7 23 03

11a

Jeremiah 32

In this chapter, Jeremiah is imprisoned by king Zedekiah because said king didn�t like the prophecy Jeremiah forwarded from God. The chapter goes into why Jeremiah was imprisoned (he wasn�t in prison, per se, but he was, after a fashion, under house arrest). He conveyed God�s prophecy to Zedekiah, telling the king that due to an unwillingness to do it God�s way, said king would be turned over to the king of Babylon whose army was besieging Judah.

The gist of the chapter is God warning that He is going to turn the people of Judah over to the Babylonians for a time because of their refusal to listen, but that they will also be delivered and given reprieve and they will purchase land and prosper once again, according to the promises God made to them.

To me, this is an illustration of the way God deals with His people a lot. He loves His children and wants them to be happy and fulfilled, but every once in a while, they just really, really screw up. When they screw up, they need to be disciplined. Since they often don�t listen to the moderate discipline, sometimes the punishment needs to be more severe. However, the punishment is not permanent.

To personalize this:

There are situations in my own life where I am required to do something and I refuse. I just don�t do the work necessary. When that happens, often I find myself stuck with no way of extricating myself. Then, I turn to God and tell Him that I know I was an idiot, it was my own fault that I got into the predicament I was in, but I want to do it His way and would He help me out.

Always, always, always, God offers me a way out. Even when I�m the idiot; even when I�ve gotten myself stuck because I thought I knew more than God did; He always rescues me from my own stupidity. I think that this chapter in Jeremiah is like that. Though I haven�t done the same things as the people of Israel in this specific chapter (I haven�t lit incense to Baal or sacrificed my children to Molech), but I�ve put other gods before God in the form of my comfort, smoking, choosing my own path rather than the one God set for me.

Even though I screw up, God is there to rescue me. When I come to my senses and realize that I�ve been an idiot; when I finally turn to God and admit that I don�t know everything, He takes me gently by the hand and leads me away from the ucky stuff.

I don�t yet have a field to buy as a sign that soon, many people will be buying land once more to show that God will have mercy on His children, but I know He will have mercy on me nonetheless.

I suppose, if I were going to pass anything along to you readers, I�d have to say it�s this: I think the best prayer I have ever prayed (best as in most effective for me), and I pray it often, is requesting that God protect me from my own stupidity. It�s a really simple, short prayer, but it has saved my butt so many times.

When I ask for protection from my own stupidity, often I get that little warning in my gut that tells me not to do something. When I choose to not do it, �nothing� happens. When I choose to ignore that little warning, almost invariably something negative happens. I�ve started adding another prayer to that one, requesting that God also rescue me from my stupidity.

God is so very merciful with me. There are so many situations I�ve gotten myself into which could so easily have been avoided. I can often be a real dork. I am pleased and relieved to know that God loves me anyway!

God is good to me. It�s not often you find someone who will stand by and allow you to do whatever you want to and still get you out of the mess when you realize you were behaving like a major dork. What can I say? Yay God!