Tears, an Empty City, and a New Kingdom

I finished Jeremiah and hit Lamentations today.  To say that my time reading scripture is discouraging is an understatement.  With this chronological reading plan, I am immersed in the story of Israel's downfall.  I have been for weeks and weeks.  It makes it so tough to read the scripture.  This reading plan needs to come with some anti-depressants or something.

But, as I read it, I'm beginning to realize on a small scale, what a heartbreak it was for the people to lose their land, their place.  Everything was tied up in it.  Even in the Scriptures, the writers are focused on getting back to the land.  "Stop sinning so that we can go home" is the cry of the authors.  They want to be back in Israel, in Jerusalem, so desperately.  The city of Jerusalem has a personality, it cries, it moans, it misses it's people.  The personification of the city runs deep in their understanding.  It's something I have trouble relating to.

But it causes me to wonder what it is that I am that attached to?  It's not the United States for me, or my house, or city.  But my comfort would be something close.  I'll follow, as long as it isn't an inconvenience.  Or my job.  I'm good with following God, unless he asks me to be homeless and not be a pastor anymore.  Or my schedule.  When God wants to obliterate my schedule, I get a little sideways with Him.

So, while I obsess over different things, I still obsess.  I allow things to come between me and God, to get in the way, to distract me.  They become my Jerusalem, my kingdom.

So, again, I fall back on this prayer:

Our Father, who is in heaven,
Holy is your name,
Your Kingdom come
Your Will be done
On earth, like it's done in Heaven.
Give me today what I need,
And forgive me for all of my sins,
And I forgive those who have sinned against me.
Don't lead me into temptation
But deliver me from evil.

His kingdom.  Here.  Today.  Not my Jerusalem.  His kingdom.

I Guess the Yokes on You

I hit Jeremiah 26 today, and it's a tough chapter.  I've been following Jeremiah's story as a prophet, and God asked him to do such hard things.  In chapter 26, Jeremiah is told to go to the Temple and to warn the people that God is going to destroy the nation and the city.  It's not a new message.  He's been saying it for 25 chapters before this, and the people won't listen.

So, first of all, why would Jeremiah keep going?  No one is listening to his warnings, no one is taking heed to his advice.  He is made fun of, laughed at, and mocked.  On top of that, God keeps making him do crazy things as visual lessons for the people.  In chapter 26, he is wearing a yoke, like the ones they put around a cow's neck to pull a cart.  So, he's in the temple, preaching doom, with a yoke on.

Following God was not cool that day.

The reaction to his message?  The pastors of the temple decide they've finally hit their breaking point, and they are going to kill him.  They take him prisoner, and want to execute him.  I don't know about you, but at this point, I might need to reconsider my professional calling as a prophet.  One, he's failing, because no one is repenting.  Two, he's failing because people hate him and God more than when he started.  Three, he's failing because they want to kill him, and that is never a win.

But his response is to keep preaching the same message to the people who want to kill him.  He tells them to do whatever they want with him, but to understand that God is going to judge the city, and they need to repent.

For Jeremiah, there was only one way to fail.  That was to shut up.  A few chapters earlier he tells God that he wishes he could just be quiet.  He tried to quit the warnings.  But he said that God's words were like fire in his bones and he would burn alive if he tried to keep them in.  So, he speaks.  Jeremiah speaks when no one listens, when no one repents, when no one likes him, when his life is on the line.

Because of that, he wins.  He has God's favor, he is never alone, he is not afraid of what is coming, he finishes the race well.

I don't think that many of us are called to give such a message that someone is going to want to kill us, at least not today.  But I know God is calling each of us to take a step forward.  Fear, worry, embarrassment, uncertainty, laziness, or pride may hold us where we are.  Today, understand that if Jeremiah, who was just a teenager when God called him, could obey; then so can we.  The same God lives in us, loves us, gives us the power and the abilities.  Don't measure what you're called to do by what everyone else defines as winning.  Be faithful.  Trust Him.  He will see you through.