Jeremiah 31, Bible Reading and Daily Devotionals

 Max Lucado Daily: Your Mess Can Be Your Message

I like the conversation Bob Benson recounts in his book, See You at the House, about his friend who'd had a heart attack. For a while it seemed his friend wouldn't make it. But he recovered.
Months later Bob asked him, "How did you like your heart attack?"
"It scared me to death, almost."
"Would you do it again?"
"No!"
"Would you recommend it?"  Bob asked.
"Definitely not."
Then Bob asked him, "Does your life mean more to you now than it did before?"
"Well, yes."
"You and your wife always had a beautiful marriage, but are you closer now than ever?" "Yes."
"Do you have a new compassion for people-a deeper understanding and sympathy?"
"Yes, I do."
"Do you know the Lord in a richer fellowship than you'd ever realized?"
"Yes."
Then Bob said, "So, how'd you like your heart attack?"
Deuteronomy 11:2 reminds us to remember what you've learned about the Lord through your experience with Him.  Do that, my friend, and your mess will become your message!
From You'll Get Through This

Jeremiah 31

“And when that happens”—God’s Decree—
    “it will be plain as the sun at high noon:
I’ll be the God of every man, woman, and child in Israel
    and they shall be my very own people.”

2-6 This is the way God put it:

“They found grace out in the desert,
    these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest,
    met God out looking for them!”
God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.
    Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again,
    dear virgin Israel.
You’ll resume your singing,
    grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You’ll go back to your old work of planting vineyards
    on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit—
    oh, how you’ll enjoy those harvests!
The time’s coming when watchmen will call out
    from the hilltops of Ephraim:
‘On your feet! Let’s go to Zion,
    go to meet our God!’”

7 Oh yes, God says so:

“Shout for joy at the top of your lungs for Jacob!
    Announce the good news to the number-one nation!
Raise cheers! Sing praises. Say,
    ‘God has saved his people,
    saved the core of Israel.’

8 “Watch what comes next:

“I’ll bring my people back
    from the north country
And gather them up from the ends of the earth,
    gather those who’ve gone blind
And those who are lame and limping,
    gather pregnant women,
Even the mothers whose birth pangs have started,
    bring them all back, a huge crowd!

9 “Watch them come! They’ll come weeping for joy
    as I take their hands and lead them,
Lead them to fresh flowing brooks,
    lead them along smooth, uncluttered paths.
Yes, it’s because I’m Israel’s Father
    and Ephraim’s my firstborn son!

10-14 “Hear this, nations! God’s Message!
    Broadcast this all over the world!
Tell them, ‘The One who scattered Israel
    will gather them together again.
From now on he’ll keep a careful eye on them,
    like a shepherd with his flock.’
I, God, will pay a stiff ransom price for Jacob;
    I’ll free him from the grip of the Babylonian bully.
The people will climb up Zion’s slopes shouting with joy,
    their faces beaming because of God’s bounty—
Grain and wine and oil,
    flocks of sheep, herds of cattle.
Their lives will be like a well-watered garden,
    never again left to dry up.
Young women will dance and be happy,
    young men and old men will join in.
I’ll convert their weeping into laughter,
    lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.
I’ll make sure that their priests get three square meals a day
    and that my people have more than enough.’” God’s Decree.

15-17 Again, God’s Message:

“Listen to this! Laments coming out of Ramah,
    wild and bitter weeping.
It’s Rachel weeping for her children,
    Rachel refusing all solace.
Her children are gone,
    gone—long gone into exile.”
But God says, “Stop your incessant weeping,
    hold back your tears.
Collect wages from your grief work.” God’s Decree.
    “They’ll be coming back home!
There’s hope for your children.” God’s Decree.

18-19 “I’ve heard the contrition of Ephraim.
    Yes, I’ve heard it clearly, saying,
‘You trained me well.
    You broke me, a wild yearling horse, to the saddle.
Now put me, trained and obedient, to use.
    You are my God.
After those years of running loose, I repented.
    After you trained me to obedience,
I was ashamed of my past, my wild, unruly past.
    Humiliated, I beat on my chest.
Will I ever live this down?’

20 “Oh! Ephraim is my dear, dear son,
    my child in whom I take pleasure!
Every time I mention his name,
    my heart bursts with longing for him!
Everything in me cries out for him.
    Softly and tenderly I wait for him.” God’s Decree.

21-22 “Set up signposts to mark your trip home.
    Get a good map.
Study the road conditions.
    The road out is the road back.
Come back, dear virgin Israel,
    come back to your hometowns.
How long will you flit here and there, indecisive?
    How long before you make up your fickle mind?
God will create a new thing in this land:
    A transformed woman will embrace the transforming God!”

23-24 A Message from Israel’s God-of-the-Angel-Armies: “When I’ve turned everything around and brought my people back, the old expressions will be heard on the streets: ‘God bless you!’ . . . ‘O True Home!’ . . . ‘O Holy Mountain!’ All Judah’s people, whether in town or country, will get along just fine with each other.

25 I’ll refresh tired bodies;
I’ll restore tired souls.

26 Just then I woke up and looked around—what a pleasant and satisfying sleep!

27-28 “Be ready. The time’s coming”—God’s Decree—“when I will plant people and animals in Israel and Judah, just as a farmer plants seed. And in the same way that earlier I relentlessly pulled up and tore down, took apart and demolished, so now I am sticking with them as they start over, building and planting.

29 “When that time comes you won’t hear the old proverb anymore,

Parents ate the green apples,
their children got the stomachache.

30 “No, each person will pay for his own sin. You eat green apples, you’re the one who gets sick.

31-32 “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree.

33-34 “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree.

If This Ordered Cosmos Ever Fell to Pieces
35 God’s Message, from the God who lights up the day with sun and
    brightens the night with moon and stars,
Who whips the ocean into a billowy froth,
    whose name is God-of-the-Angel-Armies:

36 “If this ordered cosmos ever fell to pieces,
    fell into chaos before me”—God’s Decree—
“Then and only then might Israel fall apart
    and disappear as a nation before me.”

37 God’s Message:

“If the skies could be measured with a yardstick
    and the earth explored to its core,
Then and only then would I turn my back on Israel,
    disgusted with all they’ve done.” God’s Decree.

38-40 “The time is coming”—it’s God’s Decree—“when God’s city will be rebuilt, rebuilt all the way from the Citadel of Hanamel to the Corner Gate. The master plan will extend west to Gareb Hill and then around to Goath. The whole valley to the south where incinerated corpses are dumped—a death valley if there ever was one!—and all the terraced fields out to the Brook Kidron on the east as far north as the Horse Gate will be consecrated to me as a holy place.

“This city will never again be torn down or destroyed.”

Our Daily Bread reading and devotion    
Sunday, September 27, 2020
Today's Scripture & Insight:

Luke 15:1–7

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Insight
Throughout Scripture, people are frequently referred to as sheep (Psalms 79:13; 95:7; 100:3; Isaiah 53:6; Jeremiah 50:6; Ezekiel 34:17–22; Micah 2:12; Matthew 9:36; 10:16; John 21:15–17). One characteristic of sheep is that they tend to wander and are incapable of taking care of themselves (as we see in Luke 15:1–7). They need a shepherd to guide them to pasture and protect them from predators and thieves. Yet throughout the Bible we also see that sheep were highly valued. They provided food and clothing for the people and sacrifices for the temple. Sheep know their shepherd and respond to the shepherd’s voice. John 10:3–4 describes how the Good Shepherd—Jesus—calls His sheep individually by name and leads them.

Wandering Off
Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. Luke 15:6

Living near cattle ranches as he did, humorist Michael Yaconelli noticed how cows were prone to wander while grazing. A cow would keep moving, always looking for the fabled “greener pastures.” Near the edge of the property, the cow might discover some cool fresh grass under a shade tree. Just beyond a broken-down part of the fence was a tasty clump of foliage. Then the cow might push far beyond the fence and out to the road. It slowly “nibbled” its way into being lost.

Cows aren’t alone in their roaming problem. Sheep also wander, and it’s likely that people have the biggest tendency of all to stray.

Perhaps that’s one of the reasons God compares us to sheep in the Bible. It can be easy to meander and “nibble our way” through reckless compromises and foolish decisions, never noticing how far away from the truth we’ve strayed.

Jesus told the Pharisees the story of a lost sheep. The sheep was of such value to the shepherd that he left his other sheep behind while he searched for the wandering one. And when he found the one that had strayed, He celebrated! (Luke 15:1–7).

Such is the happiness of God over those who turn back to Him. Jesus said, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep” (v. 6). God has sent us a Savior to rescue us and bring us home. By:  Cindy Hess Kasper

Reflect & Pray
In what way might you be wandering in the wrong direction? What’s the first step you need to take to get back where you belong?

Father in heaven, I feel lost. Have I wandered too far? Redirect my heart and show me the way home.

My Utmost for His Highest, by Oswald Chambers
Sunday, September 27, 2020
The “Go” of Renunciation
…someone said to Him, "Lord, I will follow You wherever You go." —Luke 9:57

Our Lord’s attitude toward this man was one of severe discouragement, “for He knew what was in man” (John 2:25). We would have said, “I can’t imagine why He lost the opportunity of winning that man! Imagine being so cold to him and turning him away so discouraged!” Never apologize for your Lord. The words of the Lord hurt and offend until there is nothing left to be hurt or offended. Jesus Christ had no tenderness whatsoever toward anything that was ultimately going to ruin a person in his service to God. Our Lord’s answers were not based on some whim or impulsive thought, but on the knowledge of “what was in man.” If the Spirit of God brings to your mind a word of the Lord that hurts you, you can be sure that there is something in you that He wants to hurt to the point of its death.

Luke 9:58. These words destroy the argument of serving Jesus Christ because it is a pleasant thing to do. And the strictness of the rejection that He demands of me allows for nothing to remain in my life but my Lord, myself, and a sense of desperate hope. He says that I must let everyone else come or go, and that I must be guided solely by my relationship to Him. And He says, “…the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”

Luke 9:59. This man did not want to disappoint Jesus, nor did he want to show a lack of respect for his father. We put our sense of loyalty to our relatives ahead of our loyalty to Jesus Christ, forcing Him to take last place. When your loyalties conflict, always obey Jesus Christ whatever the cost.

Luke 9:61. The person who says, “Lord, I will follow You, but…,” is the person who is intensely ready to go, but never goes. This man had reservations about going. The exacting call of Jesus has no room for good-byes; good-byes, as we often use them, are pagan, not Christian, because they divert us from the call. Once the call of God comes to you, start going and never stop.

WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS

When a man’s heart is right with God the mysterious utterances of the Bible are spirit and life to him. Spiritual truth is discernible only to a pure heart, not to a keen intellect. It is not a question of profundity of intellect, but of purity of heart. Bringing Sons Unto Glory, 231 L

Bible in a Year: Isaiah 3-4; Galatians 6