Obey the Words of the Lord

Acts of Worship
Learning to Pray

Jesus Prays for the Disciples

Jeremiah 35:12-17  The Message

Why Won’t You Learn Your Lesson?

^12-15 Then Jeremiah received this Message from God: “God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, wants you to go tell the people of Judah and the citizens of Jerusalem that I say, ‘Why won’t you learn your lesson and do what I tell you?’ God’s Decree. ‘The commands of Jonadab son of Recab to his sons have been carried out to the letter. He told them not to drink wine, and they haven’t touched a drop to this very day. They honored and obeyed their ancestor’s command. But look at you! I have gone to a lot of trouble to get your attention, and you’ve ignored me. I sent prophet after prophet to you, all of them my servants, to tell you from early morning to late at night to change your life, make a clean break with your evil past and do what is right, to not take up with every Tom, Dick, and Harry of a god that comes down the pike, but settle down and be faithful in this country I gave your ancestors.

^15-16 “‘And what do I get from you? Deaf ears. The descendants of Jonadab son of Recab carried out to the letter what their ancestor commanded them, but this people ignores me.’
¹⁷ “So here’s what is going to happen. God-of-the-Angel-Armies, the God of Israel, says, ‘I will bring calamity down on the heads of the people of Judah and Jerusalem—the very calamity I warned you was coming—because you turned a deaf ear when I spoke, turned your backs when I called.’”

 
For Reflection
The road to the Kingdom is clear.  Forgiveness yields forgiveness.  Compassion yields compassion.  Calamity is the result of not forgiving and not developing systems that are just and compassionate.  Are we following gods of self-determination?  Or are we to follow the God who asks us to depend upon Him?

Pray

to serve God who asks you to loose your life in God's embrace.  Pray that you will rely on the promise of God.