The Lord is the one and only God, and tolerates no rivals. He longs for his people to know life, and so he reveals the secret of life. If you want life, you will find it in God. If you choose to depart from God and your relationship to God, you will find yourselves and your land destroyed.
This passage re-affirms the covenant between God and his chosen people.
Read More life, death, love, jealousy, provision, warningWhy did he not warn us the banks would fail and the stock market crash? Why did he not warn us that we would not be able to finish the war we started?
Which crash, which war? That’s the point: there is nothing new under the sun. Greed begets poverty and violence begets violence.
If God does not do anything without telling us first, why do disasters engulf us?
Read More justice, warning, roaring lion
Read Reflect Well, isn’t this ironic? I am writing this meditation of the evening of the first Presidential Candidate’s Debates in the 2016 electoral campaign in the United States. Sentences in today’s passage are not unlike the brash declarations being heard in this most bizarre of campaigns. “Run for you lives”, “Light a signal fire”, […]
Read More justice, witness, warningRead Reflect When one of my grandchildren is being disciplined, the parent often says, “(Name of child) … LISTEN TO ME!” When the parent says, “Listen to me!” it’s more than a hearing exercise. They expect the child to stop what they’re doing, make eye contact, give them their undivided attention, apologize, and clean up […]
Read More listening, warning, disobedience, punishmentRead Reflect Have you ever written an essay on your computer and accidentally deleted it? I can bet that anyone this has happened to will never let it happen again! (Incidentally, if you’ve ever done this, and re-written it, the second version was probably better than the first. Believe me, I know.) Now imagine how […]
Read More prophecy, promises, God’s Word, warningRead Reflect Finally, everything happens just as Jeremiah had said it would. The walls were broken, the Babylonian troops entered the city and burned the houses, including the palace. The people were captured and led away. Only those who owned no land were left to till the fields and vineyards. The king, Zedekiah, tried to […]
Read More prophecy, discipline, warning, self-denialWithin the legal system there is the concept of “criminal negligence.” A person can be held responsible for harm that occurs to another, if the person was aware of the potential harm, but did not take the appropriate measures to prevent it from happening. For example, failure to put up warning signs or barriers where there is a road hazard would be a case of criminal negligence.
Read More warning, watchman, responsibilityRead Reflect It all went wrong when they had too much to drink. When self-control goes, watch out for what follows. They couldn’t help showing off, not just in a display of wealth but in a challenge to the God who had so humbled Nebuchadnezzar. “Do your worst,” Belshazzar seemed to say. God rose to […]
Read More judgment, warning, doom
