August 7

Jehoiakim Burns Jeremiah's Scroll - Jeremiah 36:1-4, 45:1-5, 36:5-32

"So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch son of Neriah, and as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim king of Judah had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them." Jeremiah 36:32

lol, not only did burning the book not work.... Jeremiah just added more words in the second pass.

A king thought to kill the word by burning it. Only to have it return, stronger than before. Just as a king would try to kill the word by putting it on a cross. Only to have it return, stronger than before.

What kills without God enlivens and liberates with God. What is punishment to some is power to others. Lord knows.

August 6

First Deportation from Judah - 2 Kings 24:1, 7; 2 Chronicles 36:6-7; Jeremiah Tells Length of Captivity - Jeremiah 25:1-38, 35:1-19

How remarkable is God's patience....

And so it finally happens.

For 23 years Jeremiah said it would and the people didn't listen. Arrested him. Humiliated him. Tried to kill him. And now it happens. They thought it never would. Lived like it would never happen. Built houses like there was no tomorrow. And now everything they had and put their heart and soul in is gone. Crops and animals, gone. Families...gone, too.

And that's our life. We do things that are destructive, that are against God's will and we know it. But we do them never thinking anything bad will happen because it hasn't to this point, right? I thought God would punish me but He hasn't. But is that because of God's patience or talent for getting away with things?

It's God's patience. Lord knows.

August 5

Habakkuk's Questioning Prophecy - Habakkuk 1:1-17, 2:1-20, 3:1-19

A deer that interrupted John and my hike up LeConte in July of 2008. Was it God trying to get our attention?

You've got to love that name: Habakkuk. Say it out loud. It's fun even funny to say. So why is it you hardly ever hear a sermon from Habakkuk? Is it because the questions Habakkuk asks are even more difficult than his name? And God's answers far more difficult than that.

Habakkuk asks the question we all ask - why? Why do the wicked seemingly prosper while the righteous suffer? Why has God used evil nations to punish the God-fearing? Ahhhhh, Habakkuk, if it were all that simple. Hasn't Judah rejected God and worshipped other gods? So which is better to reject God as His chosen nation? Or to follow evil as a nation that doesn't know God? I think rejecting God having known Him would be the greater evil. But that's just me. And Judah.

What it all comes down to is all of us are evil. All of us are putting something in front of God and so are really following other gods along with God. And so we should share Habakkuk's prayer, asking God: "in wrath remember mercy." [Habakkuk 3:2]

In the end, we must praise God. Even in the hard times? Especially in the hard times when evil or work or success or things or wants have taken us into captivity, the Lord is our strength...if we have any strength. Lord knows.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

He makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

He enables me to go on the heights.

Habakkuk 3:19

The closing verse of today's reading is especially powerful for one who takes great joy in hiking the mountains and seeing the deer lightly wandering a mountain forest. John, remember the deer that bounded onto the path in front of us on LeConte? Was that God or an angel or just like us, part of His work?

August 4

Jeremiah's Judgment Against Egypt - Jeremiah 46:1-28, 47:1-7

Destroyed or completely destroyed?

"Do not fear, O Jacob my servant,

for I am with you," declares the Lord.

"Though I completely destroy all the nations

among which I scatter you,

I will not completely destroy you."

Jeremiah 46:28

This is suppose to be comforting? I'm completely destroying all the nations you've been scattered among...but I won't completely destroy you. Don't fear? You're in captivity and the nation that has you is being destroyed and you're being destroyed. You're just not being completely destroyed. Which makes me wonder just what the difference is in being destroyed and completely destroyed.

I think those who made it through these trials with their faith in tact were amazing. We just have to trust Him in all things. It sounds crazy. And I suppose faith often looks that way. Lord knows.

August 3

Assyria Falls and Babylonia Emerges - 2 Chronicles 35:20-25, 36:1-5; 2 Kings 23:29-37; Jeremiah 22:10-17; Jeremiah Faces Charges - Jeremiah 26:1-24

In the middle of what we would think the events of major importance in the world -- the fall and rise of countries and powers -- God, through Jeremiah, reminds us what is really important:

"Does it make you a king

to have more and more cedar?

Did not your father have food and drink?

He did what was right and just,

so all went well with him.

He defended the cause of the poor and needy,

and so all went well.

Is that not what it means to know me?"

declares the Lord

Jeremiah 22:15-16

After reading this far into the Bible, does any of this surprise you? Why can't we do it? Lord knows.

August 2

Effect of Jeremiah's Preaching - 2 Kings 22:3-20, 23:1-24, 23:28; 2 Chronicles 34:8-33, 35:1-19, 35:26-27

The Levites -- all who were skilled in playing musical instruments -- had charge of the laborers and supervised all the workers from job to job. 2 Chronicles 34:12-13

A lot going on in this reading. Josiah's reforms and attempt to return the people to the Lord, taking down the idols to Baal, the Asherah poles and human sacrificial altars to Molech. The discovery of the Book of the Law. Major stuff.

In the midst of all this there is this verse about musicians overseeing the repair of the temple. Musicians? Miraculous! I wouldn't think a musicians creative mind would be the best candidate for this managerial position.

How do you get a musician off your front porch? Pay for the pizza.

"Mommy! Mommy! When I grow up I want to be a musician!"

"Now, Johnny, you can't do both."

Sorry, couldn't help myself. This verse just weren't a couple of musician jokes.

Anyway, the High Priest Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law and King Josiah directs them to the Prophetess Huldah to see what God wants them to do. [2 Chronicles 34:14-28] All of these begs a couple of questions. What was the high priest doing without the Book of Law? How were the Levites correctly performing all of their duties? Did they get so set in their ways they put away God's book assuming they knew it only to lose it?

And -- why did they have to go to female prophetess? Couldn't the high priest inquire of God what He wanted them to do?

Lord knows.

August 1

Jeremiah Rebukes an Unfaithful Nation (Continued) - Jeremiah 17:19-27, 18:1-23, 19:1-15, 20:1-13

Sing to the Lord!

Give praise to the Lord!

He rescues the life of the needy

from the hands of the wicked.

Jeremiah 20:13

This brief bit of praise at the end of today's reading might not seem too extraordinary. But in context, it is truly amazing. Jeremiah closes a passage where he has been beaten and imprisoned by the religious establishment. He has been publicly humiliated "put in stocks at the Upper Gate of Benjamin at the Lord's temple." And it's all because of the people and priests' reaction to the message of doom and destruction that the Lord has given Jeremiah to speak.

I find it difficult enough to speak in the Lord's behalf when there's no persecution. What would I do in the face of persecution? Lord knows.

There are also a couple of passages in this reading where Jeremiah, at God's direction, uses the potter and his creation in clay as an object lesson for God's relationship. It reminds me of an incredible teen retreat I went on at North Boulevard where we had a potter come in and turn a pot as we watched. The next day, the artist took the finished pot and out of the blue smash it. The reaction was incredible to the destruction. There was sort of a collective gasp that someone would just destroy something so useful and beautiful. It seemed like such a waste.

But then he took the broken pieces and soaked them overnight in water so they became pliable. And he reworked the pot. It was a powerful lesson. No matter how broken we are God can reshape us.

So I went down to the potter's house and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Jeremiah 18:3-4

It's wonderful to be both God's creation...and His recreation! Lord knows.