the word, "almond" stipulates a wordplay at work here. The Hebrew word for almond (saqed) sounds like "watching" (saqad). God wanted Jeremiah to SEE God's word at work. God will always see that His Word goes to work as God declared it to work.  This is the fundamental requirement if one should venture to speak for God. That person must be confident that God's Word will come to pass no matter what others SAY. Those who reject such confidence will find themselves swaying in the wind of public opinion, current trends, and even age-old deceptions. God makes p...

What's interesting about the book of Ezra is that you don't meet the title character until the 7th chapter. And that is where we are. He comes to Jerusalem 60 years after the first exiles returned and started to rebuild the city and the Temple. So much has happened and so much has been overcome, you begin to wonder, what is his importance to this narrative. But the details emerge quickly as Ezra brings what God's people have always needed - skill in declaring the Truth of God's Word with boldness and conviction so that God's people live according to God's ways. Ezra 7:1–6 (ESV) Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok , son of Ahitub, 3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, 4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki, 5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas , son of Eleazar, son of Aaron the chief priest— 6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a...

Deuteronomy 5:22–24 (ESV) “These words the LORD spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire , the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and he added no more. And he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. 23 And as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire , you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders. 24 And you said, ‘Behold, the LORD our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire . This day we have seen God speak with man, and man still live. The physical manifestation of God's voice being spoken to ancient Israel is repeatedly fire . When God gives them the law, He does through fire here and in Exodus 20. When Gideon sees the Lord, there's fire that consumes the offering. When Elijah challenges the prophets of Baal, his challenge is this: "and the God who answers by fire ...

Numbers 10 opens with a passage about Silver Trumpets to be made for signaling the way of the camp. Numbers 10:1–7 (ESV) The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Make two silver trumpets. Of hammered work you shall make them, and you shall use them for summoning the congregation and for breaking camp. 3 And when both are blown, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the entrance of the tent of meeting. 4 But if they blow only one, then the chiefs, the heads of the tribes of Israel, shall gather themselves to you. 5 When you blow an alarm, the camps that are on the east side shall set out. 6 And when you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that are on the south side shall set out. An alarm is to be blown whenever they are to set out. 7 But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow a long blast, but you shall not sound an alarm. The trumpets were the instruments that moved God's people in the right direction. They priests, directed by Moses, w...

Exodus 6 contains a short conversation between God and Moses that seems like a rehash of what transpired at the burning bush a few chapters earlier. It has the same statements but there are contextual differences that make it plain: this is a new conversation about an old topic. Exodus 6:10–13 (ESV) So the LORD said to Moses, “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the people of Israel go out of his land.” But Moses said to the LORD, “Behold, the people of Israel have not listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, for I am of uncircumcised lips?” 13 But the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron and gave them a charge about the people of Israel and about Pharaoh king of Egypt: to bring the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt. Moses has been in active ministry now for a few days. They have been hard days. He's been believed and rejected in a matter of moments. The words he speaks to the people are falling on deaf ears. Notice the horrible stature of their hearts in v...

Ministry is sweet and sour. Being a follower of Christ in the truest sense of the word brings about a gigantic dichotomy of experience in life. The sweet and the sour. John experiences this having received the revelation of Jesus Christ to a world hopelessly in love with itself. Revelation 10:8–11 (ESV) Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me again, saying, “Go, take the scroll that is open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land.” 9 So I went to the angel and told him to give me the little scroll. And he said to me, “Take and eat it; it will make your stomach bitter, but in your mouth it will be sweet as honey.” 10 And I took the little scroll from the hand of the angel and ate it. It was sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it my stomach was made bitter. 11 And I was told, “You must again prophesy about many peoples and nations and languages and kings.” John hears the voice from heaven. It tells him to eat t...

If the book of Acts is a manifesto of the church after Jesus left and studied to see what this movement is all about (as I believe it is), there can be no doubt the one overarching theme is covered from beginning to end. We are called to share the message of Jesus with boldness to everyone. Silence is not an option. Social help is wonderful but not our primary calling. Gathering in denominational "tribes" is not our job. We are here to preach and preach Jesus. Paul finally arrives in Rome. He's going to be tried. When he gets there, the Jews had heard nothing of them and had no charges to bring. So Paul preaches. Some listen, some don't. He moves on. He is given peace for the first time in years. What does he do at the end of the book? He settles into Roman life and preaches Jesus. Acts 28:30–31 (ESV) He lived there two whole years at his own expense, and welcomed all who came to him, 31 proclaiming the kingdom of God and teaching about the Lord Jesus C...

Paul was about to be killed by a mob scene in Jerusalem and asks for a chance to "reason" them out of it. He stands up before the crowd and shares his conversion experience. Acts 22:3 (ESV) “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day. The first thing you do is find common ground with whoever you're talking to. Paul is talking to strict law-abiding Jews. He begins there.  He says  "I am a Jew… zealous for God as all of you aren't this day" . In other words I am just like one of you. We need to learn how to find common ground with people to whom we tell our story. Paul even finds deeper common ground sharing how he longed to kill Christians - just like they were doing to him at the moment! Acts 22:4 (ESV)   I persecuted this Way to the death, binding and delivering to prison both m...

At Athens, Paul preaches a message very different from any other in Acts. He doesn't reason from the scriptures, he reasons from one of their poets. This means two things: First, Paul was familiar with their poetry and Philosophers. Second, Paul gladly leveraged non-Biblical sources to point to the Biblical God. We should take a lesson. Speaking in the Areopagus: Acts 17:26–28 (ESV) And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, 27 that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him. Yet he is actually not far from each one of us, 28 for “ ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, “ ‘For we are indeed his offspring.’ The last line comes from a poem about Zeus. How crazy is that!  It is important to note that Paul entered the city and was initially provoked by the idols. That can hap...

Warren Wiersbe writes that Antioch was one of the most immoral cities of their day. Second only to Corinth. Yet it was this very city where brave Christians ventured to share the Gospel... Acts 11:20–21 (ESV)   But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists also, preaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed turned to the Lord. Do we realized the power of the hand of the Lord? He was with these men and they ventured into the dark and dangerous spiritual waters of one of the most pagan cities of its day. The Gospel has crossed into the Gentile World with a Roman Centurion's house. Now the Gospel is making headway into a leading gentile city with a reputation for gambling, prostitution, brothels, chariot races and brutal gladiator style games.  And you think God can't change your city? The hand of the Lord is enough! He's just looking for someone with the ...

Peter and John are brought before one of the most prestigious Jewish families in the entire nation. Notice the details Luke gives us in their trial before the court convened about them after healing the lame man at the Beautiful Gate: Acts 4:5–6 (ESV) On the next day their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest and Caiaphas and John and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. These were the "movers and shakers" of Judea at this time. Annas was the most powerful political person in the Nation at this time. He was kind of the "Godfather" of this clan of very important people. John also served as high priest. Caiaphas (the current High Priest) will forever go down in history for being the High Priest that put into works to Crucify Christ and then to attack and threaten his church. He has been long dead but at the time he was the longest tenured High Priest in History. Then it records ...

1 Corinthians 2:2 (ESV) For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. The city of Corinth was known for its intellectual pursuits. You would think Paul's strategy would be to sound high minded and intellectual. But no. He makes a willful decision to know nothing apart from christ. That is, Paul chose weakness to make Christ glorious. This was the confidence that Paul had in the Cross when facing overwhelming odds in a city renown for it's worldly wisdom. What about us? Do we make the strategy about what we can bring to the table when sharing Christ? Or do we choose rather to look less than we are so that Christ is the clearest He can be? I know as a Pastor, the confidence I bear has to do with how I feel about my argument or the cute story I'm going to tell or the funny joke I have prepared or the powerful video testimony in the middle of my message. My confidence is misplaced. Many times, I fall flat. On the other hand, I ...

Titus 1:1–3 (ESV) Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, for the sake of the faith of God’s elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness, 2 in hope of eternal life, which God, who never lies, promised before the ages began 3 and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by the command of God our Savior; Did you see it?  You may have to read it again.  This is an amazing scripture regarding the power and importance of preaching God's Word. Paul says what he often says, this whole thing was planned from before the Earth was formed.  God promised the salvation of the elect and their knowledge of the truth before the ages began.   YET... how did it finally come about?  "Through the preaching" he was entrusted by Christ to do! Preacher... PREACH! You are the voice through which God fulfills His purposes in the lives of those He has called. ...