I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.
Jeremiah received instructions from the Lord to invite the Recabites to a meeting. He was instructed to offer them wine. Jeremiah did as instructed. His visitors declined to drink wine because their ancestor had instructed them to never drink wine and to live as nomads. The Lord commended the Recabites through Jeremiah for obeying their ancestors instructions. Jeremiah then contrasted their obedience with that of the rest of the people of Judah. As a result of the people of Judah’s refusal to listen to the Lord’s commands and obey them, He was going to bring disaster on Jerusalem.
Sometime after that God instructed Jeremiah to write down all of the prophecies that God had given to him. So, Jeremiah summoned Baruch, a scribe, and dictated to him all of the prophecies that he had received from the Lord. Jeremiah then sent Baruch to read the scroll at the Temple on the next day of fasting in the hope that perhaps the people would repent their sins if they heard the prophecies one more time. When certain Temple officials heard what Baruch was reading, they told Baruch and Jeremiah to hide and took the scroll to King Jehoiakim.
The king had one of his courtiers read the scroll to him. As the courtier read the scroll, the king cut off the portions that had been read and burned them. The king burned the entire scroll despite the objections of those who had brought it to his attention. None of the king’s court showed any fear or repentance upon hearing Jeremiah’s prophecies. When he was done burning the scroll the king sent some of his retainers to arrest Jeremiah and Baruch but they were unable to find them. When the furor died down God instructed Jeremiah to rewrite the scroll that King Jehoiakim had burned. Do we treat the Scripture the way that King Jehoiakim treated Jeremiah’s prophecies? As something that we do not really pay any attention to? Are we like his courtiers who stood by while he burned it and took no particular note of what was being read? Or are we like the Temple officials who brought the scroll to the king’s attention and begged him to take heed to what it said? Are we begging our neighbors to take heed to God’s word? Or are we standing by while they wallow in their sins on their way to destruction?
Paul gives Timothy instructions on how to treat people. These are instructions that we today should follow as well. Treat those who are older with respect as if they were your own parents. Treat younger people with love as if they were your siblings. We should take care of those widows who have no one else to care for them, but we should care for our own relatives to the best of our ability and not make them rely on others for their needs. While the Church should care for those in need, it should not allow those who have skills to remain idle. Those who are capable of being productive should be encouraged to do so. The elders in the Church should be paid for the work they do for the Church. We should not listen to accusations against people in the Church, especially the elders, unless those accusations are confirmed by multiple witnesses. Here he gives an instruction that all too often we bypass in the interest of “tact”. Paul tells Timothy that those who sin should be reprimanded before the whole Church, to serve as a warning for others. Finally Paul concludes today’s passage by telling us that just as some sins are obvious and some are hidden so are some good deeds obvious and others hidden. But, in due time the sins and good deeds done in secret will come to light.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of any stable government just as they are the foundation of God’s throne. God is our strength. He will provide us the ability to follow His will. God is our protection. He will be our defender when we take risks at His command. God is entirely trustworthy and His kingdom is forever.
It is always a pleasure to receive good news from far away. Compromising with evil is not a virtue. All too often we get caught up in the idea that we should meet people half-way and apply it to situations where we are meeting evil half-way. So that instead of either doing what is good or what is horrifyingly evil, we only do what is mundanely evil. But it is evil nonetheless. The final proverb of today tells us that campaigning for honors for oneself can be as self destructive as overindulging in food.